As part of a national research project involving Charles Sturt University (CSU), a workshop will be held at Corowa on Wednesday 7 October to seek community input about the challenges faced by local and regional governance bodies in the region. The workshop is one of three case studies conducted across Australia as part of the three year project, Towards Sustainable Regional Institutions: The Nature, Role and Governance Implications of Contemporary Australian Regionalism. CSU researcher Associate Professor Ian Gray is surveying public attitudes and opinions about how federalism is working. “Overall the project will work out what sort of direction regional governments in Australia might take. We’re not advocating that we get rid of the states, but we are looking at the performance of regional organisations with a view to strengthening them. This inevitably leads to rethinking the roles of each level of government,” he said. Associate Professor Gray believes the formation of catchment management authorities has, unintentionally, made regional governance more prominent, even though they have no legislative role. “The Commonwealth’s new Regional Development Australia network is also highlighting the significance of regions,” he said.