The course was based on the Masters of Regional Development degree program, offered by the Institute of Regional Development.

For its WA delivery, the course was modified to include more local case examples, a larger section on community capacity and also as section on the State Sustainability Strategy from Professor Peter Newman from the Office Premier and Cabinet. Professor Newman spoke of sustainable development priorities not only happening from “top down “ but must also happen from “bottom up” to be effective. People’s sense of place and belonging as an element of community sustainability could not be overlooked when defining why some communities thrived and others withered.

Over the three days, people from all levels of government - federal, state, regional and local and people from ACC’s and development commissions all over the state took the opportunity to exchange ideas and enter into sometimes lively debate on economic and community development issues. While there are numerous conferences and seminars on economic and regional development, there is nothing that offers professional development at this academic level. It was this factor and a belief in the need for a course of this calibre to be made available for people from all over the state, that was the impetus behind the partnership between the Institute of Regional Development and the Perth Area Consultative Committee to deliver the course. The role of ACC’s has expanded under the Charter and the delivery of this course certainly fulfils the core responsibility of the ACC’s being a key facilitator of change and development in their regions and knowing their area well from an economic, social and environmental perspective. It also fills the role of the Perth ACC acting as a catalyst and co ordination point for regional development and facilitating a whole of government approach to opportunities.

The course was delivered by Dr Fiona Haslam McKenzie, Head of Academic Programs in the Institute for Regional Development at the University of Western Australia, Dr Peter Johnson is a Senior Associate at ACIL Tasman, specialising in economic modelling and economic impact analysis and Wendy Newman who works in regional and community development activities that profile and build economic, environmental and social capacity.

Feedback from participants was largely positive and comments included the request for further seminars covering issues of economic development theory, policy development, to more practical application of economic development tools and models.