Western Downs Futures

Western Downs Regional Council helped to collate some data around the liveability of the region for the Western Downs Regional Futures Summit.

Click here to view the Western Downs Liveability Data:(PDF, 809KB)

(PDF, 809KB)   

The Western Downs Regional Futures Summit was held from the 3-5 May 2023, at the Dalby Events Centre. It was attended by 102 people from the community, local industry, services, and government stakeholders. Collaboration for Impact consultants facilitated the workshop with the following objectives: 

1. To strengthen collaboration by building on the existing partnering and collaboration across the region 
2. To leverage the diversity of the communities across the region to maximise outcomes for all 
3. To develop a shared understanding of what it will take to make things better across the region
4. To define what we need to continue to discuss and how we will govern this at this early stage 

Click here to read a summary of the Summit:(PDF, 5MB)

 (PDF, 5MB)  

Click here to read our storyboard from the Summit:(PDF, 13MB)

 (PDF, 13MB)  

Approximately 30 participants at the Summit expressed their interest to carry the work forward.

Meeting #1

The First Progress Team meeting was convened on 5 June 2023 to continue the dialogue around regional collaboration. This meeting aimed to (1) revisit some key concepts from the Summit, (2) share new information and examples of collaborative partnership governance arrangements, (3) provide activities that enabled participants to start to experience real collaboration and decision-making in practice, whilst starting to land some key elements of the work. 

Click here to read more:(PDF, 2MB)

 (PDF, 2MB)  

Working Group Meetings 

Two working groups were formed to finalise the Vision Statement, Principles and Governance Design for our place-based strategy. 

These groups met in July with the objective to take back their work to the Progress Team meeting #2. 

Vision Statement Working Group Summary(PDF, 571KB)

Governance Design Working Group Summary(PDF, 2MB)   

Meeting #2 

The second Progress Team meeting was held on Tuesday 8 August 2023 at the Tara Soldiers Memorial Hall. This meeting aimed to (1) continue learning from other examples of place-based change initiatives, (2) review the work that was progressed by the 2 x working group's established at the previous progress team meeting, (3) continue design work on the governance structure, principles and vision. 

Click here to read more:(PDF, 2MB) 

These are some of the early wins from the Western Downs Futures Group: 

Queensland Police Service

• 15 police and ancilliary staff are being recruited to the region. 

Local Housing Action Plan 

• The Department of Housing is fast-tracking a Local Housing Action Plan for our region with Local Government Association of Queensland. 

Department of Corrective Services

• Are establishing an office and a permanent staff member in the Tara region. 

Skilling Queenslanders for Work Program 

Western Downs Regional Council in partnership with Tara Shire State College were successful in their funding application with DESBT to provide 10 traineeship and upskilling opportunities for jobseekers in Tara.