This new report on economic development and industry interactions in remote and regional northern Australia has found that a healthy northern economy needs to focus on how it produces goods and services—hiring and buying locally—as well as the types of products and services it produces.  

The report, Regional Economic Multipliers in Australia’s Savannas, is the result of research which was part of an overall Tropical Savannas CRC project into outback livelihoods. It found that organisations which use resources from within a rural community or region help the local economy to become more diverse—in turn making it more resilient—and ensure development paths are sustainable long term.

The study surveyed more than 970 organisations across 17 industries—one of the most extensive ever done in the region. Led by Dr Natalie Stoeckl and Associate Professor Owen Stanley of James Cook University in Townsville, the study also found that expenditure patterns of organisations in the savannas differed from their wider Australian counterparts.

You can download the entire report, and executive summary here.

Limited hardcopies are available; contact Dr Natalie Stoeckl.
 

The idea of livelihoods — the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living — represents an important way of thinking about the health and viability of outback regions and the people who live them. This 65-page report reviews the literature on the livelihoods concept and its application to outback Australia. It shows how an understanding of outback livelihoods can assist in promoting resilience amongst grazing regions, particularly for family-operated businesses. The literature reviewed clearly showed that diversification is a crucial way to maintain a viable income in rural Australia given the proportion of Australian farm households which is dependent on off-farm income.

The report also develops a model of the key factors affecting people's livelihoods in the upper Burdekin grazing communities of Queensland. This model uses Bayesian Belief Networks which bring together information from quantitative natural, environmental and resource management sciences with social, economic and cognitive sciences. This analysis showed that in the Burdekin region revenue rates and regional viability are the two of the most important livelihood elements, followed by grazing costs and succession planning.