G21 Regional Forum discusses growing well together

NEARLY 300 people gathered at RACV Torquay Resort on Thursday last week to discuss their collective health and wellbeing challenges at this year’s G21 Regional Forum.

Welcoming guests to the forum and speaking on the event’s theme of “Growing Well Together”, G21 Geelong Region Alliance chief executive officer Giulia Baggio said the region now had much more information about “who’s doing well and who’s really struggling”.

“We know that divide in our region is vast, because our wealthiest and our poorest postcodes are just a stone’s throw away from each other.

“We know people can’t pay their rent, can’t find a home, can’t afford to run a car, and more people than you think are struggling to put food on the table on a regular basis.

“The evidence tells us that even these short-term deprivations can lead to long-term health problems, and that’s why we’re here today: to do a bit of a health check on the region.”

Keynote speaker Dr Norman Swan spoke about the links between health and geography as well as the links between the body and the mind, and the importance of people having a sense of “control” over their lives and its effects on overall health.

“Giulia [in her introduction] spoke about shared history, what I’m going to be talking about is shared destiny,” he said.

“Some of what I’ll talk about today might make you feel down, that there’s not a lot of positivity out of this in the future, but it’s all patterns you can change.”

Other speakers at the forum included Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto, Barwon Health’s Dr Steve Moylan, Geelong Food Relief CEO Andrew Schauble, Geelong Chamber of Commerce CEO Jeremy Crawford, Barwon Water chair Jo Plummer and Geelong Arts Centre CEO Rhys Holden.

Guests in the audience include Corangamite federal member Libby Coker, Geelong MP Christine Couzens, Bellarine MP Alison Marchant, Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney (who officially opened the event), and several councillors and representatives from G21’s five municipalities – Surf Coast, Geelong, Queenscliffe, Golden Plains and Colac Otway.