Nolan Meats Director, Terry Nolan, this week used the Gympie Regional Economic Summit to call for increased migration of skilled workers to support local industries.
Mr Nolan said his company employed Pacific Island workers through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme to fill a skills shortage.
‘They are wonderful people,’ Mr Nolan said.
‘We just don’t get enough skilled Australian citizens applying for jobs.’
The business leader called for a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) between the federal, state or local governments providing Gympie with access to more overseas workers.
‘A DAMA agreement would supercharge our economy,’ Mr Nolan told the summit.
The Gympie Chamber of Commerce organised the inaugural Gympie Region Economic Summit which saw over 300 local government, business and community leaders attend the high-powered event at the Gympie Showgrounds Pavilion.
Chamber of Commerce President, Martin Muller, said Gympie’s economy was at a ‘critical juncture’ with the potential to make Gympie a destination of choice for business investment.
Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig said newly designated ‘flood free’ industrial land at Curra and the new bypass enabling fast transport of goods from Gympie to Brisbane would deliver long term value for the Gympie economy.
Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig. IMAGE: Vivienne Wynter
Mayor Hartwig acknowledged the Queensland Government’s contribution of a $42 million Residential Activation Fund for critical infrastructure projects supporting over 5000 new homes.
‘Gympie’s future is bright and we will enjoy the prosperity to come,’ Mayor Hartwig said.
Economist Keenan Jackson said Gympie’s population was an average of seven years older than the state average so health care and social assistance would continue to be major job providers in the future.
“The Australian and Gympie populations are ageing and that’s not going to change so Gympie needs a skilled workforce to support ageing in place,’ Mr Jackson said.
Three Queensland Government Ministers attended the summit. Small Business Minister Steve Minnikkin promised to cut red tape, particularly for small business which he described as the ‘backbone of the economy’.
Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tim Mander, focused on the 2032 games, saying Gympie was well placed to benefit from increased tourism and pre-event training.
Minister for Primary Industries and Member for Gympie, Tony Perrett, told the summit he was liaising with the Olympic and Paralympic Games committee to encourage supply of ‘food, fibre and foliage’ for the games from regional Queensland.
Minister Perrett also said the Queensland Government would release a new Queensland Future Timber Plan in October.
The plan is widely expected to increase selective logging of native forests, overturning the previous Labor Government’s promise to end native logging in Queensland by 2024.
The Gympie Region Economic Summit was a one-day event bringing government, industry, and community leaders together to discuss key drivers of regional growth and consider what Gympie’s economy could look like in the years ahead.
