EDA/WALGA Breakfast - Approaches to Economic Development

Great for Economic Development Australia to have the opportunity to lead a conversation with the local government ED community around the importance of LGA’s in supporting local communities to realise sustained prosperity. Brilliant insights from Lisa Tidy (Town of Victoria Park) and David Arkwright (Shire of Murray). Key points from the morning included:

• Economic development strategy is highly context specific - there is no ‘one size fits all approach’;

• Whilst ‘place’ is a natural domain for LGA’s to focus economic development initiatives, impact will only result from carefully developed programs of initiatives that go beyond ‘placemaking’ and encompass both the creation of opportunities, and development of capacity to realise these opportunities;

• LGA’s can’t do it alone. Communities and enterprises need to be engaged and empowered to ensure alignment between stakeholders.

Thanks to WALGA for hosting the breakfast - it’s great to see the Association take a strong leadership role in supporting the development of ED capacity in Western Australia!