G21 Stakeholder Forum rescheduled to April

THE G21 Stakeholder Forum called off at the last minute in 2021 will return in the usual format at RACV Torquay Resort in April.

Organisers have also left the door open for the nation’s political leaders to take part.

Originally set for August 6, G21 was to broadcast the forum online (as it did in 2020) but cancelled the event with less than 24 hours to go to comply with a snap COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria.

G21 chief executive officer Giulia Baggio said this year’s forum would essentially be the same one planned for 2021, with Jon Faine as MC and journalist author George Megalogenis still on the bill among others, but other invitations had been extended.

“It’ll be face to face, it’ll essentially be the same speakers we had lined up.

“There might be a couple of changes – we’ve invited the Prime Minister and the federal Opposition Leader.

“We’re hoping that the federal election will be in April or May, so the Stakeholder Forum will be held before that election. So it’s a critical time for the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to come down and get amongst it.”

Previous G21 Stakeholder Forums have been held in election years, as it will be in 2022, and the event has often featured leaders from both Victorian politics (Daniel Andrews, Matthew Guy, Denis Napthine) and federal politics (Bill Shorten and Richard di Natale) as keynote speakers.

“If there is a federal budget, it’ll be in that week, so there’ll be a budget and a budget in reply, if the Prime Minister decides to have a budget, so it’ll be good timing coming off of the back of that,” Ms Baggio said.

She said the forum would go ahead whether the election had happened or not.

“If it’s post-election, that’s fine too – we can analyse the results and pick over the traces, and all the rest of it.”