COUNCILLOR COLUMN – November 1, 2018

Fast rail
Council, with the Victorian government, has recently announced a huge body of work that has been done with an international consortium who specialise in the construction of fast rail between regional cities and capital cities.

Council has been working on this project for about 12 months and has presented a strategy and technical report to the Victorian government.

This vison is all about the regions of Victoria working together to create far better connectivity with our capital city Melbourne.

These initial documents have been well received by the Victorian government and together with the coalition of regional cities we can see a genuine, cost-effective fast rail service being delivered from Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo to Melbourne.

The business case has also been done and we’re now very hopeful to accelerate this critically required infrastructure for our communities.

This will be a genuine game changer for our whole G21 region and beyond.

The City of Greater Geelong has led this vision and will continue to advocate for the Geelong fast rail to be built first.

Five more years for Floating Christmas Tree
I’m happy to report that Geelong’s famous floating Christmas tree will continue for five more years, with council voting to commit funding until 2023.

Since its introduction in 2014, the floating tree has become an icon for our city, attracting nation-wide attention and delivering huge economic benefits over the Christmas and New Year period.

It’s estimated around 165,000 people visited the Geelong Waterfront to see the tree last year, while overall the Christmas in Geelong program injected around $17.3 million into our local economy.

Our Christmas celebrations are a great way for us to come together as a community, and it’s always enjoyable to be in Central Geelong and see so many families and groups of friends enjoying the attractions.

This year the floating tree will be launched on November 9, and each night until January 7 there’ll be three different light shows running every 15 minutes between 8.30pm and midnight.

Make sure you take the family along for a look – it’ll be well worthwhile.

Korean baseball team arrives in Geelong
Next week the City is formally welcoming Geelong-Korea, our new home team in the Australian Baseball League to Geelong.

Their inaugural season starts on November 15 in an away game against Sydney.

The team will be based in Geelong over summer making the most of our quality baseball facilities in Waurn Ponds.

This is a huge coup for Geelong and the City worked hard with Baseball Australia to secure this hosting opportunity.

About 45 baseball players, coaches, executives and Korean media representatives will be based in Geelong until February.

The other exciting part of this deal is that every game Geelong-Korea play in Geelong will be broadcast to millions of baseball viewers all over the world, enabling Geelong to have a truly global audience.

This will showcase the Geelong region to an entirely new market boosting tourism and the local economy.

So, make sure you catch a game and welcome our new team this summer!