PLAN Table of contents Minister‟s Foreword ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Message from the Chair of the Northern Regional Reference Group ............................................................................ 3 About this plan .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Part 1 – Economic, environmental and social context ......................................................................................................... 8 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Northern region‟s core assets and strengths ....................................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Place ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1.1 The northern region ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1.2 Regional infrastructure........................................................................................................................................................... 19 1.2 People................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 1.2.1 Population distribution and trends ..................................................................................................................................... 29 1.2.2 Age profile of the population ............................................................................................................................................... 31 1.2.3 Education and skills ................................................................................................................................................................. 33 1.2.4 Labour force ............................................................................................................................................................................. 37 1.3 Performance ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 1.3.1 Industry structure ................................................................................................................................................................... 38 1.3.2 The regional economy ........................................................................................................................................................... 42 1.4 Challenges and opportunities......................................................................................................................................................... 44 1.4.1 Northern region‟s challenges ............................................................................................................................................... 44 1.4.2 Northern region‟s opportunities......................................................................................................................................... 46 Part 2 – Regional action plan .................................................................................................................................................... 49 2.1 Vision .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 2.2 Goals, objectives and actions ......................................................................................................................................................... 51 Goal One To support and grow businesses in the northern region ................................................................................ 52 Goal Two To maximise economic potential in key sectors in the northern region .................................................... 74 Goal Three To improve the social and environmental sustainability of the economy in the northern region ........ 98 Goal Four To support and grow communities in the northern region ......................................................................... 112 Part 3 - Priority industry sector profiles ............................................................................................................................. 126 Advanced manufacturing sector profile - northern region .............................................................................................................. 127 Dairy sub-sector profile - northern region ......................................................................................................................................... 130 Fruit sub-sector profile - northern region ........................................................................................................................................... 132 Poppy sub-sector profile - northern region ........................................................................................................................................ 136 Red meat sub-sector profile - northern region .................................................................................................................................. 139 Vegetables sub-sector profile - northern region ................................................................................................................................ 142 Wine sub-sector profile - northern region ......................................................................................................................................... 146 Forestry and related products sector profile - northern region ................................................................................................... 149 Mining and mineral processing sector profile - northern region ................................................................................................... 153 Tourism sector profile - northern region ............................................................................................................................................ 156 References .................................................................................................................................................................................. 161 Minister’s Foreword This is a challenging time for regional Australia. Around the world, national and regional economies are experiencing structural adjustment, resulting from uncertainty in global markets. Australia‟s strong currency is cited as the major reason for the contraction of export markets. A high Australian dollar means our exporters - farmers, miners, tourism operators, manufacturers and education providers - become less competitive on the world stage. Tasmania is not immune from this. Our three regions, their industries and their communities, are in transition. We in Government know and acknowledge the pressures this has brought to bear on both the business sector and the communities involved. Change is not always easy, but sometimes it is necessary. In 2011, in order to help guide us through this transitional phase, the Tasmanian Government struck a new direction for the state‟s future by launching its Economic Development Plan. For the next 10 years and beyond, this state-wide plan will guide Tasmania towards a vision of improving the prosperity of all Tasmanians through implementing a program of development that is economically sound and socially and environmentally sustainable. In carrying out the Plan, the government is embracing a partnership approach with industry. The basis of this approach is for all three levels of government - Australian, Tasmanian and Local - to align their priorities and strategies to grow and support our regional economies and communities. Importantly, the Economic Development Plan signalled the development of three regional economic development plans to coordinate government actions at a regional level in order to build resilient regional economies, through making them more diverse. Developing plans such as the Northern Regional Economic Development Plan provides a timely opportunity for us to reflect on where the region has been, where it is now, and where it could go. This Northern Regional Economic Development Plan has been used to identify the specific opportunities and challenges of the region and integrate these with the overarching economic development priorities outlined in the Economic Development Plan. Early in the development of the regional economic development plans, the Tasmanian Government recognised it could not do this task alone. This regional plan has built on existing work undertaken by councils and regional bodies in the north as well as by the Australian Government. It has also drawn on local expertise and knowledge of regional