What happens when you bring Hunter industry leaders together, put the region’s biggest challenges on the table and ask, “What can we do about it?”
That was the focus of our recent HunterNet Patron’s Strategy Day, where members came together to look beyond HunterNet’s own 12-month strategy and take a deeper dive into the findings of our 2026 Hunter Industry Outlook.
The results of the Annual Pulse Survey may not have come as a surprise to many of us working across the Hunter. Skills shortages, rising costs, energy transition, market uncertainty and the changing global landscape are issues businesses are navigating every day.
But the value of the survey is not simply identifying the challenges. It is understanding where industry is experiencing pressure, where opportunities exist, and most importantly, what we can do together.
A resilient region with significant opportunity
The survey paints a picture of a resilient and cautiously optimistic Hunter business community.
Most businesses expect revenue to increase and workforces to either grow or remain stable over the next 12 months. Investment continues to flow into technology, automation, training and development, while advanced manufacturing, defence, infrastructure, renewable energy and technology are seen as areas of opportunity.
At the same time, industry told us clearly that there are barriers to realising that potential.
Skills shortages remain one of the biggest challenges, particularly across skilled trades, engineering, technical specialists and leadership roles. The cost of doing business, market uncertainty, energy transition, overseas competition and government policy uncertainty are also creating pressure.
Only 37% of respondents believe the Hunter currently has sufficient workforce capability to meet future demand.
That is a challenge — but it is also an opportunity to act.
From survey findings to practical action
At the Strategy Day, Patron Members didn’t simply review the data. We used it as a starting point for discussion and collaboration.
Through facilitated sessions and Slido, members identified the areas where they believe HunterNet can make the greatest difference and began developing practical actions to prioritise.
Six key areas emerged:
SKILLS SHORTAGES
Advocate to State and Federal Government for greater alignment and coordinated approaches to workforce and skills development.
DEFENCE EXPANSION
Help break down barriers for local businesses wanting to enter and participate in defence supply chains.
ENERGY TRANSITION
Increase education and awareness of opportunities across the region and provide business advisory activities to help businesses scale and adapt.
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
Improve the functionality and richness of data available to member businesses to help maximise investment and participation in advanced manufacturing.
COST OF DOING BUSINESS
Explore ways to improve member buying power through consortium agreements and collective purchasing opportunities.
INFRASTRUCTURE GROWTH
Support opportunities to attract major infrastructure investment, including data centres, to the Hunter.
These priorities don’t sit separately from what HunterNet already does. They reinforce the work being delivered across our different business arms.
The Power of Many in action
HunterNet has always been about more than networking. The Power of Many is about bringing businesses, people and ideas together to create opportunities that individual organisations may not be able to achieve alone.
Through HunterNet Career Connections, we are directly tackling the skills challenge by helping businesses access apprentices and trainees while developing the next generation of the Hunter workforce.
Through Hunter Defence, we are helping local businesses understand and access opportunities within one of the region’s fastest-growing sectors, supporting greater participation in defence supply chains.
Through New.E Hunter New Energy, we are helping industry understand the opportunities and challenges associated with the energy transition and positioning the Hunter to participate in the emerging new energy economy.
And through HunterNet Future Leaders, we are investing in the people who will lead our businesses and region into its next phase of growth.
Together, these initiatives connect directly to what industry told us matters most.
We already know the challenges. Now it’s about what we do next.
The 2026 Industry Outlook reinforces something we see every day through our engagement with members: the Hunter has enormous capability, ambition and opportunity.
The challenges are real, but so is the experience, expertise and collective strength within our business community.
HunterNet has spent 30 years building connections across industry, developing people, supporting businesses and advocating for the Hunter. The Strategy Day was another example of that work in action – listening to industry, bringing people together and turning shared challenges into potential areas for collective action.
The survey gives us the evidence.
Our members give us the experience.
And together, we can help shape what comes next for the Hunter.
