The purpose of this discussion paper is to seek views from stakeholders – communities, businesses, unions, local governments, state and territory governments, education providers, and others – on how to improve regional migration settings to support strong and sustainable regions, while complementing existing government initiatives. It proposes objectives for regional migration, suggests opportunities where regional...

The Growing Regions Program is one of the largest competitive grant programs administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the design and planning of the program.

This paper addresses three topics as they relate to the net zero transition: economics, social change, and regional communities. The authors have drawn upon their collective expertise and experience and reviewed global research and case studies around similar transitions and transition-focused institutions.

When banks close their branches in regional areas, the impact on individuals and communities can be devastating and far-reaching, especially when it is the last bank in town. A key recommendation in this report is for the Australian government to commission an expert panel to investigate the feasibility of establishing a publicly-owned bank.

This paper provides descriptive analysis of regional economic resilience in New Zealand during the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. The authors focus on the resilience of regional labour markets, and complement this with analysis of regional labour reallocation, two regional case studies, and discussion of longer-term drivers of change in the regions and their...