Key findings: Australia’s regions are more economically diverse than most people assume.

• Most non-metropolitan regions have a level of employment diversity close to the national employment profile.

Diversity is possible in all regions.

• Smaller and remote regions can also be diverse.
• All types of regions (metro, regional, remote) include highly diverse LGAs.

While diverse regions are generally also more competitive, many diverse regions are not highly competitive.

• This challenges the widely held notion that increasing diversity will in itself provide a foundation for economic success.

While diversification should be included as one indicator of success for regional development, [In]Sight results suggest that for most regions further diversity of employment should not be a goal in itself. Instead, a strategy of building the local contribution of existing industry to ensure that the diversity already present in a region can be effective in offsetting the risks from a reliance on one or more key industries.