Politics pushed aside, environment and waste take the lead at G21 forum

POLITICS took a back seat at this year’s G21 Stakeholder Forum, with the annual gathering of some of the most influential business and community leaders in the Geelong region focusing on waste and the environment.

About 300 people attended the all-day event at the RACV Torquay Resort, which featured panel discussions about Geelong’s future water needs and how to best respond to Victoria’s ongoing recycling crisis.

In his remarks to open the forum, chair of the G21 board, Bill Mithen, said the forum was “typically a political affair” as it had a knack of happening close to State or Federal elections, “but we’re all electioned out.

“We felt there was an opportunity to give a little more space and time to some of the environmental challenges,” he said.

Barwon Water chair Jo Plummer hosted a panel to formally launch the water authority’s ‘Water for Our Future’ community consultations, while forum MC Leigh McClusky moderated a wide-ranging panel on waste and resource recovery that covers topics including the community’s willingness to participate, the complications in the recycling system and the need for government reform.

Victorian Treaty Advancement Commissioner Jill Gallagher drew the biggest reaction, with the crowd rising to their feet to give a standing ovation to her remarks about steps towards a Treaty for Victoria.

“Sadly, our culture has not always been celebrated in this country,” Ms Gallagher said. “Can you imagine, instead, a world where our culture was seen as a source of strength?

“We are on the cusp, here in Victoria, of something incredible, something my community never thought we’d see, something my ancestors unfortunately never saw.”

The most political of the speakers was Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who said he was diverging from his prepared remarks to limit the amount of bragging he would do.

He was immediately followed by ABC journalist Patricia Karvelas, who gave an overview of how she saw the 2018 federal election. She noted that Mr Andrews’ speech “absolutely confirmed” the “bromance” between the Premier and the Prime Minister, and that the two leaders held similarly pragmatic views.

“Our political zeitgeist now is about infrastructure and expect that to get louder and louder and louder.”