The South West has been steered by a regional plan, in different guises, for more than a decade. It’s achievement is demonstrated in successfully prioritising investment opportunities.

The power of a strategy that engages across its region and has its region’s buy-in cannot be over-stated. While driven by Regional Development Australia, South West Regional Futures is the region’s plan not RDA’s plan.

It considers broad input and is influenced by other pieces of work such as that produced by the South West Development Commission and there is substantial input from the region’s 12 local governments.

SW Regional Futures challenges readers to meet the years ahead with courage and confront both what will be exciting and what is likely to pose a threat.

Some of the ideas might seem provocative but they are based on genuine opportunity, comparative advantage and they have an eye on our rapidly changing world.

The first part of this work will note overall regional data and then we will move to future themes. This will provide a framework for discussion which will be enlivened by commentary on global megatrends, futurism and arguably a little speculation.

Regional Futures will explore several areas of opportunity and will dare to dream what might be.

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