Council backs local businesses to the tune of $71m

Published on 21 November 2017

Contractor working on roads

Guided by its Local Preference Policy, Rockhampton Regional Council has injected over $71m into the local economy in the past 12 months.

Acting Mayor Councillor Tony Williams said the figures indicated the policy’s 12% buy local weighting - now in its third year - was proving successful, and that he was proud Council is helping local businesses.

“Council injected $71.3m into local businesses, from a total spend of $96.4m, by sourcing local goods and services for our many projects - that’s over three quarters spent within the Rockhampton Region,” Cr Williams said.

“Given the specialist nature of some of our projects, especially relating to the Rockhampton Airport and Fitzroy River Water, there will always be a need for us to purchase goods and services from businesses outside of our Region and Central Queensland. However, where we can, we stay local. For example when it comes to road making materials, plant and equipment, and trade services, we spend locally 96% of the time. That’s $23.3m from a total of $24.3m,” he said.

“On top of that, we also spent an additional $2.9m with local Council areas surrounding our boundaries, so when we can’t do it within our own area we are still aiming to keep the money in Central Queensland.”

Each year, the Local Preference Policy is reviewed and there have been some changes for contractors supporting local business.

“We said we’d commit to local businesses and help nurture and grow our Region’s economy, and we’ll continue to do so wherever possible.

“That’s why today Council committed to giving those businesses based outside the RRC boundaries, but employing people within our Region, a higher preferential score than those using resources and people within the CQ region more widely.

“There is a fine balance between value for money, continuous improvement and supporting our local businesses and services. We think we’ve achieved that balance for the next 12 months.”