Mayor Keith Campbell - Economic Development Portfolio Report - 19 July 2017

Census 2016

Information has been released from the 2016 Census, with a quick snapshot from the South Burnett revealing that the region had a population of 32,186, made up of 50.1% Male and 49.9% Female.  The median age in the region is 45.  There are 8,511 families in the region with the average children per family for families with children being 1.9. The South Burnett has 15,208 private dwellings, a median weekly household income of $925 and an average of 1.9 motor vehicles per dwelling.

Further information from the Census 2016 can be found at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website – www.censusdata.abs.gov.au.

TSBE Energy Summit

Mayor Keith Campbell, Cr Terry Fleischfresser and Council’s Senior Economic Development Officer, Craig Tunley, attended the Toowoomba & Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) National Energy Summit in Toowoomba on 12-13 July 2017.  The summit was attended by over 100 persons and featured presentations from Senator Matthew Canavan, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia; Senator for Queensland and The Hon Mark Bailey, Minister for Main Roads, Road safety and Ports and Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply.

The ministers spoke about their respective positions with respect to energy generation, with Queensland pushing for definition of a national Clean Energy Target. 

Dr Tim Nelson from AGL spoke about the case for renewable targets and Lisa France, Hatch, discussed the increasing use of micro grids, particularly in remote locations.  As Mayor I participated in a Local Government Panel with Mayor Lindsay Godfrey (Paroo Shire Council) and Councillor Andrew Smith (Western Downs Regional Council).  The panel spoke of their respective exposure to energy generation projects, the importance of energy projects in their respective economies.  I spoke of the diversity of energy assets within the South Burnett Region and identified the paramount importance for business of a reliable and cost effective price path of electricity costs for the purpose of regional economic development.