Council Otway Shire, in partnership with Regional Development Victoria, has hosted a roundtable meeting with Victorian Government Minister Michaela Settle discussing issues relating to her portfolios of Rural and Regional Development, Agriculture and Water.
Mayor Jason Schram and CEO Andrew Tenni welcomed Minister Settle, who travelled to Colac to meet with representatives from farming, health, water, manufacturing and education about the priorities and challenges shaping growth in the region.
Council CEO Andrew Tenni said the visit provided an opportunity for the Minister to hear first-hand from leaders across a broad range of industries about what opportunities and challenges they are facing.
"Colac Otway has a strong, diverse economy and a genuine pipeline of growth opportunities. The immediate challenge is not generating demand, but ensuring our workforce, housing and enabling infrastructure keep pace.
"The roundtable was a great opportunity to further promote the region with the Minister and members of her departmental teams, and to hear about the Government's priorities in areas that impact us," Mr Tenni said.
"Colac Otway is relatively small by population, but is a significant regional economy with nationally important strengths in food and fibre, manufacturing and tourism. We already have businesses seeking to grow but further support is needed to strengthen some enablers such as education, industrial infrastructure, technology, innovation and water security."
Council is taking every opportunity to advocate for support for major initiatives for the region and in the past week has also conducted meetings at Parliament House and led a G21 Transport Forum in Geelong.
"A lot of the planning we have done has identified where we need support to enable our region to grow, to connect our communities and to make it an attractive place to invest," Mr Tenni said.
"We welcome visits like this with Minister Settle to be able to share a clear vision of what is needed in Colac Otway to achieve our goal for a prosperous future."
