Our Regional Advocacy
Our statutory mandate outlines our role to provide regional leadership for the Hunter region, and to be an advocate for strategic regional priorities. Each year we engage with our Board of ten democratically elected Mayors and General Managers of our member councils, to identify and rank the Hunter regional advocacy priorities and activities.
Our Shared Priorities 2025-26
Economic transformation to achieve net zero
A key priority for 2026 is Economic Transformation, where the scale of change facing our region is significant:
- According to coal industry modelling shared with our Member Councils, 12,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be impacted by two coal mine closures by 2030.
- Expected global decline in coal demand will impact another 20 further coal mines with no mining approvals currently granted beyond 2048.
- Impacts across the Hunter will be close to 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Hunter region (FIJA Issues Paper, 2023).
We’re calling for the Federal and NSW Governments to come together with Local Governments to collaborate on delivery, and provide a greater level of investment to support the Hunter region through this transformation.
Housing
We appreciate the strong focus of NSW Government to meet the Housing Accord targets. We’ve outlined a number of challenges that need to be addressed to ensure a healthy housing stock and suggestions for how we can work together, including:
- Funding for enabling infrastructure
- Integrated planning
- Balancing biodiversity
- Increasing density
- Cost of construction
- Social and affordable housing
Improving Facilities and Services
Local Governments across Australia are facing mounting financial risks that threaten their long-term sustainability, and impact on their ability to fund critical facilities and services.
Projects to achieve economic growth
Evidence based Business Cases to demonstrate how we can diversify our economy in the Hunter, with a positive return on investment: