The long game
THE Barwon Regional Partnership covers the shires of Colac Otway, Surf Coast, the Borough of Queenscliffe and the City of Greater Geelong and is one of eight others across Victoria, working to increase collaboration between communities, industry, businesses and Government to address the most important challenges and opportunities to each unique region.
On November 27, the Barwon Regional Partnership presented its priorities to the State Government’s Rural and Regional Sub-Committee of Cabinet.
Our advice to government is timed to coincide with the 2018/19 State Budget cycle, and will land in what is a state election year in 2018.
The shortlist of priorities presented to the sub-committee are part of a wider matrix that articulates the region’s short, medium and longer-term actions, across funding, policy and service delivery areas.
As part of our ongoing dialogue with government, the Barwon Regional Partnership provided the following advice to the subcommittee: • SUPPORT an entrepreneurial ecosystem pilot project to grow industry and jobs and support scale-ups, innovation and research and to provide evidence- based feedback for policy consideration and funding program. Our partnership wants our region to be home to scaled up enterprises, which in turn attract entrepreneurial businesses and decentralised service sectors to Barwon. Such a pilot program would assist in achieving this goal; • PROVIDE funding for regional tourism initiatives, supporting a pipeline of infrastructure investments could help to significantly increase the Great Ocean Road’s economic contribution to the region and state. More than 5.1 million people visit the Great Ocean Road region each year. Substantial investment is required for maintenance, tourism infrastructure and related assets along the length of the road, with the quality of both the road itself and tourism attractions currently not meeting the expectations of many visitors; • ALLOCATE priority investment to revitalise the Geelong city centre, including the funding of the Geelong Convention and Exhibition Centre, recognising that a strong and vibrant central Geelong is critical for the prosperity and liveability of the Barwon region. Central Geelong is the Barwon region’s primary centre of business, retail, arts and cultural activity, but is experiencing challenges transitioning from a traditional central business district to a more diverse and vibrant economic, social, residential and cultural centre; • BACK construction of the Northern ARC Health and Wellbeing Hub (Stage 1), leveraging the existing $33 million committed to the Barwon Health North facility, will deliver an expected $111 million of preventative health benefits to the community over 10 years, 111 direct and indirect local jobs during construction, $67 million revenue into the local economy during construction and 600,000 annual visitations over 10 years — double the current visitation; and, • RAISE educational aspirations and improve educational engagement and achievement rates of school aged children and young people particularly in disadvantaged communities, by funding a range of projects focusing on prevention and early intervention and linking education, community, social support, housing and employment support services, resulting in increased social and economic participation for our next generation.
Our partnership acknowledges the finite nature of the annual budget, and that delivery of large, catalytic projects can be a “long game”. Nevertheless, we believe the delivery of these projects will drive us towards a more prosperous future for our region, where every person can reach their potential.
The presentation of our priorities was the culmination of a process that included building on the significant work of a range of organisations, and tested with input from our community via online consultation, stakeholder briefings, round tables with subject matter experts and “Home Turf” days with our young people.
Our partnership also hosted the second annual Barwon Assembly, which attracted 300 participants, including four Victorian Government Ministers.
In all, more than 20,000 locals have directly and indirectly helped shape our partnership’s thinking this year. Thank you to those who participated in the consultation process — the Barwon Regional Partnership looks forward to continuing the conversation in 2018. Kylie Warne is chair of the Barwon Regional Partnership