Western Australia’s Regional Economic Development (RED) Grants Program is back, with Round 9 now open and $5 million available to support projects across regional WA.
Its objectives are clear: to contribute to economic growth in regional Western Australia by creating sustainable jobs, expanding or diversifying industry, developing skills and capability, attracting new investment and increasing productivity.
The distinction between eligibility and merit
For a regional business planning to expand, invest in equipment or build new capability, the RED program may look like an obvious fit. But there is an important distinction between project eligibility and project merit.
That distinction centres on what will change in the regional economy as a result of the proposed project.
Businesses often describe a project from an operational perspective: a new production line, additional processing equipment, a larger facility or a new service capability.
Government assesses the same project through a broader economic lens. It looks at the value created through sustainable employment, productivity gains, new industry capability, economic diversification, supply-chain resilience, Aboriginal economic participation or the attraction of further private investment.
Put simply, it is looking at what happens outside the business as a result of the project.
This is the economic logic that connects a private investment decision to a public funding decision.
What a strong case looks like
A strong case for funding therefore usually connects five elements:
• The investment: What the business intends to deliver and why it is commercially important.
• The constraint: What is limiting the project, its timing, scale or ambition.
• The intervention: What the grant changes in a practical and measurable way.
• The economic effect: How the project contributes to jobs, productivity, diversification, capability or investment in the region.
• The evidence: Why the claimed outcomes are credible, deliverable and likely to endure.
Together, these elements create a much stronger case than simply demonstrating that the business and project meet the eligibility criteria.
RED Applications close 14 January 2026: https://www.dpird.wa.gov.au/businesses/grants-and-support/regional-economic-development-grants/
