Committee floats its plan for second city

Committee for Geelong’s Rebecca Casson, Port Phillip Ferries’ Murray Rance, Commonwealth Bank’s Josh Mitchell, Geelong mayor Bruce Harwood, and CfG’s Kirsten Kilpatrick and Dan Simmonds on board the Bellarine Express.

THE Committee for Geelong (CfG) says the time is now for policy that will create the framework for the “second city” status of not only Geelong but also cities across Australia.

More than 100 people attended the launch of CfG’s Second City Policy Framework, held aboard the Bellarine Express as it cruised on Corio Bay in between the first Melbourne-Geelong trial ferry services.

The proposed framework, which will be presented to state Parliament today (Thursday), puts forward 26 specific actions, and details local and government targets for collaboration, support and investment.

These are gathered in five themes: governance; economic prosperity; social, cultural and sporting excellence; health, education, inclusion and accessibility; and infrastructure and connectivity.

The 26 actions include:

Formally recognising Geelong as Victoria’s second city
Creation of a widely recognised city brand
A review into the establishment of a Second City-specific Economic and Technological Development Zone such as the zones in China that encourage foreign investment
Visit Victoria to implement Geelong-specific policies to build the visitor economy
The growth of Geelong’s health sector including priority for a new hospital, and
High-speed, reliable WiFi on public transport, schools and key public places.

CfG chief executive officer Rebecca Casson said as Geelong grew, other Victorian second cities would come to the fore.

“The reality is that if we can get Geelong right and take the population and look at that infrastructure and the governance structure and the economic prosperity, we can then put that framework down to other cities as well.”

She said CfG’s research had found nations that had invested more heavily in their second-tier cities had fared better through global economic shocks.

“We believe it’s important to put out, in the lead-up to the Victorian state election, a document that really sets out what we believe could be the opportunities for success for Geelong as Victoria’s second city.”