MNCRDB
MNCRDB
Regional Economic Profile

Doing business in the Mid North Coast

Competitive Advantage

The Mid North Coast is about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane-Gold Coast with the Pacific Highway and the main north south railway line providing the main transport links. The Pacific Highway is being upgraded to four lanes and the railway line has recently been upgraded to enable faster train speeds.

The region is connected in the west to the New England region via Thunderbolts Way, the Oxley Highway and Waterfall Way - all very scenic drives across the Great Dividing Range.

Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie each have two major airlines flying to and from Sydney and another airline providing flights to and from Brisbane. Coffs Harbour also has a weekly flight to and from Melbourne. Smaller airports are located at Taree and Kempsey where flights are available to and from Sydney.

The region is proud of its “clean, green” record. Local Government has been very active in protecting the environment and Coffs Harbor, Port Macquarie and Taree are leaders in the Cities for Climate Change accreditation program. Coffs Harbour was chosen as the World’s most livable city in 2002.

Employment Land

The Department of Planning is working with each local government council to ensure there is sufficient employment land and other necessary infrastructure to cater for the expected growth of the region.

The Mid North Coast Regional Strategy (Department of Planning) estimates population growth of 80,000 people over the next 25 years which will require 51,400 extra dwellings and 386 hectares of extra employment land.

The Strategy states that while Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour are somewhat constrained, the major regional centres and major towns further from the coast have the capacity to provide the land and other infrastructure to support industrial development, especially for industry with an export focus. Kempsey and Taree in particular have significant potential for employment land development.

All councils in the region have some vacant land zoned and developed to accommodate the immediate needs of industry. Because there is already strong demand for this land it is better that contact be made with each council’s economic development officer to get contemporary information on availability and price. Links to those people appear below.


Key Industries

Manufacturing is the major driver of the Mid North Coast economy but it is closely followed by property and business services, ownership of dwellings, construction, retail trade and health and community services. Between them they account for 40% of the region’s gross regional product.

Employment in the region has a greater reliance on the retail trade, health care and social assistance.

The private sector is dominated by small service based businesses employing less than 20 staff.

Workforce

Approximately 75 per cent of jobs in the region come from internal demand (goods and services) and there is relatively high unemployment and underemployment (most opportunities in retail, hospitality and tourism are part time). This has resulted in a high proportion of low income households – the median weekly household income was only 62.5% of the national rate of $1,027 in 2006.

The 2006 ABS census found the Mid North Coast had a lower proportion of people with tertiary qualifications (35.2%) compared to the State (40.7%), but the region had a higher proportion of people attending technical or further education institutions (8.9%) to the State (7.7%).

Port Macquarie-Hastings (9%), Nambucca (8.8%) and Greater Taree (8.4%) had the highest proportion of people attending technical and further education institutions supported by industry growth and employment opportunities in manufacturing and construction.

The region’s labour force is growing steadily and increased during 2007 by 4.1% compared to the State average of 1.4%. At just under 8% the region’s unemployment rate is higher than the State average of 5%, but the trend is downward.