RDA Hunter Chairman, John Turner, Director of Regional Development, Trevor John and directors, managers and executives from Hunter businesses will be in Canberra this week to advocate for priority prospects and opportunities for the Hunter and regional Australia.
As part of a national network of 52 committees for regional development, RDA Hunter has, since 2009, worked with all levels of government, business and stakeholders to support the economic development of the Hunter. More recently, the local RDA has been sharing its knowledge, experience and project delivery expertise with other regions, including Central Coast, Mid North Coast, Central West, Southern Inland, Far South Coast, Riverina and Western Sydney.
RDA Hunter’s Director of Regional Development and Executive Officer, Trevor John said the trip to Canberra will present an opportunity for RDA Hunter to present a compelling case for RDAs to be given a greater role in the delivery of government programs.
RDA Hunter Chair, John Turner added that programs delivered in the Hunter will be used as examples of successful investments in the community that maximise local impact.
“Projects from RDA Hunter’s industry-led STEM Workforce Initiative will be presented as examples of local and cross-regional collaborations which have been shown to maximise outcomes from public-private investments,” John said.
“Economic infrastructure, including road, rail and port projects, the extension of the Newcastle Airport runway, and resilience building projects to counteract the impacts of fires, floods and droughts, as well as tourism supporting projects such as the Horse Centre of Australia in Scone are on the agenda.”
Business leaders will present commercialisation and export opportunities arising from ground-breaking research to address some of the most pressing and economic growth inhibiting issues the Hunter is facing. Support for scaling-up projects that have shown potential in the testing phase to alleviate soil and water contamination, increase waste management efficiencies, generate new energy products, improve hospital based patient care and capacity to manufacture state-of-the-art technologies to deliver better health outcomes will be reviewed.
The trip is taking place ahead of RDA Hunter’s 2019 STEM Workforce Conference taking place on Tuesday 9 April at Fort Scratchley.
IMAGE | Back: Camilla Staff, Project Manager (RDASI); Daryl Smith, CEO (RDASI); Rob Faraday-Bensley, Director (SEATA P/L); and Darran Leyden, CEO (Whiteley Corp).
Front: Trevor John, EO (RDAHunter); Anthony McGregor, Managing Director (Local Govt and RDA Network); Julia Andrews, CEO (RDACW); and John Turner, Chair (RDAHunter).
