In December 2016, the Townsville City Deal is a 15-year commitment between all three tiers of government that aims to support a prosperous economic future for Townsville, position Townsville as a vibrant, liveable and innovative city and unlock the potential for business and industry development. The Townsville City Deal was being delivered through a range of commitments across six key initiatives. One of these initiatives includes a focus on establishing Townsville as the capital of North Queensland and includes commitment to the delivery of new cultural and entertainment infrastructure. AEC was engaged by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts to undertake the Townsville Concert Hall and Culture Precinct Detailed Business Case in conjunction with AECOM. The Business Case includes detailed stakeholder engagement with the local arts and cultural community, with the stakeholder engagement forming a key input into the development of a service need. In developing the Business Case, AEC are also considering options for the infrastructure such as site options, asset delivery considerations and facility options. The analysis also includes detailed consideration including design, financial and economic appraisal, risk analysis and legal, regulatory and approvals pathway.

Client: Shoalhaven City Council State: NSW AEC was engaged by Shoalhaven City Council to prepare the Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) for the 2022-26 Resourcing Strategy. The project required AEC to complete a review of the current and future planning context and asses the alignment of current financial performance with the key plans and strategies. AEC developed the LTFP modelling and provided advice to Council on the sustainability of the proposed capital works program and service expenditure based on the current revenue strategies. Financial modelling included projected income and expenditure, balance sheet and cash flow statements for the budgeted scenario, as well as two alternative scenarios. Included in the LTFP are strategies that AEC recommended Council implements to achieve the desired long term financial sustainability and methods for monitoring the performance of the LTFP. To complete the engagement, AEC facilitated a workshop with the Councillors and Executive to present the draft LTFP and to discuss any matters of interest to the Council prior to adoption of the LTFP. The LTFP drafted by AEC is now published and available in the Resourcing Strategy on Council’s website: https://doc.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au/Displaydoc.aspx?Record=D22/273281

AEC was engaged by DevelopmentWA to deliver a business case which sought to identify and recommend the ideal solution to address the critical vessel lifting capability gap at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC). The AMC is a foundational facility for the marine industry within Western Australia. Work undertaken across the AMC supports not only the marine industry, and industries with marine supply chain requirements, but it also support the region’s economic prosperity. AEC’s role was to develop the business case to identify the preferred solution to addressing the critical infrastructure gap. AEC undertook detailed demand projections, estimated the overall social and economic impact of the proposed investment, and evaluated the commercial viability of the proposed investment. The recommended solution considered the strategic alignment of the investment to the overall State and regional objectives and a risk assessment of the proposed investment.

In October 2018, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called for net overseas migration to New South Wales to be halved, from just over 100,000 people to around 50,000 people annually. The Premier cited high rates of population growth, congestion and insufficient infrastructure to support future growth. Several weeks later, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans to consider a cut Australia’s permanent migration cap by up to 30,000 placements. Following these announcements, AEC was engaged to provide analysis around the economic ramifications of reducing migration to NSW. AEC provided an overview of historic overseas migration and net overseas migration by visa type, a qualitative assessment of the beneficial and adverse impacts of reducing overseas migration to NSW. The report culminated in a quantitative assessment of reducing overseas migration to NSW by 54,500 people annually for a ten year period from 2020 to 2029 using CGE modelling. The simulations undertaken for this report contained four core drivers for economic change in NSW. These were changes to: Population Education exports Income transfers to foreign students studying in Australia Work force (total number and occupational mix). Results of the modelling examined the impacts of a reduction inward overseas migration to NSW in terms of lost Gross State Product (GSP), industry output, employment and employee incomes. Impacts on population and demand for dwelling development were also investigated.

Client: Stadiums Queensland Stadiums Queensland (SQ) is a statutory body established under the Major Sports Facilities Act 2001 and is charged with the management of major facilities declared under Queensland Government regulation as being venues having the capacity to stage national or international sports events and to deliver recreation and entertainment experiences. Of the nine (9) venues managed by SQ, customer research has been commissioned for three key stakeholder groups (customers/patrons, members, and hirers) across six key venues including The Suncorp Stadium, The Gabba, 1300SMILES Stadium, the Cbus Super Stadium, the Sleeman Sports Complex, and the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre. Over four years, AEC will undertake more than 15,000 intercept and online surveys with spectators, members and hirers, stakeholder consultations and focus group sessions and produce 24 trend analysis reports inclusive of segmentation analysis. The four-year contract term includes delivering on strategic insights to benchmark stakeholder satisfaction overall and across key service areas (including identifying key and sub-drivers of satisfaction and a ranked action plan), retention and to track these KPIs over time, formal presentation of the results as well as infographic reporting as requested by SQ.

Edward River, like many regions across Australia, has seen population decline in recent years. Edward River Council seeks to not only arrest this decline, but to expand rapidly over the coming decades, to more than double their population by 2050. The Edward River 2050 Fast Track for Growth Strategy, developed by AEC in collaboration with Edward River Council and iPlan Projects, aims to guide the region to see population growth over the coming decades. The strategy provides a pipeline of realistic and achievable opportunities that enhances liveability, activates new industries, expands upon pre-exiting strengths, and drives the attraction of visitors/ tourists. In developing this strategy, AEC leveraged our intimate understanding of the region as well as our skills, experience, and expertise to deliver unparalleled outcomes for the Edward River. Edward River 2050 was developed through a process involving rigorous background research/ analysis and an extensive stakeholder consultation campaign. These formed the cornerstone of the strategy, providing valuable insights to deliver tailored opportunities for Edward River. These opportunities are supported by a detailed implementation plan, that will act as a roadmap for Council, industry, regional organisations, and the community to synergise efforts and advance Edward River towards 2050.

Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM) is an Australian minerals exploration company that is developing the Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) Project – an environmentally sustainable refinery that aims to produce nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, high purity alumina and hematite. AEC was engaged to undertake an assessment of the anticipated economic impacts and public benefit anticipated to be delivered by the project to the Townsville and North Queensland economy. The assessment included: CGE modelling of the project to understand the direct and flow-on impacts of the project on economic measures such as jobs, GRP, industry output, and wages/ salaries (including impacts on the real wage). Assessment of impacts on taxation revenues for government based on CGE modelling results and benchmarks. Analysis of other anticipated socio-economic impacts to the community. A public benefit assessment examining the net benefits anticipated to be delivered to the broader North Queensland community. A cost benefit analysis to assess the net benefit of the project. The assessment was used to support submissions for financing/ funding through NAIF and the NRF. A graphically designed advocacy document was also developed to support QPM's marketing and funding applications.

The association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA) engaged AEC to estimate the socio-economic benefit of AISWA’s Future Footprints Program. The program, established in 2004, is a partnership between AISWA and 17 Independent Boarding Schools across Western Australia (WA), to advance the educational and social development of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. As part of AEC’s analysis, we quantified (wherever possible) the savings to society of the prevention of early disengagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths, as well as the improved lifetime outcomes for students as a result of the program. AEC considered the impacts of increased labour force participation (including increased employment, and incomes), reduced costs of crime, and improved health outcomes in our analysis. We also qualitatively assessed the benefit of reduced dependence on welfare and intergenerational benefits to students’ families and community. Furthermore, AEC provided an assessment of the programs contribution to the 17 closing the gap targets.

The Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA) is the peak body representing Independent Schools in Western Australia (WA). AISWA represented 139 schools (covering more than 170 campuses) in WA, with over 70,200 student enrolments in 2018. Membership encompasses schools of many different types, sizes and educational philosophies. AISWA provides a wide range of services and support to its member schools contributing to the high quality of education provided by the Independent Schools sector of WA. AISWA engaged AEC Group Pty Ltd (AEC) to analyse and quantify the important contribution Independent Schools make to WA in terms of their contribution to WA Gross State Product (GSP), employment and household incomes; the savings they deliver to governments and therefore tax payers; and the economic value that flows from the enhanced education outcomes achieved by Independent School students. In undertaking the analysis, AEC used Input-Output modelling techniques within an economic significance framework. This is a recognised and standard modelling approach to assess the economic contribution of an existing industry. Verified data from AISWA for 2018 was used (the most recent year that validated data was available) as well as published financial year data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and other agencies to produce the estimates in this report for the 2017-18 year. The report also examined the savings to tax payers delivered by independent schools (in terms of the costs that would otherwise be incurred by Government to educate students attending independent schools), as well as the economic value delivered by the enhanced education outcomes for students attending independent schools relative to public schools, in terms of the contribution to GSP delivered by improved education outcomes.

AEC were engaged to assess the economic contribution the independent schools sector made to the Queensland economy in 2021-22, as well as key regions, state electorates and federal electorates. The project updated previous analysis undertaken by AEC for both the 2013-14 and 2017-18 financial years. The assessment used an Input-Output significance modelling framework to identify the direct and flow-on contribution of independent schools to Queensland Gross State Product (GSP), employment and employee incomes. This included consideration of operating activity and expenditure of independent schools, as well as capital works expenditure/ activity and the expenditure of international boarding students in the Queensland economy. AEC’s analysis demonstrated that the independent schools sector in Queensland saved the Queensland and Australian governments (and taxpayers) money in terms of recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure savings compared to what the Governments would otherwise need to spend to educate students at independent schools. Furthermore, AEC was able to show that the independent schools sector in Queensland contributed to improved educational outcomes for independent students, delivering longer term benefits to Queensland economic growth.

AEC has been providing assessments of the economic contribution of the property sector for the Property Council of Australia (PCA) for over a decade. We were most recently engaged to provide an assessment of the contribution in 2020, examining the contribution for the 2018-19 financial year. This project involved assessing the contribution of the property industry to the Australian economy, as well as in each State/ Territory, Federal Electorate, State Electorate and local government area. The economic contribution was measured in terms of contribution to GDP/ GSP/ GRP, employment, wages and salaries and taxes in 2018-19. The analysis also provided comparison to the property industry's contribution to the national and State/ Territory economies each year since 2006-07. The contribution of the property industry to GDP/ GSP/ GRP, employment and wages and salaries was undertaken using a significance model based on an input-output framework, which enabled analysis of both the direct and flow-on effects of the property industry within the national, State/ Territory, electorate and LGA economies. The final outputs were compiled into one national report and eight reports covering each State/ Territory. Four page flyers were also developed for Australia and each State/ Territory, as well as every State and Federal electorate and LGA in Australia, for marketing purposes.

Client: Royal Flying Doctors Service State: QLD AEC was engaged by the Royal Flying Doctors Service to develop an economic analysis for the potential development of a new aeromedical based at the Mount Isa airport. AEC undertook Input-Output modelling and Cost Benefit Assessment to understand the potential impacts the development would bring to the North West Queensland community. The findings of the report were used to support a Building Better Regions Funding application.