With over 200,000 people calling the city and its surrounds home, Townsville has long been regarded as a major economic hub for Northern Australia. As the closest urban centre to many of Queensland’s critical mineral deposits, a key access hub for renewable energy projects, home to Australia’s largest army base, host of Northern Australia’s largest general cargo and container port, and with the Great Barrier Reef at its doorstep, Townsville’s unique geography certainly enables an abundance of economic opportunity.
However, it’s not just Townsville’s geographic position and accessibility that give this city a strategic economic advantage. Thanks to the investment of time, passion and commitment-to-their-place from many individuals and local businesses, Townsville now has another strategic advantage – it has its own Impact Procurement Framework.
Over the past 2.5 years, more than 200 representatives of the Townsville community (including government, private and not-for-profit organisations), have contributed to a place-based procurement program known as QSEED. With funding from philanthropic and government partners, the QSEED program was led by Central Queensland University with Smart Precincts NQ and expert procurement input. The objective of QSEED was to apply procurement principles and practice as a lever to keep money in the local Townsville economy and through this create training and jobs for young people.
In the coming weeks a formal evaluation of the program will take place and whilst the funded program may be coming to an end, there are many legacy QSEED relationships, learnings, documented tools and approaches that will position Townsville to achieve better procurement outcomes as a region, than any other location in Queensland. Why is this?
Because over recent months, many passionate individuals have come together with a collective problem in mind and defined what a collective solution could look like. The resulting Townsville Impact Procurement Framework guides how organisations in Townsville can embed local and social outcomes into their business-as-usual procurement decisions. It is a public declaration of what makes for good procurement in Townsville and how good procurement decisions can benefit the region.
“How might we design a Townsville Impact Procurement Framework that is simple, affordable, flexible and agile for both buyers and suppliers, so that procurement achieves sustainable social and local outcomes for the region”?
In recent years many businesses and public sector entities have introduced organisation-specific social and sustainable procurement policies and practices which can benefit their local communities. These organisations are their efforts are certainly to be commended. What makes Townsville’s Impact Procurement Framework different, is that it can apply across the entire region and outcomes can be amplified because they are understood and wanted, not only by individuals and specific organisations, but by the collective region.
So what are some of the forthcoming investment opportunities heading Townsville’s way, that the region is now better placed to achieve its desired procurement outcomes from? Construction Skills Queensland’s July 2025 Regional Backgrounder report for Northern Queenslander identifies around $19.6b of engineering projects (valued at $20m or above) with start dates up to 2028 in the region, across transportation, energy, public utilities, mining and other critical infrastructure. Significant projects either underway or planned include:
