Sustainable and Prosperous Economy

Council’s economic development activity is focused on enhancing the Scenic Rim’s regional brand to encourage sustainable economic growth, strong employment opportunities and high-performing primary production and tourism industries. The promotion of significant events, which enrich the Scenic Rim’s lifestyle and the experience of visitors to the region, is helping to build the region’s reputation and generating visitor and local spending.

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

Council staged the 2019 Scenic Rim Business Excellence Awards which attracted 71 nominations across six categories, representing more than 50 individual businesses. The gala awards ceremony, staged at The Centre Beaudesert on 29 March 2019, brought the region’s business community together, providing an opportunity to share the success stories and celebrate the achievements of those who play a vital role in the region’s economy.

BUILDING BUSINESS CAPABILITY

In partnership with local Chambers of Commerce, an extensive, week-long schedule of activities, workshops, webinars and meetings was staged in May 2019 to coincide with Small Business Week. More than 300 people took part in 11 dinners, breakfasts, workshops and events across the region, with the highlight of the week a Business Breakfast at The Centre Beaudesert, featuring several winners from the 2019 Scenic Rim Business Excellence Awards who shared the secrets of their success.

Funding under the Regional Skills Investment Strategy, coordinated by the Queensland Government’s Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, has provided for the recruitment of a project coordinator to ensure the Scenic Rim has a supply of skilled local people to meet employer demand. Joining Council in July 2019 under a two-year contract, the Project Coordinator will plan, lead and delivering a program to identify current and emerging job needs in the region, particularly in the agriculture, health services and hospitality/tourism sectors. Having secured $5 million in Australian Government funding via the Building Our Regions Fund, Council will match this contribution to deliver an expansion of the Beaudesert Business Park industrial estate. More than 30 blocks will be available for sale, addressing the chronic shortage of quality industrial land in the area and providing opportunities for business expansion and jobs growth.

Joint funding from the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund and the Queensland Government’s Building our Regions Program, in association with Scenic Rim Regional Council, will deliver a $3 million revitalisation of the Boonah town centre. The benefits entire revitalisation of the Boonah Town Centre is part of Council’s long-term commitment to creating more liveable communities and driving the Scenic Rim’s economic development through its Vibrant and Active Towns and Villages program. Civic improvements that create a sense of place and space and reflect local character drive increased patronage and act as a magnet for commercial and retail activity, increasing community vitality and economic viability.

GUIDING TOURISM INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

Council has set an ambitious target for the growth of the region’s tourism industry, following the adoption of its Scenic Rim Tourism Strategy 2017-2021. Developed in consultation with key stakeholders and input from industry forums and the Tourism Advisory Committee, the strategy aims to double the value of the tourism industry to $300 million by 2021. Providing more than 1500 jobs in the region, tourism is a key industry for the Scenic Rim. Council’s tourism strategy aims to boost its value by increasing market share in key segments, increasing the number of visitors in off-peak periods and encouraging a greater spread of visitors across the region. Council has continued to work closely with the tourism industry, and in 2018-19 collaborated with Tourism Australia, Tourism and Events Queensland, our regional tourism organisation Brisbane Marketing, and two local tourism organisations, Destination Scenic Rim and the Tamborine Mountain Chamber of Commerce, on a range of initiatives delivering profile opportunities for the region and capability development for tourism operators. In 2018-19, Council continued to work closely with local tourism stakeholders through its Tourism Advisory Committee, which meets quarterly, to facilitate co-operation and provide input to the implementation of the tourism strategy. To ensure the local industry remains up-to-date with trends and new developments, development programs and mentoring sessions were conducted in conjunction with Brisbane Marketing, on topics including being ‘Asia ready’, to take advantage of expanding markets, and ‘packaging and bundling’ to maximise visitor experiences and economic outcomes for tourism operators. A future workshop and mentoring program, focused on delivering and maximising the value from special events, is also planned for the second half of 2019. Council sponsored a number of events throughout the region, including the Scenic Rim Clydesdale Spectacular, the Grapest five-kilometre run at The Overflow Estate 1895, the Kooralbyn Valley Mountain Bike Endurance Series and the Beaudesert Rock n Country Festival. Sponsorship of these events provides an estimated economic return of $10 for every dollar invested by Council.

ATTRACTING VISITORS TO THE REGION

The Scenic Rim’s five Visitor Information Centres - at Tamborine Mountain, Beaudesert, Boonah, Canungra and Rathdowney - are an important port of call for tourists to the region. In 2018-19 they provided a wealth of information about the Scenic Rim and tourism experiences for more than 65,000 visitors to the region. While these centres provide a valuable service, many visitors are now using online sources to obtain their information. Scenic Rim Regional Council is very active in the digital space, with platforms including the Visit Scenic Rim website, Visit Scenic Rim Facebook and Instagram pages and Eat Local websites and Facebook and Instagram pages. During 2018-19, the Visit Scenic Rim website saw traffic increase to an average of 40,000 hits per month, with a significant proportion of these by new visitors, showing that the region is continuing to attract new interest as a destination. A concerted strategy and attention to regularly refreshing and providing engaging content has seen Council’s Visit Scenic Rim Facebook page grow to more than 11,000 followers, with its most popular posts reaching between 10,000 and 12,000 users and a high level of engagement through reactions, comments and shares. The Visit Scenic Rim Instagram page has more than 15,500 followers and similarly high levels of engagement, indicating Scenic Rim’s online platforms are extremely well positioned compared to those maintained by other tourism destinations in the wider region. Scenic Rim Regional Council also delivered activations at two of the largest public events held in South East Queensland in 2018-19, the Regional Flavours food and wine festival at Southbank, held over days in July 2018, attracting more than 90,000 people, and the Royal Queensland Show, more affectionately known as the Ekka, which drew more than 415,000 people over 10 days in August 2018. These events provided a wonderful opportunity for building awareness of the region’s tourism and food offerings and inspiring visitation.

EATING LOCAL

From humble beginnings in 2011, Scenic Rim’s Eat Local Week has evolved into the region’s premier celebration of its key industries of tourism and agriculture, which are worth more than $410 million annually to the local economy. In 2018, in its eighth consecutive year, Eat Local Week again produced a bumper harvest for the region, feeding an estimated $2 million into the local economy. More than 90 events were attended by more than 37,000 residents and visitors across the region during the June-July school holidays and, with attendance up from 32,000 in 2017, 2018 was the biggest Eat Local Week event ever staged in the region. The signature event, the Winter Harvest Festival at Aratula, showcasing food, wine and local produce with market stalls, cooking demonstrations, celebrity chef appearances and children’s activities, drew a record crowd of more than 14,000. Other Eat Local Week events held throughout the region - in partnership with farms, tourism businesses and hospitality providers - included long table lunches, degustations, farm gate festivals, street food festivals, markets, vineyard lunches and wine tastings, farm tours providing an insight into produce from paddock to plate, producer tours, cooking classes and workshops on a range of specialist skills including cheese-making and food styling. Fourteen food ambassadors, including chefs Josue Lopez from The Wolfe and Javier Codina from Moda Restaurant; MasterChef Australia 2017 runner-up Ben Ungermann and Queensland Food Fellow Alison Alexander, assisted in the promotion of Eat Local Week and the region’s food and beverage offerings. With the support of a grant from the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund, Council launched the Eat Local Scenic Rim accreditation program which showcases year-round the region’s producers, products, cafes and tourism operators championing local, sustainable produce. The program builds on the success of Eat Local Week by providing people with easy tools and ways to enable them to eat local every day. Launched in November 2018, the program now boasts more than 70 accredited and passionate ‘locavores’ - exponents of Eat Local Scenic Rim.

SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESS

Recognising the important role played by small business in the regional economy, Council works closely with the Scenic Rim’s five Chambers of Commerce to increase the capacity and competitiveness of this industry sector. Council also participates regularly in local Chamber meetings and facilitates quarterly meetings of the region’s Combined Chambers of Commerce. Council also delivered a number of programs to support businesswomen, including the Women in Rural, Regional and Remote Enterprises (WiRE) program. This initiative, a partnership with the University of Southern Queensland and the Advancing Regional Innovation Program, provided an opportunity to 22 Scenic Rim businesswomen to participate in a 12-week mentoring program designed to help them scale up their existing businesses. A Resilience Through Diversification workshop conducted by Council and aimed at the region’s agricultural producers was attended by more than 70 farmers and other stakeholders. Its focus was on building awareness of the options for innovating and building resilience, diversification and value.

PROVIDING RATES RELIEF

To alleviate the financial pressure on Scenic Rim landholders impacted by ongoing drought, Council resolved in February 2019 to allow discretionary extensions to the rates discount period by up to three months. Council recognised the challenges facing many Scenic Rim landholders and the difference that discretionary extensions to the rates discount period could make to those battling drought. The Scenic Rim was among several local government areas to be officially drought declared by Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner on 1 May, bringing nearly two thirds of Queensland into a state of drought declaration. Along with this, in 2018-19 Council conducted a number of internal rating and budget workshops, focused on key issues which included managing the continued effects of the 2018 property revaluations, financial hardship and the continued review of current rating structures to address potential anomalies with rates charges and categorisations.

DEVELOPING STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH

In 2018-19, Council went to market and appointed a specialist agency to help develop a Regional Prosperity Strategy for the region. Following a competitive tender process, a suitably credentialed agency was engaged and commenced work with a critical examination of data and consultation with a range of stakeholders including Councillors, local business operators and industry groups. The final strategy and recommendations for its implementation are to be presented to Council in the first quarter of 2019-20. In addition to this project, Council is also working to develop of a new incentives approach to encourage investment in the region. Identifying the need for a refresh of its tourism destination brand, and following a competitive tender process, an agency was appointed to deliver this project. Research into perceptions of the Scenic Rim was conducted across Australia, informing a series of recommendations to be presented to Council in the first quarter of 2019-20.

ENGAGING WITH THE COMMUNITY

Effective community engagement, which is a guiding principle of the Local Government Act 2009, continued to provide the focus for Council’s communications activities in 2018-19. Publicity and promotion across print and online media and community forums ensured engagement with the widest possible audience to enhance the partnership between Council, the community and stakeholder groups. The fourth annual Community Budget Stakeholder Forum, hosted by Mayor Greg Christensen at The Centre Beaudesert on 12 June 2019, provided an opportunity to update key community and business leaders on Council’s Refresh and Refocus program which aims to foster renewed leadership and accountability, promote a more efficient and team-focused workforce and improve the delivery of services and infrastructure to the Scenic Rim community. Coinciding with the adoption of the 2019-20 Budget, the forum featured a presentation by the Mayor on rating outcomes for the new financial year and initiatives central to the Community Plan’s shared vision for the region. Members of Council’s Executive Management Team, who were appointed in December 2018, gave presentations about their portfolios and priorities for the year ahead. Chief Executive Officer Jon Gibbons spoke about the organisation’s long-term financial position and the work undertaken by Council to ensure its ongoing financial sustainability.

CONNECTING ONLINE

Growing reliance by the community on social media as a source of information was reflected by an increase of more than 19 per cent in Council’s audience across its Facebook platforms in 2018-19. There was an increase in the number of ‘likes’ on Council’s ScenicRimRC Facebook page from 5,490 in the previous year to 6,571, with the most popular organic post attaining a reach of 14,212. The use of Facebook live has continued to add value to communications outcomes and promoted community involvement in events including the Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony in January 2019 and the Business Excellence Awards in March 2019. Council also maintains @ScenicRimAlerts, a Facebook page dedicated to disaster management and community preparedness for extreme weather events. The introduction in 2017-18 of the Scenic Rim Disaster Dashboard, which provides the most upto-date information including weather warnings, bushfire alerts, road conditions and power outages has not had the expected impact on the disaster management page’s Facebook following, which grew from 8,295 to 8,721 during the year. The alerts page has continued to have a large reach, with several posts exceeding 12,000 views. Council’s website scenicrim.qld.gov.au was accessed by a total of 176,098 users during 2018-19, with an average of 14,000 hits a month, most by new visitors to the site.

LOOKING AHEAD Landmark projects that will boost the region’s economy are key initiatives in Council’s 2019-20 Budget. The $10.72 million expansion of Beaudesert Business Park, funded with a $5 million contribution from the Queensland Government under the Building Our Regions Fund, will provide economic benefits for the entire Scenic Rim. As part of the Regional Skills Investment Strategy, Council will partner with the Queensland Government to employ a project coordinator to help businesses to find, train and upskill the workers they need to prosper and grow. Key industries will include agriculture/agribusiness, health and allied services and hospitality and tourism, which collectively contribute more than $830 million to the regional economy.

Council staff who contributed to an enviable safety record enjoyed the rewards of council’s cost savings.