Business NSW Northern Rivers will get a helping hand to develop a strategy that will support the economic recovery, wellbeing and revitalisation of the Northern Rivers, thanks to a $250,000 NSW Government election commitment.

The funding will be used to develop the ProspER Northern Rivers Regional Economic and Environment Plan, which will help identify opportunities and reduce barriers for long-term sustainable economic development across eight Local Government areas in the region, including the Tenterfield Shire.

The initiative dovetails nicely with the regional master plan, which will also guide flood mitigation scenarios later in the year.

Announcing the initiative in the Lismore CBD yesterday, Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery and Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin said, “I advocated strongly for this initiative because I could see early on that there can’t be community flood recovery without economic recovery and that demands a coordinated strategy.

“I wanted the business chamber to drive this, and I have been working closely with Jane Laverty from Business NSW Northern Rivers.

"Business has done their part to say we're back in business, as tough as it is, and we need, as community leaders, to walk with them. And after a big event like the catastrophe 2022 we all have a pining for the past and to be put back where we were.

"I've never seen that quite possible after any major catastrophe or disaster, and we just have to keep building, recognising our strengths, our opportunities, and sort of driving forward our challenges. So this ProspER plan will focus a lot on our challenges, our strengths and opportunities, and that's the narrative that we have going forward. No one's forgotten, nobody's forgotten, but we go forward as the vibrant, wonderful, beautiful region that we are."

The ProspER Northern Rivers Regional Economic and Environment Plan will provide strategic advice on economic and environmental risks facing the region to help future-proof economic development, create new opportunities for different types of jobs and industries, and support entrepreneurship.

The initiative will be guided by a Regional Project Steering Group made up of local representatives, including First Nations and youth participants, who will work with community, business and local Councils to develop the plan.

The plan will identify opportunities to help local businesses and industry thrive, with a focus on innovative projects that create opportunities for economic development in other industries and communities.

It will also help develop a method to identify both risks to existing businesses and potential growth opportunities in industries such as eco-tourism, creative industries, value-add manufacturing, sustainable agriculture, health care innovation and renewable energy. 

Such projects could include the development of a health precinct to attract Allied Health businesses and Food Connect Precincts housing for-rent commercial kitchens and office spaces to support micro-enterprises.

The plan also aims to build capacity, attract investment, act as an advocacy tool for future funding opportunities, and help grow regional branding and identity.

(Janelle Saffin, Jane Laverty, Simon Stahl and Donna Kildea discuss the new ProspER plan yesterday)

Business NSW Northern Rivers Regional Director Jane Laverty said, "It's a whole of-region approach to sustainable economic development and well-being for our community.

"This region's been through so much over the last few years, this is a really wonderful opportunity for us to engage across the whole of the Northern Rivers and the Tenterfield Shire as part of this program, and understanding the wants and needs of business and industry. Where there are constraints and where there are opportunities and catalyst projects so that we could be taking a 2040 view of what our region needs and how we can help our business community and our broader community to achieve success.

"We will be doing a huge amount of engagement. We're asking people to be quite aspirational, as well as really pinpointing the challenges that they're having in terms of skills development, workforce development, that will be a big part of this project, as well as enabling infrastructure, technology and anything that can enable us to create a business environment that helps businesses that are here already to thrive and grow.

"But also encourage new investment, new businesses to come into the Northern Rivers region and create that diversity of employment that will make a huge difference to the young people, maybe sitting in primary school in our region today, wondering what their future career may be if they choose to stay and live in the Northern Rivers, as we know many of them would like to do. We want to ensure that there's a job for them to do so here."

Ms Laverty said the first step for the new ProspER plan will start with a 'business retention expansion survey' in early March.

"That will do a deep dive into where businesses are today and what their challenges or what their opportunities are today, but also have them looking ahead two, five and 10 years for what they might need to help their businesses to grow. This will enable us to understand the current business environment to ensure that the future business environment is one that will attract investment and will help those businesses to make the decisions they need to grow in the region.

"We would like to be showing our business and industry a first view of what some of that data is telling us at the ProspER Northern Rivers Forum, which we will be hosting in Lismore on the 10th of April."

Traditionally, economic development strategies tend to be very LGA (local government area) focused, as it has been with local councils. It is rare that a group looks at opportunities for the entire Northern Rivers.

"It's about the sum of the parts; we will be stronger as a whole of region. This will enable us to see where certain LGAs can actually collaborate and partner together to strengthen the opportunities that we have here to attract investment. They're very excited about this chance to show a very consolidated and collaborative approach to sustainable economic development.

"And there is that environmental aspect that we take into consideration here as well. This project will work seamlessly with the Disaster Adaptation Planning and the broader masterplan project for the Northern Rivers, which we're really excited about. I think this is the first plan that I've seen that is business and industry-led and whole of region and is backed by all levels of government. That should shore us up for success.

Ms Laverty wouldn't be drawn into which urban centre's emerging business headquarters will be located at this early stage.

It may have taken Australia's most costly natural disaster for the Northern Rivers to come together on vital issues such as mitigation and housing, now, business will also benefit to drive growth for the entire region.