Felicia focused on making the most of opportunities

NEW Committee for Ballarat chair Felicia Mariani is settling into her role with a laser focus on how the city and its region can benefit from the range of opportunities open to it.

“The opportunities for this region are enormous,” Ms Mariani said. “I think there are some key opportunities that are not necessarily being taken advantage of.

“We see our role as bringing this to the fore. We’ve got to make sure that we are ready as a destination for the population growth that’s expected for this region.

“It’s like we’re at this really important precipice and we really need to push hard to get what it is that Ballarat needs to take it to the next level.

“We’re ready to do that.”

Ms Mariani took over the position from her predecessor, George Fong, at the committee’s annual general meeting in October last year.

Her most recent role was as CEO of the Victorian Tourism Industry Council, a position she held for almost eight years.

Ms Mariani said her first two months had been primarily about learning and listening, but she already has high praise for the board.

“It really is a tremendous board,” she said. “I’ve served on a lot of boards over many years, and I have to say it is such an impressive board to work with.

“There is so much to learn from each and every one of them. They are absolute professionals in their field, and the group of people sitting around that table are passionately committed to really building a strong and vibrant future for the region.”

Ms Mariani said the first of Ballarat’s opportunities is the state election in November.

“We need to be ready,” she said, explaining that the committee should be pointing out opportunities to the State Government rather than simply just asking for things.

“And then of course, two years behind that in 2028 we’ve got another federal election coming up.

“A lot of the things we ask for at the federal level do require both state and federal intervention, so the feds don’t step in and support something unless the state does.

“So we need to be ensuring that we are carving a really sound and strategic pathway from the state election that leads into the federal election.”

Ms Mariani said another element of forward planning was the committee’s Vision 2050 project.

“This all has to be connected in a linear way – our short-term asks building our long-term future,” she said.

Ms Mariani said the committee was still finalising its pre-election positions on various issues, but stressed the organisation would continue to advocate for whatever is needed to prepare for expected population growth up to 2050.

“We’re looking at a population in excess of 200 to 250,000 by the time we get out to 2050, so that means we’ve got major priorities around housing, around transport and infrastructure – and that is road, rail and air,” she said.

“And job creation – we need to ensure that we are creating jobs in our local region. You can’t expect people to move here and commute into the city (Melbourne) to work.

“We need to be creating jobs in our region to keep people living, working and playing in the region.”

Ms Mariani said the committee was working with the City of Ballarat on its circular economy by 2050 project and was also advocating for the Sovereign Hill Gold Vault project.

“That is probably the jewel in the crown, if you will, of a major master planning process that Sovereign Hill has been going through over the last 10 years,” she said.

“This will be a major game changer for the region and will absolutely ensconce Ballarat and Sovereign Hill as the reason to travel [here].”