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Ulster high flyers visit innovative LatrobeTwenty of Northern Ireland’s high flyers in business, agriculture, trade unions and the community and voluntary sector, visited Latrobe City on Monday as part of a 15 day innovation study tour in Australia. By Latrobe City Council - 12th April 2006 - Back to News The delegates, who are all members of ‘Concordia’, heard presentations by Latrobe City CEO Paul Buckley, municipal managers and officers, and representatives from the Victorian Police, VicRoads and the Department of Human Services.
Mr Buckley explained that Concordia is a unique social partnership in Northern Ireland which brings together the local business, agricultural, trade union and voluntary sectors in Northern Ireland. "Its aim is to drive forward social and economic development for the benefit of the whole community by becoming more outward looking and by achieving long term sustainability," Mr Buckley said.
"The delegates are participating in ‘Innovation Australia’, a working tour which aims to examine examples of best practice across a wide range of areas. We are honoured that this high profile delegation recognised Latrobe City for its innovative approach, and subsequently made a visit to our municipality a key part of their Australian itinerary."
As part of the morning workshop, Mr Buckley detailed the effects of local government restructure and its impact on local communities; together with a Latrobe City perspective on the importance of relationship development, and also of looking towards the future.
"The latter can best be demonstrated through Latrobe City’s work in developing ‘Latrobe 2021 - the vision for Latrobe Valley’. It is a document that recognises changing needs, and our long-term objectives. It was created by the community for the community, and inputs into all of the strategic planning we undertake as a municipality and as a community," Mr Buckley said.
Chief Inspector Ron Cooke from the Victoria Police discussed the way police and council are working in partnership to seek solutions to policing and community issues; and Valerie Callister, DHS regional director, outlined a number of partnerships and programs operating in conjunction with Latrobe.
Concordia commercial director, David Mark, said Australia had been chosen for the tour, as experience strongly indicated it is ahead in many other countries in applying innovation to increase value.
"Situated on the Asia-Pacific rim, on the ‘door-step’ of Asia and China, it has entered these markets successfully and has a different perspective on business to Europe. It is this combination of different thinking and outlook that has been providing our group of delegates with a range of diverse and challenging stimuli," Mr Mark said.
"Concordia has been in existence since 1995, having initially come together through a loose arrangement on the development of peace. The social partners have subsequently acted together on a range of issues to provide a stronger more united voice for civil society in Northern Ireland.
"The bodies which make up Concordia realised that they needed a resource for supporting the representatives of the various social partners active in partnerships across Northern Ireland. Coupled with the recognition that there were a number of issues of common concern, it became clear that there was a need to adopt a more cohesive approach to both local problem solving and liaison with government and the European Union.
"A resulting program was developed which includes study tours such as this one to Australia, which is examining the best proactive models, and extracting key learning points on topics of relevance to the Northern Ireland community. These tours are aimed at identifying opportunities which have potential application within the agricultural, business, community/voluntary and trade union sectors across Northern Ireland; and which will provide information to assist with the formulation of policy on behalf of the social partners," Mr Mark said.
Following the morning workshop, delegates split into three groups; one visiting the Ellinbank Research Centre, one visiting neighbourhood renewal areas and discussing issues with local residents, and the third meeting with power industry and trade union representatives at PowerWorks to discuss the social, economic and community impacts of privatisation in the power generation industry.
The Concordia visit to Latrobe City concluded in the evening with a visit to the newly established Gippsland Education Precinct.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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