Multilevel Governance and Smart Specialisation Strategy: The case of the Swifts Creek district in Gippsland

Abstract

In November 2019, the Victorian Government announced the Victorian Forestry Plan. It set out the gradual transition away from native forest harvesting to a plantation-based timber supply by 2030. A revised timeline was communicated in May 2023, bringing forward the cessation of native timber harvesting to 1 January 2024. To support businesses, workers and communities during the transition, 11 towns were identified for the preparation and implementation of so-called local development strategies (LDSs) as they were considered to be most impacted by the Forestry Plan. The objective of an LDS is to assist local communities to undertake diversification planning to secure long-term sustainable industries. A key part of the local development strategy is to promote collaborative ways of working within a community, and to provide capability training that will support communities to pursue regional innovation opportunities beyond the lifespan of the LDS project. The LDS drew on the Smart Specialisation (S3) methodology, a place-based, evidence driven, inclusive process for identifying and developing regional strengths and assets and opportunities for innovation. This paper will examine how this has played out in one of the 11 communities, Swifts Creek. Based on 79 individual interviews and community-based workshops conducted between March and December 2023 with a diverse range of regional stakeholders, as well as on the analysis of secondary data sources, we provide insights into the ways of working in the region, perceived strengths, and possible innovation activities. We also discuss the challenges in generating a wider involvement in the implementation of this project, including a lack of understanding about the timber transition or the S3 approach for many participants. There is currently little or no research regarding the implementation of S3 specifically in regional settings. This qualitative study is thus timely in identifying multilevel governance (MLG) issues in support of implementing S3 in regional planning and the challenges faced by small regional communities engaged in industry transition.