Property Council Hunter Regional Director Stephen Crowe said the NSW Government deserved credit for driving the legislation through Parliament and providing greater certainty for communities, workers and investors.
“Two weeks ago, we backed the Government’s call for Parliament to get on with the job and provide the Hunter with certainty about the framework that will guide its economic future,” Mr Crowe said.
“The Hunter has powered NSW for generations and continues to make an enormous contribution to the state’s prosperity. As our economy evolves, it is reasonable to expect serious investment back into the region that has given so much to NSW.
“But passing the legislation is the starting point – diversifying an economy the size of the Hunter’s will not happen by accident. It will require a clear strategy, serious investment and a concerted effort from government to attract private capital and new industries to the region.”
Mr Crowe said the announcement of the former Macquarie Coal site at Teralba as the preferred location for the Government’s new train manufacturing facility showed what could be achieved when government investment, industry capability and former mining land were brought together.
“Teralba is a great example of what the Hunter’s economic diversification can look like in practice,” Mr Crowe said.
“We can take land that has supported the Hunter economy for generations and give it a new economic life, attracting investment, creating manufacturing jobs and building new industries around the skills and capability that already exist here.”
The NSW Government says the new Authority will have responsibility for attracting investment to support new industries, skills and jobs, facilitating productive post-mining land uses and supporting workers and communities through economic change.
“We need government actively selling the Hunter as a place to invest and creating the conditions that allow that investment to land here,” Mr Crowe said.
“That means coordinated planning and infrastructure, clear pathways for major projects, investment attraction initiatives and a pipeline of sites where new industries and employers can establish and grow.
“The Hunter has an extraordinary collection of economic assets, skilled workers, industrial capability, energy infrastructure, the port, the airport and employment lands. What we need now is a strategy that joins those dots and competes for investment,” Mr Crowe said.
