Strong regional media key to vibrant communities
We as citizens in Bendigo and the surrounding districts join together and volunteer whenever we can, it can be sporting events, fundraisers for fires and floods, doing SES duties, helping paramedics, helping in hospitals, aged care facilities, schools, kindergartens, or even delivering local papers or pamphlets.
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Most of the above information we gather from television, radio, local papers and pamphlets, or word of mouth. All this makes us feel good and proud of ourselves and we often form friendships that last a lifetime as we pass it on to others.
That is why I am urging the government to please Save Our Voice.
Without all the above information our community would have nothing to hang on to. Unemployment will rise as people will move out of our local areas as business will close through lack of knowledge and information. One can’t imagine not having local papers, local news and weather reports, train and bus times, TV and radio guide. Not forgetting sporting and entertainment times, such as cinemas and dining out facilities.
All this is vital to our region. This is where we live, work and raise our families so that they can follow our footsteps so that we can save central Victoria from becoming the dead centre of Victoria.
Lyn Hartland, Bendigo
Summit of business leaders sets economic agenda
Priorities for growth in the Bendigo region were among the key issues discussed at the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (VECCI) Victoria Summit 2015 - Regional Victoria in Bendigo recently.
We were delighted to host over 100 regional business and local government leaders from throughout Victoria at the summit, along with Minister for Public Transport and Employment Jacinta Allan and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.
VECCI’s Victoria Summit 2015 policy paper, Regional Victoria Means Business, contains a number of recommendations to strengthen regional business competitiveness, including:
- Raising the payroll tax threshold from $550,000 to $850,000 to assist regional small and medium enterprises (SMEs) create jobs.
- Retracting Victoria’s two new public holidays, Easter Sunday and Grand Final eve, as they impose significant costs on regional small business and result in lost productivity.
- Progressing major regional investments by creating a one-stop shop for local and state government regulatory approvals to reduce costs and delays.
Recommendations specific to the Bendigo region include progressing the development of Marong Business Park; funding the completion of the Bendigo airport redevelopment to include a business park and commercial precinct; and supporting the completion of the East Bendigo Link Road.
Speaking at the summit, Bendigo delegates Pam Macdonald and Brian Black highlighted a number of ways governments can help the Bendigo region capitalise on its strengths.
Among these are:
- Incentivising regional living to ensure Bendigo can take its share of Victoria’s expected population growth, leveraging the city’s advantages as an affordable and attractive place to live.
- Delivering the NBN to Bendigo as a key priority, enabling business to better compete on both a local and international level.
- Investing in world-class rail track infrastructure, benefitting both business and the wider community.
The Victoria Summit recommendations will form the basis of VECCI’s regional business agenda into 2016 and beyond. We cannot expect Victoria’s economic performance to be strong without vibrant, forward-looking and competitive regional business.
