2015-12-14 General Committee Agenda Attachment 1 to Item 3 Noosa Shire Economic Plan

Diversify the Economy by Growing Priority Sectors:

Objective: Diversification of our local economic structure.


Who:                                                    What:
Priority Sectors:                                       Diversification of our industry structure will
                                                        minimise the impact of economic shocks or
•   Health and wellness
                                                        downturns in the local economy, particularly in
•   Digital economy                                     those sectors that are most vulnerable such as
•   Environmental industries                            retail, tourism and construction. It will also assist
                                                        job opportunities to emerge across a variety of
•   Rural enterprise                                    industry sectors.
•   Tourism
                                                        The Noosa economy reflects the trend being
•   Creative industries                                 experienced by other developed economies, that
•   Professional services                               is, away from traditional manufacturing to more
                                                        serviced-based businesses; shifting from creating
The priority sectors have been identified to drive
                                                        goods to providing services that can be exported
that change because:
                                                        globally. This trend is driven by technology plus an
•   They are a good fit with the sustainability         educated and well-trained workforce. This service
    aspirations of this community and offer growth      economy sees increased demand for business
    potential in industry sectors that have high        services such as finance, insurance, legal, accounting,
    economic value and low environmental impact.        ITC, marketing and so on, as well as travel, education
                                                        and creative industries.
•   Our Shire demonstrates a competitive advantage
    in that sector and a clear opportunity has been     The construction, tourism and retail sectors have
    identified.                                         been, and will continue to be, key contributors to
•   They are market driven and strongly supported       Noosa Shire’s gross regional product and thus provide
    by the local business community                     a significant number of jobs. It is the intention
                                                        of this Plan to recognise the contribution of these
•   They align with accepted trends, and state and
                                                        established industries and at the same time focus on
    federal government priorities.
                                                        broadening Noosa Shire’s economic structure.
The priority sectors do not align with the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS) - Australian and New
Zealand Standard Industry Classifications (ANZSIC)
which is traditionally used for the standardised
collection and measurement of economic data on
an industry basis. The local economy will continue
to be tracked and measured based on data accessed
                                                                     COMMUNITY SENTIMENT
from ABS using the ANZSIC.                                       There has been a lack of investment
                                                                 in economic development and
                                                                 diversification.