Region’s future to be explored at G21 forum

BY ALISON MARTIN
RISING to the challenge of creating sustainable, connected communities as the region grows will be a focus of next month’s G21 Stakeholder Forum.
The annual event, planned for August 6 at RACV Torquay Resort, promises lively, thought-provoking discussions from a stellar list of guest speakers, with former ABC presenter Jon Faine as MC.
The forum will provide the region’s leaders with an opportunity to hear informed perspectives from author and journalist George Megalogenis and urban research expert Distinguished Professor Billie Giles-Corti.
George is an author and journalist who has observed national politics and demographic changes in Australia for more than three decades for The Australian, the ABC and The Age. He is currently penning the new Quarterly Essay: Exit Strategy – Politics After the Pandemic.
George is also the author of five books, including The Australian Moment which won the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Non-fiction and the 2012 Walkley Award for Non-fiction, and formed the basis for his three-part ABC documentary series Making Australia Great.
George’s other books are Faultlines, The Longest Decade, Australia’s Second Chance, The Football Solution and Balancing Act.
Professor Giles-Corti is a VC Professorial Fellow at RMIT University and leads the Healthy Liveable Cities Group in the Centre for Urban Research.
For more than two decades, she has studied the impact of the built environment on health and wellbeing, and led thought-provoking discussion on the features of the “20-minute neighbourhood”.
Prof. Giles-Corti has also led the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities, was RMIT’s Urban Futures Enabling Capability Development Platform director and foundation director of UWA’s Centre for the Built Environment.
She is a technical advisor of the Victorian Office of the Government Architect’s Design Review Panel, a member of the Victorian Planning Authority’s Precinct Structure Plan Review Committee, a member of Melbourne Water’s Liveability Panel and an Honorary Fellow of both the Planning Institute of Australia and the Public Health Association.
G21 Forum guests can also expect to take away ideas and insights into sustainable growth and shaping a community for future generations during a panel discussion with Wadawurrung Traditional Owner Corrina Eccles, sustainable architect Jeremy McLeod, economist Angela Jackson and urban planner Nat Anson.
The forum’s primary supporting sponsors include the Times News Group, Gforce Employment Solutions, TAC and Deakin University, with supporting sponsors Evologic, Geelong Port, Urbis and LBW Business & Wealth Advisors.