GW3 Newsroom

Greater Whitsunday Alliance and the Resources Centre of Excellence are hosting the region’s first ever decarbonisation summit in May, to help local businesses understand their role in carbon reduction.

Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) chief executive officer Ms Kylie Porter said the Decarbonisation Accelerated Summit is focused on unlocking thinking around decarbonisation and to provide a platform for actionable change across our region’s businesses, industries, and economy.

Tapping into a share of an emerging global industry estimated by the CSIRO to be worth some $400 billion by 2040, is the driver behind the release of the Greater Whitsunday Biomanufacturing Blueprint 1.0 by the Greater Whitsunday Allilance (GW3).

Biomanufacturing refers to the development and manufacturing of products from plant based, organic or waste resources rather than fossil fuels.

More than 1000 Greater Whitsunday businesses and community groups have registered for the Greater Whitsunday Grant Finder in the past 18 months.

The Greater Whitsunday Grant Finder is a partnership between, Mackay, Isaac, and Whitsunday Regional Councils and Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) to empower our regional business and community members with greater access to funding opportunities.

Almost $45 billion worth of projects have been listed on the Greater Whitsunday Regional Projects Development Register 2024.

The register lists 472 projects which are valued at more than $1 million planned for the Mackay Issac Whitsunday region.

Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) Chief Executive Officer Ms Kylie Porter said the Greater Whitsunday Regional Projects Development Register clearly demonstrate the strong pipeline of development ahead for the region. “This register showcases how strong our regional economy is across many different sectors, whether it be mining, construction or energy infrastructure.

The economic development bodies of North Queensland – Advance Cairns, Greater Whitsunday Alliance and Townsville Enterprise - have joined forces to seek a better outcome for the region amid questions around the effectiveness of the Cyclone Reinsurance Pool.

This follows the recent devastating flooding which impacted the Far North in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper last month.

Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) and a range of regional change champions travelled to Brisbane to share the greater possibilities ahead for the Greater Whitsunday region in October .

GW3 hosted a small delegation to Brisbane on Tuesday October 10 which culminated in a Greater Possibilities event at Parliament House, attended by the Premier of Queensland, the Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Dr Steven Miles, Leader of the Opposition Mr David Crisafulli and other key government Ministers and MP’s.

The Greater Whitsunday region is forging a new path with the launch of the Decarbonisation Accelerated project.

The Decarbonisation Accelerated project is taking a regional economic approach to encourage businesses and industries to start their decarbonisation journey.

Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) chief executive officer Ms Kylie Porter said the Decarbonisation Accelerated project is one of the first of its kind in Australia, where a whole-of-region approach to decarbonisation is being taken.   

“Our region is focused on seizing the opportunities that global decarbonisation brings.

“All current evidence indicates that while the metallurgical coal industry will remain strong for many decades, we still need to decarbonise our industries at the same time. 

The Greater Whitsunday AgTech Hub is launching an online portal to bridge the geographical divide and create connections between producers and agribusiness across the region.

The Greater Whitsunday Agtech Hub is hosted by Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) and is a collaboration between key regional stakeholders to grow the value of agriculture in the region using agtech.

Queensland Chief Entrepreneur Ms Julia Spicer OAM will launch the Greater Whitsunday AgTech Hub portal at EHS Manufacturing as part of her mission to build a culture of innovation across regional Queensland.