Page 246 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014

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Thank you to Mayor Bill Taylor and Peter Tegart, General Manager, Bega Valley Shire Council; Mayor Robert Stewart and Ngaire McCrindle, General Manager, Bombala Shire Council; Deputy Mayor Christopher Corcoran and Anthony McMahon, Assistant General Manager, Boorowa Council; Mayor Dean Lynch, and John Vucic, General Manager, Cooma-Monaro Shire Council; Mayor Lindsay Brown and Catherine Dale, General Manager, Eurobodalla Shire Council; Mayor Geoff Kettle and Christopher Berry, General Manager, Goulburn Mulwaree Council; Mayor Pete Harrison and Peter Bascomb, General Manager, Palerang Council; Tim Overall, Mayor of Queanbeyan City Council; Councillor Fergus Thomson, and Joseph Vescio, General Manager, Snowy River Shire Council; Councillor Brian McCormack and John Bell, General Manager, Upper Lachlan Shire Council; and Rowena Abbey, Mayor of Yass Valley Council.

Thanks also to all the local community groups, businesses and public servants who appeared before us to give us their perspectives and expertise: Steve Toms, New South Wales Cross-Border Commissioner; Ms Pam Davoren, Deputy Director-General, CMTD; Robert Neil, ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment; Craig Sloan and Robert van Aalst, Regional Development Australia; Duncan Edghill, ACTEW Water; Mark Sullivan, ACTEW Corporation; Chris Watson and Doug Finlayson, Ginninderra Falls Association; Lynne Harwood, Communities@Work; Noel McCann and Kathryn Scarano from the Canberra Airport; and Denise McFayden, from Surveyor’s Hill Vineyards.

This committee received 18 submissions from surrounding areas and from organisations across the ACT. We received submissions from Mr Stephen Brown, Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Queanbeyan City Council, the Ginninderra Falls Association, the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, Communities@Work, HCCA, ACTEW, Canberra Airport, RDA ACT, SEROC, the Queanbeyan-Monaro Greens, Palerang Council, CIT, Bega Valley Shire Council, the ACT government, the New South Wales Cross-Border Commissioner, and Dr Helen Swan.

It is worth touching on some of the ideas raised in the submissions, as they highlight the diversity of views that exist in our region. The South East Regional Organisation of Councils in their submission saw value in the ACT co-developing programs such as a region-wide waste and resource recovery strategy, developing a holistic approach to address skills and training gaps, and developing a regional marketing and branding strategy. They also see the benefits that would come from forging greater ties through regional marketing and promotion. Working better together in promoting our region would substantially boost economic investment in the region and grow tourism opportunities.

Palerang Council in their submission spoke about the benefits that would come to the region through greater collaboration. One of their major recommendations is for the establishment of an overarching body to facilitate regional development. Their idea essentially calls for a greater role for the C+1 region in working to get greater economic investment, but it is easy to see the potential benefits in, at the very least, working towards regional strategies in a number of areas such as economic development, tourism, procurement and environmental protection. I did have some


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