On the ground with business and industry in the Northern Rivers

BY JANE LAVERTY 

ONE of the most enjoyable and informative parts of my role is listening to business leaders across the Northern Rivers region. Whether that’s in industry meetings, at our events, a visit to their business site or, more often than not, in quick conversations where people are simply being honest about what it takes to operate and manage an enterprise in today’s economic climate.

Our business and industry leaders are deeply passionate about keeping people employed and ensuring the Northern Rivers has a strong, sustainable economy and community.

As 2026 gets off the starting blocks, there is a clear thread running through these conversations. Business leaders are not looking for hype, they’re looking for traction and understanding.

That perspective has no doubt been shaped by the first half of this decade. COVID changed how businesses operate almost overnight. Economic pressures tested margins and confidence. In our region, repeated extreme weather events added another layer of uncertainty that many businesses elsewhere simply did not face.

Those experiences haven’t left businesses pessimistic, they have made them practical and passionate about growing our own talent, putting the region’s needs on the priority list for Government and working together to ensure the Northern Rivers gets its fair share of investment to reach its potential.

Business leaders consistently tell me that viability comes first. Costs, workforce availability, insurance, planning and regulatory complexity are not abstract policy issues, they shape day-to-day decisions about whether to invest, expand or hold back. When those settings don’t work, businesses adapt as best they can, but often at the cost of growth and confidence.

At the same time, there is real momentum. We see many businesses actively investing in efficiency, skills, technology and new opportunities. They’re thinking carefully about energy use, supply chains, risk and resilience – not because they’ve been told to, but because the environment they operate in demands it.

What’s becoming increasingly clear is that economic resilience and environmental resilience are now part of the same conversation. Energy prices, climate risk, insurance, supply chains and workforce stability all intersect. Businesses feel this first, long before it shows up in policy reviews or strategy documents.

This is where advocacy matters – not in abstract terms, but in practical ways.

Regional businesses need procurement systems that value local capability, not just lowest price. They need planning and infrastructure decisions that are coordinated and forward-looking. They need workforce pathways that genuinely connect local people to local jobs.

And they need to be heard.

2026 feels like a line in the sand. A chance to move from reacting to shaping. For Northern Rivers business, that’s a shift worth making and worth backing with action.

Business NSW have been leading the development of ProspER Northern Rivers, a Regional Economic and Environment Plan 2040, a whole of region approach to defining opportunities for economic wellbeing and prosperity.

To get involved go to northernriversnsw.com.au/prosper

Jane Laverty is the Regional Director of Business NSW, Northern Rivers.