Community Cabinet Presentation to Hon Minister (Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning) 25th September 2018

Minister, thank you for this opportunity to make a statement on behalf of the Highfields District Business Connections (HDBC) to outline our vision for the Highfields Lifestyle Enterprise Precinct (HLEP).

Since 2003 Highfields has doubled its population with today’s figure estimated to be nearly 13,500. Over the next 18 years it is projected to grow by 63% to approx 22,000. This growth has been great for the region and council has done it’s best to plan for this expansion.

However, the evidence is, that due to the proximity of Highfields to the Toowoomba CBD, strong growth and good local planning has not been able to shift the markets-pressure that has now shaped the commercial heart of Highfields into a dormitory suburb, with restricted business opportunity, limited services and small numbers of, generally low skilled, local employment.

Two Years ago, in July 2016, HDBC accepted the government’s challenge for local communities to bring solutions to government rather than complaints.

A community grant from Heritage Bank’s Crows Nest Community Branch has enabled us to engage the specialist mentoring of Robert Prestipino & Kate Charters, and allowed us to work with our community leaders to develop a catalyst for regional economic development that responds to local values, aligns with government policy and is attractive to corporate investors.

The Highfields Lifestyle Enterprise Precinct is a bold and innovative vision for a 19.6ha greenfield site in the heart of Highfields. It will be a modern, best practice precinct that delivers long term lifestyle and economic benefits for the local community. It will embed the role of Highfields as a regional workforce hub that supports regional growth in line with the Council’s Economic Development Strategy.

The Highfields Lifestyle Enterprise Precinct is expected to create 11,411 jobs, of which 4,425 would be directly in the precinct. This future employment will realize an economic contribution of $1.7 billion (in Gross Regional Product terms) and reduce projected commuting by 30% to provide $10.7M in productivity savings over the next 20 years.

The unique mix of residential, commercial and public open space on the precinct will provide an appealing lifestyle that attracts and retains high skilled workers. It will also encourage business and industry clusters to generate additional economic value through supply chain development, innovation and entrepreneurship.

This new precinct draws from the success and learnings of other Southern projects such as Southbank, Springfield and the Gold Coast Health Precinct. It will provide a viable small scale regional application as a test case for all regional communities across Australia.

From the beginning of this locally driven and corporate lead journey, the goal has always been to provide council with a regionally significant project that has a strong business case for State & Federal infrastructure funding.

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For more information contact: [email protected] Community Cabinet Presentation to Hon Minister Cameron Dick (Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning) Toowoomba 25th September 2018

Our strategic advisors (Ian Macfarlane, John McVeigh, Maha Sinnathamby and Dr Jim Varghese, the Mayor, Trevor Watts, Kerry Shine, Denis Wagner, Dallas Hunter, Marco Waanders) have encouraged us to be bold about the potential for Highfields within the region.

They see that the HLEP is an important component of the existing strategic infrastructure network in Toowoomba’s North West, which includes Wellcamp Airport and Business Park, FKG Data and Technology Park, the Logistics Hub at Charlton, DOD bases of Oakey and Cabarlah, the Singaporean Helicopter Training Centre.

Collectively these strategic assets have the potential to deliver over 20,000 jobs in the next 20 years. Due to the proximity of Highfields to Cabarlah, a Defence Services Sector has always been discussed as a market opportunity along with allied health and enterprise education. These three sectors seem a natural fit for the Highfields precinct.

In June, we were invited to a meeting in Canberra with the senior policy advisor to then Fed Min for Defence Industries Christopher Pyne. At this meeting DOD confirmed the Defence Industries Services Sector opportunity for Highfields and the region due to its unique close proximity to three major defence bases.

Also at this meeting we realized two important points: firstly that a Service Hub for Defence Industries within the precinct would directly support contract activities undertaken on the Cabarlah site; and secondly that there was a real opportunity for the Highfields site to activate a regional Defence Industries Services Cluster.

Hon Dr John McVeigh MP has since confirmed this information and the regional cluster discussion has begun locally with broad regional agreement that Regional Development Australia (RDA) and Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) are key delivery agencies for a economic development project of this scale and significance. We have invited the Mayor to join us on our next planned meetings in Canberra (with Federal Minister Defence Industries and the Shadow Minister) to seek documented support that will enable TSBE explore corporate interest in this regional concept.

The HDBC has spent $140,000 of community grants producing substantial evidence that supports this regional development opportunity for the and the State of Queensland. As a local community, we have stepped up to government with a solution; we have engaged with, listened to and worked collaboratively with corporate leaders. We feel now is the time for State Government to support the next phase of this collaboration. The support that HDBC is requesting from the Minister is:

A letter to Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) supporting the regional defence cluster initiative

PURPOSE: Provide confidence and encouragement for TRC to continue AND Enable further discussions with potential corporate partners.

Provide the financial resources for TSBE to activate the market.

PURPOSE: Collate and gather best practice insights from industry partners and local corporate leaders for an Action Plan to maximise investment attraction AND Complete a business case for a business attraction program

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For more information contact: [email protected]