Australian advocates for regional governments have taken stock of the state of Port Hedland in Western Australia, looking to see what the community which provides so much resource wealth needs in return.

The Regional Australia Institute has been assessing all elements of life in the remote coastal town within the Pilbara region. It says it will take the new information back to policy-makers in Canberra.

RAI representatives met with members of the Pilbara Development Commission, the local chamber of commerce and industry, along with industry and community groups. The Port was rated on RAI’s regional competitiveness index, where it received poor results in labour market efficiency, innovation initiatives and essential infrastructure and services.

The results of the survey may show how difficult it is for regional communities to truly benefit from the billions of dollars worth of resources being extracted from the ground they live on.

RAI’s CEO Su McClusky says local knowledge will be used to form federal policy: “We heard quite a number of messages that we're going to be able to take back to decision makers in Canberra about what the voice of the Pilbara is actually saying about how strong their region is and how some of those perceptions are not really true - it's a really strong and vibrant community and it's got a lot of potential for growth,” she said.