Tax breaks for people moving inland are on the agenda of Regional Development Australia (RDA) Orana as it calls on business people to attend the first Inland Growth Summit in Dubbo.
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RDA Orana is hosting the event and putting a spotlight on the region’s need for more people to fill an estimated 5000 direct and indirect jobs generated by almost $8 billion worth of projects.
Director Megan Dixon said the focus of the summit at Lazy River Estate on January 31 would include the “desperate need for population growth to service the upcoming project pipeline” and support sustainable growth in the region.
Mrs Dixon said RDA Orana wanted communities to benefit from the imminent and “unprecedented boom”.
“We don’t believe in fly-in, fly-out or drive-in, drive-out,” she said. “We would much prefer to see strong vibrant communities but for that to be achieved there are policies that need to be changed to support inland Australia,” she said.
The director touched on ways to grow inland communities including tax breaks.
“We believe that there should be greater incentives to choosing to live and work in inland areas,” she told the Daily liberal. “I remember when I first started working many years ago in Mount Isa, there was a really big tax differential for choosing to live in a remote and regional area. They’ve dwindled over time. We think they should be reinstated.”
Mrs Dixon is keen to see the faces of Orana businessmen and women at the summit.
“Our growth is actually driven by business development and business opportunities,” she said. “Employment is driven by private enterprise and therefore having business involved in the conversation is really important.”
In December 2018, RDA Orana made a submission to the federal government in response to the Senate inquiry into the “effectiveness of the current temporary skilled visa system in targeting genuine skills shortage”. It also lodged a proposal with the government for a designated area migration agreement for the Orana region, to address workforce shortages.
The summit is the first of a series of RDA Orana events aimed at “promoting population growth, industry capability, export development and investment in the region”.
Tickets to the summit can be bought at https://www.rdaorana.org.au.