It gives me great pleasure to report for the second year as chairman on the activities of the Western Australian Regional Development Trust (Trust). Following approval by the Minister for Regional Development (Minister), the activities of the Trust this year are mainly focused on Section 5(2) of the Act relates to the allocation of Royalties for Stree funds between subsidiary accounts.
Prior to the proclamation of the Act, the Fund operated in terms of section 10(a) of the Financial Management Act 2006. In terms of section 12 of the Act, the functions of the Trust are – a) to provide and make advice. The Minister may, with the Treasurer's concurrence, approve the expenditure of money to the credit of the Fund for the following purposes - . a) to provide infrastructure services in regional WA;.
TRUST MEMBERSHIP
Nick maintains a keen interest in all aspects of the aviation industry and has held his pilot's license since 1979. Paul is the Managing Director of NGIS Australia, a leading provider of digital and location technology solutions for large enterprises. Paul is a former Vice President of the Information Industry Association of Australia and a former National President of the Space Industry Business Association.
He is involved voluntarily in many community groups and is a former president of the North Fremantle Amateur Football Club.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO
In accordance with section 6(2) of the Act, in each financial year the Treasury must cause to be credited to the Fund an amount equal to 25 per cent of the estimated royalty income for the financial year.
Royalties for Regions Account
ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS FUND SNAPSHOT
42.1 million
108.0 million
178.8 million
118.2 million
207.7 million
In addition to the legislative cap of $1 billion on the balance of the Fund, an annual expenditure cap of $972.7 million was imposed by the state government as part of the 2018-19 mid-year review budget. As part of the 2019-20 budget process, the royalty expenditure cap for regions was reduced to $829 million. Since the inception of the Royalties for Regions program in 2008-09 and over the forecast period ending 2022-23, a total of $3.4 billion is forecast to be returned to the consolidated account, $933 million to the Future Fund will be transferred and a further $116 million in the.
116 million into the Regional Reform Fund
The graph shows the growth of the Honorarium program for the Regions from the initial years to 2018-19 and projected in the next assessment period with the application of the relevant approved spending limits. It should be noted that the royalty forecast has been revised in line with the 2019-2020 State Budget, which includes revised Treasury Department royalty forecasts and expenditure forecasts.
Allocation of Funds over Forward Estimates
Special Purpose Accounts
The Trust, in close collaboration with key government economic development agencies, engaged with the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University (Harvard) to pursue the use of its Economic Complexity Index, as an appropriate high-level measure to progress with the the future state. Harvard is widely recognized as the world leader in this field and provides an international base of expertise, upon which new and different approaches to diversifying the state's economy can be identified. There is significant alignment between this approach and the Government's focus on job creation and economic diversification.
Innovation, policy design and skillful implementation to accelerate economic growth and more inclusive job creation in Western Australia. An important opportunity arising from this initiative is the potential to encourage a common conceptual framework across relevant state economic development agencies and to build alignment and connectivity in support of the new economic agenda for our state. In 2018-19, the Trust focused its engagement efforts on the Portfolio, key state economic development agencies across government and the regions more broadly to further develop and promote a shared vision for regional development.
During the year, these interactions moved from agreement to design and implementation with emphasis on the following components. A shared definition of 'regional development' has been adopted by the Portfolio and communicated throughout, to ensure that it is properly internalised. Regional development is the sustainable economic development of regional Western Australia in conjunction with the metropolitan area.”.
Defining the future state and measuring the journey towards it is accepted as a logical aspirational goal and is being endorsed by the Portfolio.
TRUST ENGAGEMENT
The Trust has previously advised on the importance of having a single set of strategic themes for regional development. These themes describe, at a high level, the groups of activities that need to take place to deliver the future state agreed upon by the Portfolio. They also serve as a common framework to guide the thinking and planning of the separate components of the Portfolio and are critical to creating the collaborative innovation and synergies needed to ensure successful regional development.
Following extensive engagement by the Trust, the themes have been adopted and, importantly, are now being applied to business and budget planning processes across the portfolio. Minister for Regional Development, Alannah MacTiernan with members of the Portfolio at a Regional Development Portfolio Leadership meeting in May 2019. Organizational structure – aligning the activities of the organizational components of the Portfolio to work together in synergy as a collective.
After extensive consultation, the Trust actively encouraged the portfolio to take a more cohesive, collaborative and focused approach to achieving the agreed outcomes. It was clear that a new organizational component consisting of senior leadership from across the portfolio was needed to create and ensure alignment between the Commission and the department. As a result of consultations with the trust, the Commission's nine CEOs and the Department's Deputy Director General autonomously established WARDA in April 2019, with the aim of fostering cooperative efforts across the portfolio.
WARDA plays an important role in ensuring better coordination and effective implementation of regional development across the country. The Trust believes that regional development implemented in a comprehensive, successful and successful manner will by definition lead to highly beneficial economic, business and community outcomes.
THE FUTURE
GOLDFIELDS ABORIGINAL BUSINESS LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
ROYALTIES FOR REGIONS CASE STUDIES
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
Film production in regional towns creates a level of excitement in local communities and raises the profile of Western Australia more widely, focusing on the country's stunning regional towns and locations, providing opportunities for local businesses and increased tourism. The first WARFF-funded series of Mystery Road was filmed in the Kimberley region and aired on television in 2018. It was the most-watched non-children's series on the ABC's iView platform and its success led to WARFF funding a second series in 2018-19.
With filming again taking place in the Kimberley region, the second series is expected to be released in 2020. More than $11.8 million has been invested in 11 projects in regional Western Australia over the past three years. The incredible growth of the WA display industry over the past few years can be largely attributed to WARFF and its position as
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL FILM FUND
The $16 million Western Australian Regional Film Fund (WARFF) has supported high-quality WA productions shot across regional WA, with further projects also planned in 2019-2020. Wormall Civil, a WA company based in Peel, has been awarded the first two contracts for the $7.3 million civil works and has started building the infrastructure. This is a significant regional result arising from the Western Australian Employment Act 2017 and the State Government's Local Content Program.
LandCorp has approved energy consortium Enwave to deliver the Solar Array and Battery Storage Microgrid which will provide a renewable energy option and cheaper power to industry at the Park. Murdoch University has linked the recently funded Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Center and the Australian National Phenome Center to the Peel Business Park – Agri-Innovation Precinct project. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services has announced that the new Bushfire Center of Excellence will be built at Peel Business Park.
TRANSFORM PEEL
The fund's activities during the year were largely aimed at helping all components of the portfolio in implementing the fundamental elements of the comprehensive system of regional development, which was recommended and approved by the minister last year. A lot of effort has gone into directly helping senior management understand how the system needs to work and take the necessary steps to implement it within their spheres of influence. A set of proposals for regional development The absence of a set of compelling, investment-ready proposals for regional development is evident and a source of frustration across the portfolio.
This is evident in the reduction of the allocation of the Fund for such proposals in the budget outside of years. The Trust and the Portfolio share the view that this situation is symptomatic of the fact that historically no system has existed to generate such a pipeline of proposals.
ADVICE AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 2018-19
The commissions operate in a joint, regionally specific way as key agents for regional development and are actively used as senior representatives of state government across regional Western Australia. The Council undertakes a central governance and assurance role in relation to the Commissions, ensuring that they, together with the Department's service and support functions, operate smoothly. The Trust continues to provide governance and assurance as well as direct support across the entire portfolio of regional development activity as required.
Following this advice, the nine CEOs of the Commission and the Deputy Director General of the Department autonomously established WARDA in April 2019, with the objective of fostering cooperative and collaborative efforts across the board. Five strategic themes have been developed by the Trust and endorsed by the Portfolio. The Trust received no Freedom of Information applications in 2018-19 under the Freedom of Information Act 1992.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
TRUST INTERNAL GOVERNANCE
Trust Finances
Provision of services and facilities to the Trust
Trust meetings
Trust governance framework
It includes the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, nine Regional Development Commissions, the Regional Development Council and the Regional Development Trust of Western Australia.
GLOSSARY
Western Australian
