From the Chair - August 2021

Welcome to the first newsletter for One Gippsland, a quarterly bulletin to keep you up to speed about the work of the alliance around our region. In this edition you will find information about our advocacy work, an update on Gippsland’s priority projects and a snapshot of what’s ahead.

The One Gippsland alliance is celebrating its first birthday this month, and we are excited about the future of our region with the guidance and collaboration of our board.  The board is a dedicated team of Gippsland’s leaders from local government, industry and education who volunteer their time to secure funding and policy results for the region.

One Gippsland was created to connect the dots between government, business and community  - while working collectively to champion the interests of our region and our people.  And, we’ve set ourselves some lofty targets to deliver for Gippsland:

·         Being Australia’s most liveable region by 2040;

·         Attracting an additional 75,000 residents by 2040; and

·         Increasing the Gross Regional Product to $23.2 billion by 2040.

Over the past 12 months the behind-the-scenes advocacy work has started to pay dividends.  In addition to building the profile of our region against the backdrop of COVID-19 restriction, there have been some wins in terms of new mobile towers, a new business fibre zone for Cowes, funding NBN Infrastructure upgrades Warragul, Wonthaggi and Inverloch, funding for our all-important tracks and trails project including the Great Southern Rail Trail as well as Metung Hot Springs, Cowes Cultural Centre and the WORLD sporting centre in Bairnsdale.

But we know there is a lot more to be done.  Digital connectivity remains a high priority - you have probably heard me on ABC Gippsland, encouraging everyone to complete the Connecting Victoria survey to identify mobile and internet access issues in their area.

With remote working and schooling and the ongoing challenges we face with floods and fire there has never been a more important time to get digital connectivity right in our region.  One Gippsland will certainly be making the case for improvements to mobile and broadband coverage in our area with ongoing representation to the state and federal government.

One Gippsland Chair - Cr Brett Tessari