Key messages

•  Smaller Cities, Regional Centres, Rural Communities and Remote Areas that are better physically and digitally connected (to each other, to Fast-growing Cities and to domestic and overseas markets) will realise their social and economic potential.

•  There needs to be more use of new evidence to underpin supply chain action plans for specific commodities implemented by industry, government and community partnerships.

•  Commodity action plans should include technological innovations, regulatory changes, infrastructure upgrades and place-based agreements for major port precincts.

•  Increasing the availability and use of freight rail is a high priority for governments, including optimising access to Inland Rail.

•  Ahead of the staged upgrade of existing regional rail services to Fast-growing Cities, Smaller Cities and Regional Centres must become more connected with, and accessible to, their local catchment areas through improvements to active travel and demand- responsive services.

•  Upgraded regional rail services will deliver benefits for the outer-urban areas of Fast-growing Cities as they travel through and connect these places on their way to regions.

•  Priorities for investment in faster, fast or high-speed rail should align with a shared vision for planning Australia's population.

•  The design of faster, fast and high-speed rail networks in different jurisdictions should enable the interoperability of long-distance train services, adopting common standards for track and signalling.

•  Transport outcomes for people in Small Towns, Rural Communities and Remote Areas should meet time-based performance standards for how quickly they can access essential services in Smaller Cities, Regional Centres and Fast-growing Cities.

•  To meet these standards governments will need to manage regional, rural and remote road, rail and aviation services as an integrated and multimodal hub-and-spoke network.

•  The network should be configured to maximise the number of users who can access essential services and return home on the same day (or to a comparable standard).