Brighter and the Regional Australia Institute

Regional Australian communities are the lifeline and thread which tie together the many industries which keep our country running. From agriculture, to cross country transport resources sector, Australian regional communities are often considered the beating heart of the nation.

The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) is one of the Brighter initiative’s latest partnerships. RAI aims to build awareness and understanding of opportunities within regional Australia.

The natural gas industry is a proud supporter of regional centres across Australia. Both RAI and Brighter are united in the highlighting the criticality of regional areas and towns, especially in the natural gas sector. From the beginning of the 20^th century, the prosperity of regional towns in northern WA and Victoria have been underpinned by the offshore oil and gas industry. In Queensland, the development of the local gas industry in more recent years has seen small business and regional services thrive.

There is also a bright future for jobs, economic prosperity in our regions, development of onshore conventional gas projects to create jobs and benefit regional communities and economies in Victoria. Up to 242 jobs, $312 million in gross regional product and $43 million in royalties could be generated each year across Victoria during production.

APPEA’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew McConville will represent the natural gas industry at RAI special events and will work with other RAI members to drive economic recovery after recent events, develop local leadership and build a legacy for our critical regional areas.

Liz Ritchie who is the CEO of the RAI says, our organisation is very pleased to announce the new partnership with APPEA, and in particular the upcoming launch of the new Regional Australia Council 2031 (RAC2031). APPEA will be a key industry leader to help us drive a national awareness campaign that aims to promote the opportunities that exist in regional Australia.

“Whilst the current circumstances we are facing as a nation make it difficult to see over the horizon, the RAI and our partners are ensuring that we continue to look to the future and regional Australia has an enormous role to play in Australia’s prosperity,” said Ms Ritchie.

In early 2020, in addition to our three-year partnership, APPEA’s Brighter Initiative became the principal sponsor for RAI Regions Rising NT event. As the major sponsor, APPEA’s Director of NT outlined the positive impacts the gas sector is having on the NT economy in the opening remarks before the keynote speaker, the Hon. Michael Gunner, Chief Minister for the Northern Territory presented to the audience.

We are in this together!