A lack of specific research to assist towns and cities west of the Blue Mountains has led the Western Research Institute (WRI) to establish an Inland Research Fund.
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The WRI will put in $50,000 to establish the fund that will target programs for inland communities and promote investment in inland and remote communities.
WRI board chairman Mark Burdack said the majority of current regional research taking place was too general, placing coastal communities in with isolated towns and villages located in the heart of inland NSW.
Mr Burdack said that information was too broad to be useful in helping rural and remote towns plan for the future.
“At a national level, there is a lot of data on how regions are performing but it doesn’t account for the differences between coastal and remote communities and it can be significant,” Mr Burdack said.
“A good example was a study that showed a significant number of doctors were moving to regional areas but if you broke it down the significant growth was coastal while there was only small growth inland.
“Having access to that level of data will provide a better understanding and lead to better-informed decision making on development in inland communities.”
It was important to also acknowledge the differences in economies and experiences of different towns and cities in inland NSW, Mr Burdack said.
He said consultation was a key part of the process to ensuring the needs of everyone would be met by the Inland Research Fund and hoped the findings would pave the way for better public policy, programs and investment into the future.
For three months in early 2017, he will meet with stakeholders including Regional Development Australia (RDA), universities and research institutes, as well as levels of government to develop an agenda.
The five-year research plan will set out the priorities and focus areas for the fund.
“We will be lead by what communities want and we will be keeping an open channel to people,” Mr Burdack said.
Both RDA Central West and RDA Orana Far West will be heavily involved in project, he said.
Mr Burdack said the Inland Research Fund was an extension of what WRI was set up to do as a charitable organisation in 1999, assisting organisations and businesses with economic consultation.