Living up to our potential

AFL chair urges ‘focus’

ONE of Australia’s most influential business identities has urged Geelong’s business and community leaders to commit to “making a difference”.

AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder — who was the chief executive of Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers for more than a decade — was the special guest speaker at the Committee for Geelong’s 2018 annual leadership breakfast.

Speaking to more than 300 attendees, Mr Goyder said economic fundamentals were of the utmost importance for Geelong.

“We need to focus on leveraging the economic potential of a city to make it a world class place,” Mr Goyder said. “The economy is fundamental to everything we do.”

The businessman, who is also the chairman-designate of Woodside Petroleum, also spoke of his expansive career and its highlights — including sitting beside former American president Barack Obama at a G20 economic discussion in 2014.

“I was leading the B20, which was a business group advising the G20 on economic policies,” Mr Goyder told the breakfast.

“I gave a six-minute speech to senior representatives of the G20 about what we should do with the economy.

“For a young boy from a farming community who found himself addressing global leaders, it reminded me that we can really all make a difference.

“We should all demand that our leaders lead, but we need to remember that we should all make a difference.”

THE Geelong Cats have asked Harry Taylor to carry varied loads, but yesterday the star carried a very special cargo with aplumb. Taylor and teammates including Scott Selwood and Mitch Duncan joined Wallington Primary School Grade 5 and 6 students at a...

AFL chair Richard Goyder in Geelong yesterday.