Gippsland › Latest news › One Gippsland

Plan from Gippsland One to get region on the political agenda in December 2021

One GIppsland makes a bid for federal and state budget funding, putting Gippsland on the political agenda.

By news@gippsland - 22nd December 2021 - Back to News

Despite the ongoing pandemic restrictions of the past few months, the One Gippsland board has continued to advocate across all levels of government and industry to help make the case to kick-start our region's economy.

Good mobile connectivity is fundamental to facilitating good emergency response capabilities, attracting investment to the region and improving liveability for those that reside there

Tourism

Our Board has been focusing on our region's tourism industry, meeting with the Hon Dan Tehan MP Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment to discuss stimulus initiatives and highlight the impact of event cancellations on Gippsland's economy.

We also met with the Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport, Major Events, Industry, Support and Recovery, the Hon Martin Pakula MP to champion the region's tourism and economic potential.

Freight

Freight and transport connections are on the agenda as the region continues to grow, and to ensure we support our local industry to supply materials for Melbourne's Big Build. We held productive discussions with the Hon Melissa Horne MP, Minister for Ports and Freight, the Hon Jacinta Allan MP, Minister for Transport Infrastructure and Suburban Rail Loop and the office of the Hon Ben Carroll MP, Minister for Public Transport, Roads and Road Safety.

Federally, we also briefed the Hon Catherine King MP, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. We also met with Louise Staley MP Shadow Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Roads and Regional Recovery to discuss regional freight and transport issues. At each of these meetings we highlighted a number of shovel and planning-ready road freight projects required to get Gippsland moving.

Housing

The regional migration boom continues to strain the supply of affordable and social housing across Gippsland. We recently met with the Hon Jason Clare MP, Shadow Minister for Housing, Homelessness, Regional Services and local government ahead of the federal election.

We also met with Bill Tilley MP, Shadow Minister for Regional Cities, Decentralisation, Mr Richard Riordan MP, Shadow Minister for local government and Resources and the Hon Ryan Smith MP, Shadow Minister for Planning, Heritage and Housing to discuss housing, skill shortages and regional migration.

Digital connectivity

With digital connectivity building as one of the highest priorities for Gippsland, we have made the case to the office of the Hon Jaala Pulford MP, Minister for Digital Economy, Small Business and Bridget Vallence MP, Shadow Minister for Industry and Digital Economy.

Stimulating economic growth across the region is a key priority for our Board and we were pleased to host meetings with representatives from Regional Development Victoria and the Industry Capability Network to promote local investment and contractor opportunities for Gippsland infrastructure projects.

One Gippsland has identified four priority investment areas that will enable a kick-start to the economic recovery of the region, they are freight, tourism, digital connectivity and job creation

Pre-budget submission

One Gippsland has put forward a Pre-Budget Submission to both the federal and state governments, detailing the investment required in the key areas of:

Freight
Tourism
Digital connectivity
Job Creation

It also outlines a number of important local projects across each of the six council areas that will increase the liveability and productivity at a local level. Our board will spend the coming months meeting with political leaders to discuss the details behind our budget submission and advocate for greater investment for our region.

Digital connectivity is a major issue for Gippslanders - even more so with the uptake of people working and learning from home. One Gippsland recently made a submission to the federal government's Regional Telecommunications Review, putting forward a total of 19 recommendations to improve both mobile and fixed-line coverage in the region.

We backed that up with a submission to the Regional Connectivity Program Round 2 Grant Opportunity Draft Guidelines, advocating that regions with poorer digital connectivity are prioritised for investment. One Gippsland also developed an Affordable and Social Housing Policy. Data analysed by One Gippsland has identified an almost 50% (48.43%) decrease in available affordable rentals in Gippsland over the past 12 months, contributing to an increased risk of homelessness across the region.

Pictures from One Gippsland Facebook page and One Gippsland website.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com