in kickstarting that initial confidence boost’. He thinks of his economic development team as‘ almost like an internal research and strategy team’, providing him with the data, information, patterns and trends that he doesn’ t have time to assemble himself. The big capability gap he sees in local government is the ability to work across both government and business.
Kingborough Council in Greater Hobart doesn’ t really have an economic development function, so a lot of the thinking is led directly by CEO Dave Stewart. He spends a lot of time reflecting on foundational questions such as the municipality’ s point of difference and which industries should be prioritised. Strategic land use is central to his considerations. He says that for small councils like his, the biggest gap is simply knowing where to start.‘ We don’ t yet have a fixed view on what good looks like,’ he says.‘ I just know we need to be doing more than we are.’
The focus for Casey Mihovilovich at Mandurah, south of Perth is on reducing unemployment and improving workforce participation. Key outcome measures that she follows closely are participation rates, education and skills over time. Achieving progress requires contributions from many different areas of council. Economic development therefore‘ sits across the whole organisation’. She sees council’ s role as facilitating‘ connections between business, training providers and the community to support people into work and create business and job opportunities’.
Scott Waters at Moreton Bay in South East Queensland is focused on tackling the imbalance between housing growth and jobs. Economic development is‘ core to the role’ of CEO.‘ You’ re shaping future revenue streams and setting the city up for what comes next,’ he says. For Scott, the economic development team is a‘ trusted adviser’ bringing a business lens to decision-making. Economic development is not‘ off to the side’, but rather embedded into how Council makes decisions.
As the research progressed, a number of questions emerged. What exactly do CEOs expect councils to influence? Where does the economic development function fit? What does this mean for the profession?
The report draws these perspectives together to examine how CEOs think about economic development, the role they see for local government, and the implications for councils and economic development practitioners.
The full report, prepared for Economic Development Australia( EDA); " In from the Margins: How Australian Local Government Leaders are Reshaping Economic Development ", will be released at the National Economic Development Conference in Hobart in October. There, I ' ll explore its findings with a panel of local government CEOs.
The research started with a simple question about what CEOs think about economic development. It ended up raising some much bigger questions about the profession itself.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANDREW WEAR Andrew Wear is an economic development strategist, author and public policy professional specialising in place-based growth, industry transition and the climate economy. As the founder of Econovation, he works with cities, regions and industries to respond to structural change and position for long-term economic opportunity.
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