THE third and final session of the Ignite Mini’s series hosted by Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast (RDAMNC) was held at Bellingen Golf Course on Thursday 8 February, after earlier sessions in Taree and Kempsey.

Attracting a full house of key stakeholders from a diverse range of industries, the one-day forum covered a host of topics including energy provision, entrepreneurship, early childhood education, workforce challenges, migration and more.

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Kicking off the Bellingen session was Essential Energy Chief Operating Officer Luke Jenner, who spoke of the opportunities and challenges ahead of the region’s major electricity distributor.

Mr Jenner highlighted issues faced by Essential in mitigating the growing risks of “climate variation”, the company’s ageing network and the increased risk of bushfires on the Mid North Coast.

A Mid North Coast local himself, Mr Jenner also spoke of the opportunities for the region as the state continues its transition to renewable energy.

Next to present was Sawtell entrepreneurship facilitator Courtney Tune, who through his company, Alt-Collective, has worked with hundreds of Mid North Coast residents to develop their innovative business concepts.

Mr Tune, who is currently working on an entrepreneurship project with inmates of Grafton jail, also discussed the 2024 Regional Innovation Program, a collaboration between Alt-Collective, RDAMNC and local Councils to support innovators on the Mid North Coast.

Migration was the next hot topic, with attendees hearing a brief video presentation from Neenu Behl from the Department of Home Affairs.

Ms Behl provided key information for employers relating to visas facilitating international migration.

Discussion then turned to workforce challenges, with RDAMNC CEO Madeleine Lawler presenting prior to a panel discussion featuring Jill Follington from AusIndustry and Jackie Martinson from Training Services.

Ms Lawler sought to give context to statistics that depict the Mid North Coast as having a worryingly low labour participation rate.

“We got access to some statistics that looked at SA4 regions, so Coffs Harbour-Grafton and the Mid North Coast, and our labour participation was tracking at around the low 40s (percent) in terms of national participation in the labour market.

“That had us at 20 percentage points below the NSW state average.

“We have the worst in NSW and one of the worst in the country in terms of labour participation.”

While these statistics paint a dire picture, Ms Lawler said the reality was much more promising, with RDAMNC conducting their own research with controls for factors such as retirement.

“We have a mixed story to tell,” Ms Lawler said.

“For Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie, the story is really good.

“We are above the NSW state average for labour participation when you control for retirement.”

“We saw low participation in both Kempsey and Nambucca, but we have some unusual trends in those places that mean the conclusions you normally jump to don’t quite fit either.

“Kempsey has the unusual situation of having a higher participation of women in the workforce than men, which is rare.

“Nambucca has just over 45 percent of its working population working in other areas.

“It is donating a significant labour force to the Mid North Coast rather than being able to cater to that labour force in its own right.”

Research also showed that Bellingen was the only Mid North Coast LGA with a higher proportion of older workers than young workers.

Ms Lawler said RDAMNC was trying to “support industries that are really crying out for assistance”, with the manufacturing industry chief among them.

“We are looking to try and support the manufacturing industry to know more about itself by doing capability and capacity studies at some of the larger firms in the region.

“That way we can look at better clustering and collaboration among firms, improving the economic outputs of the region and the opportunities we are able to take up because we are able to partner better.”

To close out the day, Ignite participants took part in a skills audit conducted by Charles Sturt University researchers.

Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast is a not-for-profit organisation whose role is to support the economic development of a region spanning the local government areas of Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Nambucca, Kempsey, Port-Hastings and MidCoast.

For more information visit www.rdamnc.org.au.