Regional cities launch election wishlist

VICTORIA’S 10 leading regional cities met in Melbourne last week to present a policy platform to Premier Daniel Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy ahead of November’s state election.

An influential advocacy group of regional mayors and CEOs, Regional Cities Victoria (RCV) officially launched Growing Regional Victoria at Parliament House, calling for more than $1 billion in targeted investments to support regional jobs and population growth.

The platform calls for significant investments across all 10 regional cities, including:

• A $600 million Regional Jobs Growth Fund to deliver community infrastructure projects and support regional jobs
• A $300 million Regional Visitor Economy Growth Fund to supercharge regional tourism
• A comprehensive Regional Connectivity Package to guide investment across rail, road and digital networks, and
• Establishing a Local Government Treasury Service to slash interest rates for regional councils.

RCV chair Cr Margaret O’Rourke said that with less than 100 days to the election, the group had been actively seeking support for its policy platform.

“RCV has had productive discussions at high levels with both the government and opposition on our plan for boosting growth across regional Victoria.

“Our 10 regional cities are home to over 600,000 people – about 10 per cent of the Victorian population. We are only scratching the surface of our potential.

“We can help alleviate pressure on Melbourne by rebalancing population in a manner that is sustainable and delivers ongoing growth in regional cities.

“With targeted investment, we can ensure regional cities are home to prosperous and sustainable economies, well-connected transport networks, and are widely known as attractive places to live, work and play.”

She said Growing Regional Victoria provided both major parties with a cohesive platform to support jobs and further enhance the liveability of regional cities.

“We are calling on both sides to back our Growing Regional Victoria platform. This is a blueprint to deliver growth and ensure regional Victoria benefits from our state’s prosperity.

“Adopting our platform will support jobs and business in regional Victoria, and draw a greater share of the state’s population to the regions.”