Mr Bowan said the round table meeting hosted by the City of Greater Bendigo would touch on topics from smart cities to tourism and agriculture, citing a disparity between growth in regional and metropolitan areas.

“If I'm treasurer some time in the next 18 months to two years, I want to hit the ground running, knowing what’s happening in regional economies, not just Sydney and Melbourne but right across Australia and particularly here in regional Victoria,” he said.

“While the headline figures might be good, there are parts of regional Australia in particular that aren’t doing as well and regional Victoria is included amongst that.

“I don’t think there’s simple solutions but I also don’t think you put it in the too hard basket and you don’t write regional Victoria off.”

Mr Bowen acknowledged better connectivity to the NBN was a top priority for businesses in Bendigo in allowing them to compete with their metropolitan peers.

“And not just businesses in capital cities, they can compete with businesses in Singapore and China, but they’ve got to have the connectivity,” he said.

“They’ve got to have the opportunity to make their case to their customers and to respond to customer demand and you can only do that through a first-class broadband.”

“We’re talking about microbusinesses here, one or two people working from home, but those businesses can grow and I’ve seen them grow, but we’ve got to put them on a level playing field.”

While stopping short of a pledge to ensure a future Labor government would end broadband uncertainty in Bendigo, Mr Bowen flagged further announcements would be forthcoming.

“Our track record on the NBN is of course very good and we went to the last election with a very detailed policy, now that will be updated to reflect what will have happened in the intervening period, but I look forward to coming back to Bendigo before the next election,” he said.

“I know [opposition communications spokeswoman] Michelle Rowland would be more than happy to come to Bendigo and make further announcements about the details of the NBN and how it relates to regional Victoria.”