August 2018

Dear Community Member,

Thank you for your ongoing interest in the Great South Coast (GSC) Regional Partnership and in our 2018 Regional Assembly which took place in Hamilton on 13 June.

We had more than 240 community members attend the 2018 Assembly and it is important that we keep you, our community, up to date with developments and our work.

With this in mind, I am taking the opportunity to write to you as Chair of the GSC Regional Partnership.

The 2018 GSC Regional Assembly was the Partnership’s third major opportunity to consult with the community.

In addition to local residents, businesses and organisation representatives, the Assembly was attended by two Victorian Government Ministers: the Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaala Pulford and the Attorney-General Martin Pakula.

The Assembly provided the Partnership an opportunity to present a brief summary of some of its achievements over the past eight months since our last Assembly, and for discussions on our priorities: the Economy, Education, Health and Community Wellbeing, Transport and Infrastructure, and Culture and Environment.

Read more about the Assembly here.

As part of the Assembly, we screened two short videos about some of the Partnership’s priorities and achievements over the past year. You can view the videos on Beyond the Bell and the Food and Fibre Council here.

As a Partnership, our role is now to take the messages and ideas from our 2018 Regional Assembly and action them. We will present on our 2018 priorities to the Rural and Regional Ministerial Committee later this month.

Last year, we spoke to that Committee about our region’s needs and we are pleased to say that in this year’s Budget in May, the following funding was announced:

• $40 million to upgrade the Princes Highway from Colac to the South Australian border
• $9.9 million for the Hamilton Highway upgrade
• More than $941 million for better regional roads across the state, including:
  • $333 million for regional road restoration
  • $261 million for road upgrades in regional Victoria
  • $229 million for Continuing Towards Zero, providing safety upgrades to our regional road network
  • $100 million for grants to rural councils to undertake local road remediation projects
  • $17.4 million to establish Regional Roads Victoria
• $153.2 million for the Geelong City Deal, including funding towards implementation of the Shipwreck Coast Master Plan Stage 2
• $292,000 for upgrading the Reardon Theatre in Port Fairy as part of the region’s cultural facilities
• $80,000 for suicide prevention training for businesses, sporting and community groups to ensure the whole community knows what to do if someone is at risk of suicide.

Though our 2018 Regional Assembly is now behind us, the Partnership is very keen to continue the consultation process and the ongoing engagement with the community.

We will, of course, also keep you abreast of announcements relevant to our region, via our website, email and on our Partnership Facebook page.

Again, thank you for giving your time and insight, whether by attending the Assembly, a project working group or being active on the Engage page.

Your views are valuable and this process means our region has a direct line into Government.

We look forward to keeping the conversation going.

Emily Lee-Ack
Chair
Great South Coast Regional Partnership