Change is exciting. I am looking forward to my upcoming travels to over 30 local government areas across regional Queensland. As I make my plans I have noted the many changes in the local government areas. There are several new Mayors and some CEO’s making a move. It is an exciting time of change that the regions will welcome the resulting challenges, new plans and structures that will come into place. I am looking forward to my meetings and hearing of the strategies, progress and plans, from each of the council areas. With change there is always opportunities for new career challenges which can be very exciting when embraced. We will travel over 10,000 kms on our journey. The only area we will not travel on this trip is to Cape York which is planned for a separate visit.

As the end of Financial Year end, we are all busy finalising accounts, reflecting on the financial year that was and making plans for the New Financial Year. It has been a challenging year for most of us with the cost of living especially housing, food, fuel, power and insurances all skyrocketing. There is some exciting debate ahead with the possibility of nuclear power coming into the mix. A controversial topic, but a must for consideration and conversation for our future power stability, the environmental impact of all ‘green’ energy and the cost of energy to business and households.

I attended a Futures presentation by demographer Simon Kuestenmacher which was excellent. Simon is a great speaker, knowledgeable and entertaining. He was very positive of the big picture for our future in regional Queensland. While addressing our anticipated problems namely, skills and housing shortages, he believes Queensland is well positioned to plan for our growth. A vital key to our future growth is the healthy demographic mix moving to our beautiful state including young people, skilled workers and retirees. Innovative housing will be required including providing accommodation for highly in demand lower income workers including industrial cleaners, health and aged care workers. With anticipated huge requirements for skills including health, agriculture trades and even ever important truck drivers, migration will not slow. A key message is that we must embrace automation and invest in technology to help make our existing workforce and our skilled teams more productive.

With less people attending church and our importance as humans to connect and bring the community together, it is anticipated we must invest heavily in sport as a key channel to connect. It was positive to hear that regional Queensland has a high rate of volunteering which is vital for the health of our communities. Continued investment in airports and tourism is another critical requirement for our healthy future.

Overall lots of challenges and exciting times of growth to embrace in the years ahead.

I promise to post some photos of our travels throughout our upcoming trip. Thank you to our great team who make our journey possible.