RAI Geelong Report v2 - Regional Australia · The Geelong consultation was held at Simonds Stadium...
Transcript of RAI Geelong Report v2 - Regional Australia · The Geelong consultation was held at Simonds Stadium...
GEELONG
RECORD OF CONSULTATION
29 OCTOBER 2013
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Background and purpose ...................................................................................................................... 5
2.1. Objectives of the Geelong forum ................................................................................................ 5
2.2. Targeting participation in the consultations ............................................................................. 5
2.3. The open forum ............................................................................................................................... 6
2.4. The policy roundtable ................................................................................................................... 6
3. The results ................................................................................................................................................. 8
3.1. Major themes from the open community forum ......................................................................... 8
3.2. Top actions that the groups believed may be part of making the region perform at its
very best. ............................................................................................................................................... 11
3.2.1. Leadership and collaboration ........................................................................................... 12
3.2.2. SME growth and drivers lending support ....................................................................... 12
3.2.3. Infrastructure ......................................................................................................................... 12
3.2.4. Industry clusters and research outcomes ......................................................................... 12
3.2.5. Sharing benefits of growth ................................................................................................ 13
3.3. Input to the policy roundtable ................................................................................................... 15
4. Next steps ............................................................................................................................................. 18
Appendix A – Invitation and advertisement for policy roundtable ............................................... 19
Appendix B – RAI’s powerpoint presentation (open forum) ............................................................ 21
Appendix C – RAI’s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable) ................................................. 25
Appendix D – Verbatim inputs to the open forum ............................................................................. 29
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1. INTRODUCTION
The Regional Australia Institute’s (RAI) [In]Sight: Australia’s regional competitiveness index, and
the Business Council of Australia’s (BCA) Action plan for enduring prosperity have been
developed to help identify key drivers of economic growth in the regions and for the nation as
a whole.
Both of these resources provide insight for policy makers about opportunities for economic
growth and the challenges that must be addressed. They also point to where further
investment may be needed.
Adding a regional perspective to the work of the RAI and the BCA will help further policy
development. Local knowledge and advice about regional attributes and aspirations will assist
and refine the ongoing work of the RAI and the BCA.
The RAI and the BCA would like to thank all the collaborators and participants who attended
the open forum and policy roundtable in Geelong. Working with people on the ground to help
regions to understand and capitalise on their full potential is a core objective of the RAI and
assists the BCA in its broader agenda. The consultative process provides a platform for both
organisations to realise these goals.
The input from the community of Geelong will be invaluable to developing the future agenda
of the RAI and the BCA, reflecting regional knowledge, interests and variation. The RAI and
the BCA will draw on these insights in advocating policy reform to governments at the state
and federal level, with the open forums providing a conduit for regional voices to be heard
on a national stage.
This document is a record of the input from the community to these consultations. It is a
reference document for the RAI, the BCA, those located in the Geelong region and other
interested community members.
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2. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Both the RAI and the BCA support and seek to promote the identification and development of
Australia’s comparative advantage by creating the right environment and systems to foster
and drive innovation, diversify the economy and play to Australia’s strengths.
The planning for these consultations has focussed on trying to maximise the opportunity for
input from the community and the use of this in the development of the future agendas for the
RAI and the BCA.
2.1. Objectives of the Geelong forum
The Geelong consultation was held at Simonds Stadium on Tuesday 29 October 2013. It
involved an open forum from 9:00am to 11:00am, followed by a policy roundtable from
12:00pm – 1:30pm.
The objectives of the consultation included:
• Understanding the local initiatives that are already happening to develop the region
• Identifying examples of initiatives the participants believe could happen in the future
• Finding ways we could work together to turn these ideas into reality
2.2. Targeting participation in the consultations
Invitations to participate in the open forum were sent on behalf of the RAI by the Barwon
South West Regional Development Australia (RDA) region.
In addition, an advertisement inviting community members to attend appeared in the local
paper, the Geelong Independent, on one occasion leading up to the event.
A copy of the emailed invitation and the advertisement are attached at Appendix A.
Policy roundtable invitations were sent to a number of contacts known to the RAI. These
contacts were asked to forward the invitation to other key decision makers in the Geelong
region, business and community representatives, young people and senior students from local
schools.
Representatives of the following organisations attended the policy roundtable:
• Enterprise Connect
• SOCOM/Committee for Geelong
• City of Greater Geelong
• Geelong Chamber of Commerce
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2.3. The open forum
The open forum was attended by 16 people and focussed on the key drivers of
competitiveness as identified in the RAI’s competitiveness index, [In]Sight. These are innovation,
human capital and technological readiness.
It drew on the data in [In]Sight to gain an understanding of why the region has particular
strengths and challenges, the underlying and contributing factors to its competitiveness profile,
and how this is impacting on the region.
The conversation provided an opportunity for the RAI and the BCA to listen to local people
talking about key issues affecting the local economy and to help assess how they align with
opportunities and challenges at the national level.
The presentation to the open forum is available in Appendix B.
2.4. The policy roundtable
The policy roundtable included two short opening presentations by the RAI on [In]Sight and by
the BCA on its Action plan for enduring prosperity and future work on Australia’s competitive
advantage.
The policy roundtable considered the feedback provided during the open forum, examining
the ideas put forward on how the region could grow. It identified the barriers to increasing
competitiveness in the region and what can be done to address these, along with the policy
mechanisms that need to be put in place.
The presentations to the policy roundtable are available in Appendix C.
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3. THE RESULTS
The consultation process was designed by PlanCom Consulting Pty Ltd, a specialist planning
and community engagement company, and facilitated by Kimbra White.
The facilitator’s role was to ensure that people had an opportunity to provide their input, and
that these were recorded for the purpose of informing the future work of the RAI and the BCA.
3.1. Major themes from the open forum
Following introductions and an outline of the session, Su McCluskey, CEO of the RAI, provided
a briefing on the RAI and its work, including the development of [In]Sight.
This was followed by participants forming small groups to discuss each of the following three
questions:
1. What makes this region great and work well at present?
2. What do you think has been present to make it work and/or make it work better at
points of time in the past?
3. What do you think needs to be in place for the region to be at its very best?
All group inputs to these questions are attached in Appendix D.
The major themes provided by the participants in response to each of the three discussion
questions are as follows:
What makes this region great and work well at present?
Regional development, employment and economy
• A skilled workforce
• A strong local economy
• Self sufficient capacity
• Regional alliances, with five municipalities working together
• One voice – prioritised projects
• History of getting stories about the region back to the region
• Not comparing ourselves to Melbourne
• Diversity in GDP (but not employment, which is very reliant on manufacturing)
• Developing innovative Small Medium Enterprises (SME):
a) potential to drive economic growth
b) clustering – engineering materials, mining, ICT, sports, food and health
• An economy that manages transitions
• A range of bodies that attempt to work together on different issues to progress
• A sense of community that works well collaboratively, and strong social services
• Geographic and demographic diversity
• Great hub for broader G21 region and service centre – provides a voice to Federal/
state bodies to identify and agree on priorities
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Location
• Proximity to Melbourne, with the opportunity to commute for professional purposes
• Lifestyle and employment
• Great natural assets, such as the bay, river and port
• Access to education and health services
• Manageable congestion relative to Melbourne
• All the metropolitan advantages but none of the negatives
• Affordable housing
Facilities and infrastructure
• Beach and sporting facilities
• University and advanced research
• Hospitals
• University working with hospitals
• Diversity in manufacturing services and agriculture
• Strong potential for economic growth through the port (needs to be in state plan)
• Tourism
• Investment in growth and maintenance of infrastructure
• Opportunities for tourism and freight through Avalon Airport
• Education and training:
a) good structure
b) high quality
c) Learning Employment Network (LEN)
• Great transport access, including rail
What do you think has been present to make it work and/or make it work better at points of time in the past?
Infrastructure and business
• Heavy manufacturing as a catalyst to diversity
• The waterfront (a real success and a beautiful place) driven by consultation and strong
leadership
• Transport Accident Commission (TAC) coming to Geelong, joining with health and
community services:
a) decentralisation government policy
b) staff adjustment and assistance
c) ongoing ripple effect
• The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) headquarters
• University:
a) a lot of bases
b) research and industry partnerships
c) a new employment sector
d) Vice Chancellor leadership
e) Geelong will be the ‘centre ship’
f) university interaction
g) galvanised a whole of community effort
h) partnership approach
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• Geelong ring road – a vision to improve transport connectivity and relieve congestion,
region worked together to articulate that vision
Leadership
• Key leaders across business and politics
• Consultation with the community through Vision 2 and the Central Geelong Taskforce
• Community consultation to build existing knowledge and leadership
• Marginal Federal seat
• G21 leadership
• Whole of region focus in negotiations with state and federal governments
• Policy recommendations and decisions based on evidence (through bodies like G21)
• Being less reactive and more proactive
• Government leading by example
• Collaboration: five municipalities have formal agreement to work together
• Having champions
• The people who get things done behind the scenes
• Realistic assessment of the issues as they arise
Community
• A sense of community
• A strong sense of regional identity and pride
• One economy – thinking collaboratively
• Increased sense of taking pride in assets
• Community drive and confidence because of the successes (but it is all through the
community)
What do you think needs to be in place for the region to be at its very best? • Generate income and economic inclusion
• Sharing the value of industry, education, community sector, skills and training sector
• Create new jobs and diversity in job opportunities
• Promoting SME growth and connection through Enterprise Geelong, Chamber of
Commerce, G21, Committee for Geelong and TAFEs
• Maintaining the employment rate, especially through growing a range of dynamic
SMEs, which are often swamped by big businesses
• More initiatives in the school sector, including entrepreneurship for young people
• Entrepreneurship in social sector
• Improving lifestyle
• Selling good success stories
• Promoting more within and outside of Geelong across industry and tourism
• Continuing strong and respectful leadership
• Continuation of free Wi-Fi, including trains
• Federal recognition and support for regional development, keeping the current
structure
• Embedding advanced manufacturing, including supporting carbon fibre and research
aimed at commercialisation
• Steering young people towards future jobs
• Increasing the Year 12 retention rate
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• Investment in innovation
• Have local people accessing jobs (currently going to skilled migrants)
• Developing long term targeted systematic and holistic plan to address drivers of social
disadvantage, particularly the intergenerational and long term unemployed
• Strengthening the leadership and systems for long term strategic planning
• Exploring the potential of Geelong as a research hub
• Moving Avalon Airport to true international airport status and put infrastructure around
it to make it feasible
• Fifty year plan be implemented around the port and enable intermodal transport hubs
to get the benefit
• Ensuring will there be scope for expansion through the NDIS and for associated
businesses
3.2. Top actions that the groups believed may be part of making
the region perform at its very best.
Participants were invited to work in groups to use the material generated in the previous
session, identifying five priority actions that were important for the region.
The answers were then sorted into categories, forming distinct action areas:
Leadership and collaboration
• Ensure G21 is sustained
• Bedrock strategic platforms
• Gather Geelong leaders and champions together as a cluster
Small Medium Enterprise growth and drivers
• Greater digital engagement and capacity building for SMEs
• Entrepreneurialism
• Tap into growth potential of small business sector
• Geelong SMEs need a trade mission to Melbourne
Infrastructure
• Make sure national agenda understands the regional context and supports it
• Cohesive national infrastructure planning
• Further develop Avalon Airport – identify and remove blockers
Industry clusters and research outcomes
• Commercialisation of our region’s research capability, e.g. carbon fibre
• Strengthen Geelong’s research capabilities
• Create hubs for businesses to work
• Health services cluster developed with NDIS and TAC
Sharing benefits of growth
• Shared value framework across community, education, industry
• Social inclusion
• Increase education attainment rates
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• Inspire/create acceptance of realistic job opportunities, particularly for young people
and school leavers
• Support job creation
Participants were asked to choose one of these five areas to work on and were invited to join
any group. The groups were asked to specifically respond to the following questions:
a) What is possible for the region to do to build on its current strengths related to this/
these suggested actions?
b) What additional support might the region require to do these actions?
The following is the result of this discussion:
3.2.1. Leadership and collaboration
• Creating champions for regional collaboration at the federal level
• Simple and accessible communications to support leadership and collaboration
• Harness RAI assistance with the identification of world best practice models to
assist our region with addressing issues
• Continued support for G21’s collaborative work in the region
• Seek private sector investment for opportunities in our region
3.2.2. SME growth and drivers lending support
• Geelong should be recognised as Victoria's second city, with less focus on the
‘regional’ elements
• Flexible and portable training, such as online learning, that changes with
peoples’ needs
• Enable greater access to services and programs, such as that regarding small
business
• Support those in the small sector, building momentum with a clear voice on
business agenda
• Leadership for small business that provides:
a) small business centre
b) information on what is already available
c) ability to tap into existing resources for regional areas
3.2.3. Infrastructure
• Geelong port needs to be nationally recognised as an important transport hub
• Federal and state need to break the monopoly of Tullamarine
• Lots being done but Avalon Airport needs a national agenda
• Digital infrastructure
3.2.4. Industry clusters and research outcomes
• Lots already happening across:
a) ICT
b) food/agricultural business
c) defence
d) engineering and advanced materials
e) clean technology
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• Sports technology identified as a precinct
• Keep the industry precinct funding
• Figure out how to:
a) improve industry engagement with researchers
b) get practical engineers
c) develop stand out examples – make carbon real
• Take companies with growth potential and establish a ‘business incubator’ to
increase commercial benefit
• Clusters will generate the firms to go into the incubator
• Invest in start-up funds, this has helped in agribusiness and sport technology
through federal funding
3.2.5. Sharing benefits of growth
• Federal and state government to fund programs in an ongoing and non–
political way, beyond the election cycle
• State and Federal government should take the advice of the region on
program design and priority
• How to get the various bodies, e.g. Committee for Geelong and G21 to ‘sign
up’ to directions and then divide up the tasks in a less competitive way
Groups were asked to give the whole group a quick verbal report on the outcomes from their
groups.
Su McCluskey, CEO of the RAI concluded the forum by thanking everyone for their
participation and talking about the next steps.
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3.3. Input to the policy roundtable
Presentations by Su McCluskey, CEO of the RAI and Maria Tarrant, Deputy CEO of the BCA,
preceded a discussion with how the RAI, the BCA and participants of the roundtable could
work together to support regional development.
This resulted in the following issues and ideas being discussed:
Relating specifically to data presented in [In]Sight
• Strength of small business sector
• Significant pockets of disadvantage
• Poor health outcomes in the region
• Some higher education attainment but considerable low education attainment
• Because of a manufacturing centre with unskilled jobs, people did not need to get
higher education
• Intergenerational unemployment, which explains some of the low secondary school
data
Education
• Early childhood and primary school performance is quite good
• Poor performance is driven by very severe pockets of disadvantage, which will require
huge intervention
• G21 has done work on education performance
• Feels like we’ve tried lots of programs with no shift in performance
Community
• Looking for core issues in the community and how to address these, such as alcohol use
amongst children
• Northern Futures: addressing disadvantage in northern suburbs including employment
pathways
Infrastructure
• There is a port plan but Victorian government wants to develop Hastings first, holding
our port down
• Hard to have our voice heard in relation to other cities/ports
• Opportunity to look at value of product, e.g., Townsville
• Port is privately owned
• Transport around the port is a current issue
• Positive growth prospects through logs, grains, mineral sands, fertilizer
Avalon airport
• Been chasing freight customs
• Needs better roads and rail access
• Already an international airport but needs customers
• Pay airlines to land in secondary airports
• Need state and federal government commitment
• Road and rail – big bottleneck to get into Melbourne
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SME sector and drivers
• Very disparate sector, some more connected than others
• Hard to engage (by Chamber of Commerce)
• Mentoring programs help to get them engaged, services that can help grow their
business
• Challenges in digital communications, including:
a) digital gap
b) knowledge
c) awareness
d) skills
• Some great standout SME firms, how can we learn from these?
• Clusters – linked with a range of Universities
a) food cluster: Victoria University
b) business: linked to Monash University but Deakin University a long way back in
industry/cluster development
The participants felt that RAI and the BCA could help Geelong in the following ways
• Tell the good stories:
a) how firms have created and innovated, sharing successes
b) make connections across firms
• Could get Federal Minister’s into the region with a focus on SMEs (perhaps focus on the
‘M’ of SMEs)
• Getting 300–500 at Chamber of Commerce networking events, focusing on business
development, informal collaborations, innovation, creativity and positive energy
• Improving how information is shared between local and Federal governments
• Provide further clarification on the education data in [In]Sight
• Support Geelong in a ‘Geelong goes to Canberra’ event
Some further final comments from participants were as follows
• Committee for Geelong would like Geelong positioned as Victorian’s second city. This
is not talked about in population growth and planning for Melbourne
• Find ways to engage with the disparate SME sector and support their business growth,
they have the opportunity to drive future growth of Geelong
• Need to focus on how to improve education attainment
• Develop infrastructure to link with Melbourne and beyond, such as NSW and SA
• Building links between universities and industry needs more attention
Su McCluskey, CEO, Regional Australia Institute, concluded the round table by thanking
everyone for their participation and talking about the next steps.
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4. NEXT STEPS
The RAI’s regional competitiveness index, [In]Sight, and the BCA’s Action plan for enduring
prosperity have been developed to help identify key drivers of economic growth in the
regions and for the nation as a whole.
Both resources provide an insight for policy makers about where further investment may be
needed. But to achieve positive action, the information they offer needs to be melded with
local knowledge to identify where communities want to go, and how organisations like ours
can help them get there.
Working with people on the ground to help regions understand and capitalise on their full
potential is a core objective of the RAI and the BCA, to better understand the potential of
regional Australia to help drive Australia’s growth. The consultative process provides a
platform for these ambitions to be realised.
The input from the community of Geelong will be invaluable to developing the future agenda
of the RAI and the BCA, reflecting regional knowledge, interests and variation. The RAI and
the BCA will draw on these insights in advocating policy reform to governments at the state
and Federal level, with the open forums providing a conduit for regional voices to be heard
on a national stage.
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Appendix A – Invitation and advertisement for policy roundtable
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Appendix B – RAI’s powerpoint presentation (open forum)
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Appendix C – RAI’s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable)
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BCA’s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable)
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Appendix D – Verbatim inputs to the open forum
What makes this region great and work well at present?
Table one
• Skilled workforce
• Proximity to Melbourne
• Lifestyle and employment
• Lifestyle/access to Melbourne – beach/sporting facilities
• Economic focus – match lifestyle – potential development
• Commute
• Opportunity for/to commute – professional employment
• Geelong versus Melbourne – affordable housing
• University – Deakin – expand research – Ford
• Hospitals
• University working with hospitals
• Manufacturing services
• Diverse:
a) manufacturing
b) agriculture
c) port
d) rail
e) living situations
• Strong local economy
• Self sufficient capacity
• Accessible:
a) time
b) capacity
c) availability
• Tourism
• Infrastructure – Avalon Airport
• Natural beauty
Table two
• Regional Alliance – 5 municipalities working together
• One voice – prioritised projects
• Avalon Airport is a national opportunity for tourism and freight
• Hierarchy of offer – chain of cities – hierarchy of service offer
• Info journalism – university – history of downplaying – getting stories about the region
back to the region
• Natural assets
• University – kids staying here – Deakin Research – advanced manufacturing – just as
Australia can’t afford to lose it – needs support and to change – can’t keep it on our
own
• Port very important – potential to grow – freight hub – act on plan
• Why Hastings when Geelong already has it
• State port plan doesn’t mention Geelong
• Shouldn't compare ourselves to Melbourne
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• Diversity is in GDP but not employment, which is very reliant on manufacturing. Can't
afford to lose the base
Table three
• Infrastructure:
a) level
b) range
c) investment in maintenance and growth
• Port:
a) expansion
b) bulk goods
c) economic activity generator
d) mineral sands
• Lifestyle:
a) access to natural environment (coast etc)
b) education and health services (relative ease to)
c) manageable congestion relative to Melbourne
d) all the metropolitan advantages but none of the negatives
• Melbourne – benefits in relative distance and access
• Education and training:
a) structure good
b) quality
c) program to increase attainment
d) Learning Employment Network (LEN)
• Developing innovative small medium enterprise ($5 million to $50 million):
a) potential to drive economic growth
b) clustering – engineering materials mining – ICT – Sports – food – health
c) moving beyond inertia
• Economic Structure
a) Ford, Alcoa, Shell not adding but other businesses coming in
b) so economy that manages transitions
• Demographic – population ageing and potential for aged care service present
• Housing affordability – makes for attractive location
• Collaboration – range of bodies that attempt to work together on different issues to
progress
• Open community:
a) strong services sense of community
b) strong social services
Table Four
• Diversity – good representative region – geographically and demographically
• Great infrastructure services and connectivity to Melbourne
• Great hub for broader G21 region and service centre
• Proximity to Melbourne is an asset and this is growing
• Sense of community and stakeholders work well together collaboratively
• G21 provides an main voice to Federal/state and identify and agree on priorities
• Natural assets – bay/port/river
• Transport access is great
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What do you think has been present to make it work and/or make it work
better at points of time in the past?
Table one
• Waterfront just done:
a) known need with consultation
b) directive (ie Melb 3000 project)
• Key leaders:
a) business
b) political leadership
• Vision 2 – Central Geelong Taskforce:
a) consultation from community
b) via consultation
c) longer process
• Community consultation:
a) existing knowledge
b) leadership
• G21 Alliance – priority listing projects – leadership driven:
a) region recognised – funding
b) deliver foundational elements
• Political will – Yarra St Pier
Table two
• A real success – waterfront – beautiful place now
• Understood data better
• Being less reactive and more proactive
• Waterfront – strong focussed leadership driving it – appropriate resource allocated –
didn’t need a crisis for action
• Transport Accident Commission (TAC) coming to Geelong:
a) decentralisation government policy
b) staff adjustment and assistance
c) ongoing ripple effect – case study
• Shows we can do it in a region
• Govt leading by example
• TAC joined with health and community services – building – great TAC and ATO
offices
• University:
a) a lot of bases
b) research and industry partnerships
c) a new employment sector
d) Vice Chancellor leadership
e) Geelong will be the ‘centre ship’
f) university interaction
g) galvanised a whole of community effort
h) partnership approach
Table three
• Sense of community
• Geelong ring road – vision to improve transport connectivity and relieve congestion,
region worked together to articulate the vision
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• Collaboration = 5 municipalities have formal agreement to work together – 2050
plan – projects to implement – campaign run by region linked with election campaign
• Waterfront and key leadership and drivers
• Marginal Federal seat
• G21 good leadership and wide base top down and bottom up
• Strong sense of regional identity and pride
• Heavy manufacturing – catalyst to diversity
• Local councils work well together
• One economy – think collaboratively
• Health care – National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) headquarters
Table four
• Having champions
• The people who get things done behind the scenes
• Collaborative alliances such as G21 and associated processes
• Whole of region focus in negotiations with state and Federal governments
• Policy recommendations and decisions based on evidence (through bodies like G21)
• Increase sense of taking pride in assets
• Community drive and confidence because of the successes (but it is all through the
community)
• G21 proactive approach to economic growth and social equity
• Realistic assessment of the issues as they arise
What do you think needs to be in place for the region to be at its very best?
Table one
• Social inclusion – well placed for growth
• Economic inclusion – finding gains
• Generate income
• Diversity of job opportunities
• Shared value:
a) industry
b) education
c) community sector
d) skills and training sector better collaborate with all sectors
• Ability for industry to create new jobs:
a) demand/how created
b) growth opportunity/struggle with business
c) generation of demand and growth
d) relationships and outcomes
• Promote small/medium growth
• Maintain employment rate – grow range of dynamic small medium enterprise
• System
• Building entrepreneurship with kids
• Initiatives in school sector
• Entrepreneurship social sector
• Lifestyle
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• Skilling the bay 3/5
• We've done all the work now we need to move forward and implement
• Success stories – sell good stories
• All you hear is bad news
• Innovation journalism – uncover all happening – “under radar” – half empty
• Transition – big employer – develop forward plans.
Table two
• Continuing strong and respectful leadership is very important – some key people
• Need to promote more within and outside of Geelong – industry and tourism –
currently industry is poorly promoted
• Ford closure was a not a big issues and not a surprise
• ¾ of Geelong’s industry is small business and small business is ignored – gets
swamped by big business – but SME’s are disparate so connect through Enterprise
Geelong/Chamber of Commerce /G21/Committee for Geelong/TAFEs
• Geelong offer free Wi-Fi and trains looking at this
Table three
• Collaboration – support for the collaboration
• National recognition for regions are driving:
a) national approach
b) heavy manufacturing reliance
c) a lot of change all the time
d) reform state government bureaucracy
• Need to embed advanced manufacturing:
a) carbon fibre
b) almost too high expectation (and other reasons)
c) assist with research that’s aimed at commercialisation
• Focus on young people steering them towards these future jobs
• Increase Year 12 retention rate
• Innovation:
a) don’t stay too structured
b) research what are the critical interventions that will make a difference
• Regional development support at Federal level:
a) is Geelong still in the RDA structure?
b) will Geelong still be considered ‘regional’?
c) should keep the current structure
• Lots of jobs going to skilled migrants e.g., cooks, mechanics
a) should be able to have these skills
b) can’t address this by ourselves
c) welfare system almost too good
Table Four
• Long term targeted systematic (holistic) plan to address drivers of social disadvantage:
a) intergenerational
b) long term unemployed (largely Geelong based)
• Leadership and systems for the long term strategic planning need to be strengthened
(issue of/council vote i.e. G21 continuation)
• Enabling growth of the SME sector and then what can be done to encourage micro and
SME to grow
regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 34
GEELONG – RECORD OF CONSULTATION
October 2013
• Research hub potential: a) centre for infectious diseases b) Deakin material centre c) animal health labs
• Avalon Airport – move to true international airport status and put infrastructure around it to make it feasible
• Port: a) 50 year plan be implemented b) enable intermodal transport hubs to get the benefit of the port
• NDIS – will there be scope for expansion and the business that hang off it