LVA reports 2500 new jobs created
Around 2500 jobs have been created since the formation of the Latrobe Valley Authority, according to Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing.
Speaking to various stakeholders at a function to mark the three-year anniversary of the formation of the authority Ms Shing said the unemployment rate had droppe4d to 3.7 per cent.
Ms Shing released the Transitioning to a strong future report at the function which was held at Lardner Park.
Ms Harriet Shing launched the report with a short presentation and glowing review of the work that the LVA has done throughout the region in the past three years.
Authority chief executive Karen Cain provided the stakeholders and several businesses present with some detailed highlights, challenges and outcomes from the report, explaining that regional communities like the Latrobe Valley play a critical role in Victoria.
“We have a really important responsibility in what we do, regional communities like Gippsland play a critical role in the prosperity of this state,” she said.
“One challenge we have faced is people not being confident in their own community, we’ve really got to change the way people talk about the region and show them the potential it really has” she explained.
Guest speaker Elvira Uyarra, a leader innovation and regional development from Alliance Manchester Business School spoke to the many interested business owners and community members about the lessons learnt about smart specialisation in the EU, with a focus on policy-implementation before the attendees shared lunch together.
Ms Shing said that the growth is evident throughout the Gippsland region thanks to the LVA.
“It’s a hard task to transition across from existing industries with a very long presence in the community, but to work on smart specialisation and capture the opportunities to develop further innovations in food and fibre, new energy technology, health and wellbeing and also our visitor economy place us in a really good position,” she said.
The Latrobe Valley Authority began in November 2016 following the closure of the Hazelwood power station and was tasked with helping those transition into new careers or power station jobs around the region.
There was a response and recovery period for those affected by the closure, with the LVA setting up a worker transition program, working with individuals who were unemployed to identify how they wanted to transition. Some transferred to other power stations, while others retired, and some moved into another career.