Premier

Giving Communities A Voice At This Year’s Regional Assemblies

01 November 2017

More than 2,000 people have attended this year’s nine Victorian Regional Assemblies – giving the Andrews Labor Government an incredible insight into the priorities and aspirations of regional communities across Victoria.

The Assemblies were held between June and October in Swan Hill, Wodonga, Horsham, Sale, Bendigo, Seymour, Creswick, Geelong and Portland.

Each had a unique feel and were all marked with strong attendance by the local community, Labor Government ministers, local MPs and mayors.

There were 44 Ministerial appearances at the Assemblies during 2017, with Ministers there to listen to locals and understand their concerns and hopes for their region.

The Assemblies are now in their second year and are the cornerstone of the Labor Government’s Regional Partnership model introduced in 2016, which recognises that local communities are in the best position to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by their region.

As well as the formal Assemblies, several Partnerships held mini Assemblies, roundtables and deep dive meetings in towns such as Leongatha, Lakes Entrance, Echuca, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Alexandra, Nagambie, Shepparton, Broadford and Colac.

In addition, there were more than 700 online engagements with pre-Assembly surveys and questionnaires.

Each Partnership is now in the process of reporting back to community participants on their Assemblies. Each Partnership is also gathering information from the Assemblies, pre-engagement and year round discussions, to feed into Government and Budget decision making.

For reports go to engage.vic.gov.au/regionsExternal Link .

Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Development Jaala Pulford

“I want to thank the very large number of regional Victorians that engaged with our Partnerships and the Andrews Labor Government over the past few months.”

“When the Premier launched the Regional Partnership model of consultation, he had a very simple and very strong message – local communities are in the best place to determine their priorities.”

“Through our Regional Partnerships and Assemblies, we are hearing local priorities. We listened last year and we are delivering on that now – and we look forward to delivering again for local communities in the coming years.”

Reviewed 19 August 2020

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