The roadmap provides an overarching national framework to help shape the future of regional jobs and skills in Australia. Phase 1 aims to create a starting point for fostering local conversations, planning and actions to enable each region of each state, territory and region to also progress towards shaping the future of regional jobs and skills. 

Its purpose is to provide an enduring, shared and overarching framework that empowers stakeholders to work collaboratively to improve the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of the jobs and skills system across Regional Australia, both now and into the future. It identifies the cross-cutting themes, develops performance indicators and provides an overall assessment of the way forward and looks at how this varies across states and territories. 

For the purposes of this roadmap, Regional Australia is defined as all regions in Australia except for those in the major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). 

The roadmap contains four key components:

• Five key vision principles that provide a clear aspiration for the jobs and skills system in Regional Australia.
• 19 metrics that can be used to evaluate and monitor the jobs and skills system in Regional Australia.
• Ten policy principles to inform and shape future policies.
• Emerging areas of focus for continued action going forward.

Feedback on phase 1 closes 2 Oct 2025.