rai geelong report v2 - regional australia · the geelong consultation was held at simonds stadium...

GEELONG

RECORD OF CONSULTATION

29 OCTOBER 2013

regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 2

GEELONG – RECORD OF CONSULTATION

October 2013

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



October 2013

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.



October 2013



October 2013

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



October 2013

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.



October 2013



October 2013

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



October 2013

• 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



October 2013

• 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.



October 2013



October 2013

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



October 2013

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.



October 2013



October 2013

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.



October 2013

Appendix A – Invitation and advertisement for policy roundtable



October 2013



October 2013

Appendix B – RAI’s powerpoint presentation (open forum)



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October 2013

Appendix C – RAI’s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable)



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October 2013

BCA’s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable)



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October 2013

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



October 2013

• 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



October 2013

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



October 2013

• 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



October 2013

• 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



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

rai geelong report v2 - regional australia · the geelong consultation was held at simonds stadium...

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