When Communities Shape Their Own Economic Future
Across Australia, communities are beginning to ask a different question about economic development.
Rather than waiting for solutions to arrive from elsewhere, what happens when communities themselves shape their economic future — investing in local assets, mobilising local leadership and building institutions that reflect shared values?
In Mount Alexander Shire in central Victoria, this question is already being explored in practice. Cooperatives, community banks, Traditional Owner organisations, local government and civic leaders are working together to strengthen the region’s economic resilience and long-term wellbeing.
Recognising the significance of this emerging story, the Menzies Leadership Foundation has partnered with the Castlemaine Institute to document and share the lessons unfolding in the region.
Over the next two years, the collaboration will explore how community-led economic development can strengthen citizen leadership and community resilience — and what these place-based initiatives might teach us about building more resilient communities across Australia.
A Living Story of Community-led Economic Leadership
Across Mount Alexander Shire, a remarkable story of community-led economic leadership is unfolding.
Local organisations — from cooperatives to community banks, Traditional Owner groups and local government — are demonstrating what becomes possible when a community mobilises around shared prosperity and long-term wellbeing.
One powerful example is the Castlemaine Community Investment Cooperative (CCIC). With more than 550 members and over 300 direct investors, the cooperative collectively purchased a $1.95 million heritage building that now houses 17 local organisations. The initiative demonstrates how communities can mobilise local capital to secure important civic infrastructure and strengthen the local economy.
Similarly, the Maldon Community Bank has returned more than $1.2 million to the community through major initiatives responding to local priorities — including support for housing initiatives and the construction of Nalderun’s Aboriginal youth education centre.
At the same time, Mount Alexander Shire Council has adopted one of Australia’s first wellbeing-economy-oriented Economic Development Strategies, reframing economic development around community wellbeing and ecological stewardship.
Together, these initiatives illustrate a broader shift: economic development is not only about growth or investment. It can also become a vehicle for strengthening leadership, collaboration and shared responsibility within communities.
Learning from Place
The Castlemaine Institute has played a quiet but foundational role in many of these developments.
Working alongside community leaders, councils and local organisations, the Institute has helped convene dialogue, design collaborative initiatives and support the development of a wellbeing-focused regional economy.
Through this partnership with the Menzies Leadership Foundation, the Institute will now document and share the lessons emerging from Mount Alexander Shire.
The work will include:
- interviews and case studies capturing leadership insights from local initiatives
- collaborative “learning sandpits” bringing together regional organisations, community leaders and First Nations partners
- accessible storytelling resources highlighting community-led entrepreneurship and place-based economic innovation
- sharing insights nationally through networks, conferences and learning forums.
The aim is not only to tell the story of Mount Alexander Shire, but to help articulate a model of community-led economic leadership that may inform other communities across Australia.
Leadership Beyond Institutions
For the Menzies Leadership Foundation, this work reflects a broader shift in how leadership is understood.
Leadership is not only exercised by individuals in formal positions of authority. It also emerges through the collective actions of communities, organisations and institutions working together to address shared challenges.
Economic development is one of the arenas where this collective leadership becomes most visible.
When communities invest in local enterprises, mobilise community capital, and collaborate across sectors, they are not only building stronger economies — they are also strengthening the social fabric that enables communities to respond to complexity and change.
Strengthening Community Resilience
The partnership will also contribute to the Foundation’s broader work exploring how communities can strengthen resilience in the face of economic transition, climate disruption and social change.
Through this collaboration, the partners will explore questions such as:
- How can entrepreneurship and economic development catalyse citizens and organisations to work together?
- What conditions enable communities to mobilise local capital and leadership?
- How can local initiatives connect to broader systems that strengthen culture, capability, governance and capital?
By exploring these questions through the experience of Mount Alexander Shire, the partnership hopes to contribute to a growing national conversation about community resilience and citizen leadership.
A Story Still Unfolding
The story of Mount Alexander Shire is still unfolding.
What is emerging is not a single initiative, but a network of people, organisations and institutions working together to shape a more resilient and regenerative local economy.
Through this partnership, the Menzies Leadership Foundation and the Castlemaine Institute will capture and share the lessons from this evolving story — helping communities across Australia explore what becomes possible when citizens come together to shape their own economic future.
What Mount Alexander Shire demonstrates is that the building blocks for genuine economic resilience and community leadership are not distant or difficult to access—they already exist within communities themselves. The real work lies in creating the conditions, relationships and institutions through which that distributed leadership and local capital can flourish.
As these stories continue to unfold and deepen across the region, the Menzies Leadership Foundation and the Castlemaine Institute are committed to documenting and sharing the lessons emerging from this place-based approach to economic development. We believe these insights matter not only for Mount Alexander, but for communities across Australia who are asking similar questions about their own economic futures and leadership possibilities.
Whether you’re a community leader, policymaker, or citizen curious about how your region might strengthen its resilience and wellbeing, we invite you to join this conversation and explore what becomes possible when communities lead themselves.
