If Albo wants a future built in Australia, here's where he needs to look

The Hunter region in NSW, my neck of the woods, certainly counts itself in this number.

Why? The principles enunciated by Anthony Albanese strike a chord for regional economies that ultimately underpin the diversity of the output of the national economy and what Australia stands for.

Identifying and leveraging where the nation and its regions have a comparative advantage to contribute to and play a part in the delivery of this act makes enormous sense.

It is hoped by doing this, the inefficient competitive behaviour between states and regions can be remodelled and funding, project support and opportunities harmonised and placed where they can best be realised, based on achieving optimum outcomes.

Regions seek to be recognised, not patronised.

And it shouldn't be about caveating the premise of the proposed act based on what has occurred in the past. The important point here is we learn from those experiences and work together to make sure we don't repeat them.

As the Prime Minister detailed, the transition to a net zero economy powered by renewable energy is a global race, and other countries are well ahead of us in supporting and building their economies.

We simply can't afford to sit back and wonder what might have been given the endowments the nation and its regions have.

It will be a blessing if this package moves the dial on provoking further investment into the manufacturing industry and energy sector. The government having a deeper reach into this space this will assist in underwriting certainty, which at times has been lacking.

Mr Albanese said hydrogen, green metals, solar power, emerging renewable sources and technologies would form the future of the country.

If we're to achieve the gains being pursued in clean energy, progress will come primarily from our regional communities.

The regions possess the existing embedded power infrastructure and spatial elements required to establish new industries, and the location of the rare earths that we desire to "value add" in a way to advance the nation's standing beyond shipping raw material to overseas markets.

The commitment to better co-ordination of government planning and action is also a positive step.

Regions can benefit from national co-ordination and belonging to a national effort.

Bringing discrete parts of existing and future policy under one umbrella will hopefully ease the navigation task for business to connect with government.

The difficulty businesses have in connecting with government is often cited as a reason for not engaging. This stifles innovation and can be detrimental to regions which have a significant yet narrow economic base.

The government will need to be prepared to engage in a clear and uncomplicated fashion to get ideas and projects off the ground as we're sure there isn't going to be a shortage of those.

And we must be alert to great not being the enemy of good.

We are told the task is akin to achieving an industrial revolution in a shorter time span that ever before.

We'll be building the plane while we're flying it. Discussions and engagement will be concurrent with refining policy and actions and not a process of standing back until every political imperative is addressed and satisfied.

Much of the challenge for business and investment to date has been around approval processes, red tape, and at times a lack of clear frameworks in which to operate.

Clarity across these elements will result in an immediate acceleration of opportunity.

To be sure, other challenges will emerge and labour force and housing loom large as hand brakes on the pace of ambition in regional areas.

Some regional economies have unemployment figures with a "zero point something" or a "one point something" at the front of them.

It's an exacerbation of a stress being felt across the nation and the world.

It's not easy to solve.

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We're already seeing some regions struggle to get the balance between an explosion of project interest that necessarily is fuelled by an itinerant work force with loose ties to the economic and social fabric of the communities and regions in which they are operating.

The vision and its principles detailed by the Prime Minister is in close alignment with the broad objectives of many regions across the country.

Many, including the Hunter region, have already been receiving closer attention from government, domestic and international investment in recent times. It's timely that this is focused, and the potential is there with A Future Made in Australia Act to do just that.