Further employment opportunities for a rapidly expanding Ballarat is the key talking point from this year’s Regional Cities Victoria forum.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Representatives from Victoria’s 10 largest regional municipalities congregated in Melbourne for the annual forum last week, pledging to work with the state government on a number of key strategic priorities deemed vital to the future of regional Victoria.
City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson, who attended the event, said identifying employment options for a growing city is key for the future.
“We’ve been talking about population growth for some time in Ballarat, as are all the areas,” Cr Hudson said.
“If we’re going to grow, how do we then create the jobs? What are the opportunities, what are the strategies in terms of how we get people who generally come to Melbourne and want to relocate their family to come out into regional areas?”
Committee for Ballarat chair Janet Dore has been vocal about the need to grow Ballarat’s job base to entice Melbourne residents to commute to Ballarat for work and Cr Hudson said the goal is similar at council level.
“Connectivity right around regional Victoria is important,” he said.
“Not only the Monday to Friday commute for employment options, but also for those who are bringing tourism in and out.”
The RCV forum focused on five strategic areas where RCV will concentrate its efforts for the next 12 months: population attraction, unlocking regional infrastructure investment, tourism, regional higher education and promoting regional product to world markets.
Cr Hudson said infrastructure investment is also crucial for the region.
“It (the forum) gives us a chance to advocate for a whole range of different projects that we’re looking at in each of our regions and ways to be able to unlock those funds, which are quarantined off in the $100 million (total) fund.
“(It’s about) making sure we get a fair and reasonable share across the board and making sure they’re on the agenda of the Regional Development Minister (Jaala Pulford).”
The forum comprises of mayors and chief executives from Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Horsham, Latrobe, Mildura, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Warrnambool and Wodonga. RCV deputy chair Anna Speedie said she is looking forward to working with the government on its key priorities.