Paradise Girt by Sea - Kangaroo Island Council

A plan for social and economic development
of KI must build on its established and
inherent strengths.
A plan for social and economic development of KI must
build on its established and inherent strengths.
Decent jobs and good incomes might encourage island
kids to stay on the island when they finish school, or come
back once they’ve seen the world. Decent jobs and good
incomes will encourage people to come to KI and bring
their families, to live and work for a few years or longer.
Economic growth is only worth having if it delivers more
decent jobs and better incomes.
Quite obviously, those decent KI jobs and good KI incomes
depend wholly on maintaining and preserving the island’s
wilderness and wildlife; its un-spoilt solitude; its clean
island pure environment. Too many people (tourists and
residents) too soon could imperil the very environmental
amenity that makes the island so appealing. That said,
Kangaroo Island is a big place with very few people; if
every person on earth was given one square metre, the
planet’s entire population would fit on it.
Farming and tourism are the engines of today’s KI
economy, and they are its future. Farming is more capital
intensive; tourism and related services are more job rich
per unit of value added. Tourism affords a special form of
direct marketing for island farmers; pure island product
draws tourists. Where KIFA can help coordinate and
facilitate work to improve the integration of farming with
growth of tourism, and to cement and raise the integrity of
the Kangaroo Island brand, it should do so.
We think the body of work to be achieved by KIFA, to
the benefit of both tourism and farming, amounts to a
complete overhaul of economic and social infrastructure
on the island within 5 years. The benefits - more good
sustainable jobs and higher incomes for islanders - should
be well established within a decade.
9