On February 23, our staff visited Flinders Island in Tasmania to conduct research regarding policies promoting local governments located on islands in Australia. Flinders Island is a small local government located in the north of Tasmania with a population of about 800. They are addressing the same issues that small local governments in Japan are facing such as aging society, depopulation and so on. Mr. Marc Cobham, the Deputy Mayor, Mr. Bill Boehm, the General Manager, and Ms. Jacci Viney, the Development Services Co-ordinator, kindly hosted us and explained that they value their local community, and have been promoting tourism and attracting new residents by advertising the comfortable living standards on the island which is rich in nature. On the other hand, they are working on improving infrastructure on the island by upgrading telecommunication systems with a grant from the federal government. They carry out their initiatives by using limited resources, and we believe they will be very useful references for Japanese local governments. We will continue to conduct research to provide useful information for local governments in Japan.
