The arts and creative industries impact us all, collectively and individually, in myriad ways.

Creative industries are an evolving mix of sectors spanning arts, culture, screen, design, publishing and advertising. They cover disciplines as diverse as game development and graphic design, fashion and filmmaking, performing arts and publishing, architecture and advertising, media and music, comedy and craft. They include activities that are commercially-driven and community based, experimental and export-intense.

Barwon South West has three economies - inland agriculture, coastal tourism and a manufacturing and social base in Geelong.

Barwon South West is comprised of Greater Geelong, Queenscliffe, Surf Coast, Colac Otway, Corangamite, Moyne, Warrnambool, Southern Grampians and Glenelg.

The main industries are manufacturing, retail trade, health care, construction, education and training, agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism. Manufacturing, health and retail trade are currently the largest employing industries, although the economy has significant opportunities for growth in new energy, advanced manufacturing and food security industries.

With rich agricultural land and UNESCO listed Aboriginal cultural sites, our economy has strengths and opportunities in advanced manufacturing, high-value agriculture, sustainable and cultural tourism, green hydrogen, renewable energy, health and community services and innovative education, training and co-working spaces.

Achieving shared objectives in growing regional prosperity such as growing employment, tackling disadvantage, addressing population ageing and building digital and physical infrastructure, requires an integrated approach between the three levels of government and across government portfolios, business, individuals and community groups.

Regional tertiary education institutions include Deakin University, South West TAFE, The Gordon Institute of TAFE and various private providers.

Deakin University provides undergraduate and post-grad education in fields including business, law, nursing, medicine, science, technology, engineering, education, architecture and the arts.

The Gordon is one of the largest regional TAFEs in Victoria delivering a range of courses from short courses to nationally accredited training across apprenticeships, traineeships, certificates, diplomas, and advanced diplomas.

The Barwon region has an array of renewable energy assets, including wind, solar and bioenergy. Solar power is the most prominent source of renewable energy in the region, and along with wind is the communities preferred technology for renewable generation

The current renewable energy landscape in Barwon includes wind and solar generation in the inland northern areas of Colac Otway as well as solar farms in Geelong and near Torquay.

Viva Energy’s Geelong Refinery began operations in 1954. Today it’s one of two refineries remaining in Australia, employing around 700 people and supplying over 50 percent of Victoria’s and 10 percent of Australia’s fuel.

The Barwon Renewable Energy Partnership (B-REP) of Barwon Water, Barwon Health and Geelong Port has collectively taken a big step towards using 100% renewable electricity and producing net zero emissions having secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a local wind farm.

Barwon Water has drawn on its 110-year knowledge of managing water and wastewater to partner with local councils to transform organic waste into valuable resources.

The Regional Renewable Organics Network (Regional RON) would process 40,000 tonnes of household, commercial and industrial organic waste each year, diverting waste from landfill and concentrating it into 8,000 tonnes of products that improve soil quality for agricultural uses, as well as generating renewable energy.

The dairy sector is an industry of critical importance to the Great South Coast Region. Despite recent challenges with global milk markets, which have depressed prices and placed uncertainty over the industry, it remains a sector with strong long-term growth prospects.

Sheep and beef farming enterprises are also of significant importance to the Great South Coast region. The average value of beef production in the Great South Coast is very high, underpinned by grass- fed production and high value cattle varieties.

The sector represents a significant opportunity because of the strong demand for Australian red meat in export markets and the flow-on benefits to the food processing sector. The Hamilton Red Meat Innovation Centre also demonstrates some of the flow-on economic activity and jobs associated with the industry.

The region’s aquaculture sector has strong long-term growth potential. Growing demand for Australian high-value seafood products (such as abalone and rock lobster) and advancement in aquaculture technology both signal potential for the sub-sector to thrive in the region.

The pig and poultry industries represent a significant opportunity to grow the value of output from small land holdings through intensive, high value production.

The Barwon region’s wine industry is a driver of economic activity, and also an important part of the region’s visitor economy. The wine sector, along with the gourmet foods sector could leverage the Barwon South West’s significant tourism assets and visitation.

The existing forestry supply chain positions the region to capitalise on increasing global demand for wood fibre and to grow into a world-leading sustainable forestry hub.

There are a number of emerging crops in Australia that represent an opportunity for the region. These crops include hemp, cannabis, legumes, and poppies.

The healthcare and aged care sectors have been a major driver of employment growth across Barwon South West region, particularly in Barwon.

An example of effective collaboration in the region is the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (GCEID), which represents a partnership between Deakin University, Barwon Health and the CSIRO. Deakin has a prominent health program with strong links to the local industry – both in terms of research and graduate recruitment.

Furthermore, the current depth of knowledge and skills in manufacturing in the Geelong region also lends itself to the development of a medical technologies industry, parts for medical equipment manufacturing. Deakin’s medical research programs in Geelong naturally complement med-tech advanced manufacturing. However, unlike health and aged care, this is just a potential growth pocket, not a major driver of employment.

Geelong has several growing and thriving industries - including advanced manufacturing, clean technologies, transport, warehousing and logistics, research and innovation, professional and advisory services, creative industries, the visitor economy and major events.

The Greater Avalon Industrial Precinct is one of several locations to attract a range of innovative industries and will soon be home to Hanwha Defense Australia’s $170 million Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence, as well as Recharge Industries $300 million lithium-ion battery cell production facility.

Hanwha Defense Australia will manufacture self-propelled howitzers and armoured ammunition resupply vehicles for the Australian Army. Recharge Industries will create thousands of jobs supplying new generation batteries to defence and commercial customers.

Geelong companies with defence industry capabilities include Air Radiators, Automotive Research Centre, BullEx Australia, Chemring, Cross Laminated Offsite Solutions, Deakin University, Flaim Systems, Hanwha, IXL Group, Marand, McHugh & Eastwood, Quickstep, RAPP Australia, Recharge Industries, RPC Technologies, Sykes, Winchester, UMS and XTM Performance.

Tourism in Barwon South West represents a significant opportunity for future growth. While it was not identified by the Victorian Government as one of the future opportunity industries, it is a major economic driver for the Barwon South West region, particularly in coastal areas.

The regions’ strengths are predominantly in its nature-based attractions, such as rugged coastline, natural parks and reserves, wildlife, water, beaches and recreational fishing. The Great Ocean Road is of particular importance to the whole region, as it intersects the Barwon and Great South Coast regions, and is one of Victoria’s most iconic tourism assets.

The Great Ocean Road attracts more than 6 million tourists each year. This will rise to more than 8 million tourists in the next decade.

We are always going to generate some waste. To manage waste better, we need to change the way our communities view, create and handle the waste.

While industries create much of the waste, people in the community consume it and state and federal governments set policies that determine how it is handled. Local governments roles include the collection, sorting, processing and disposal of waste, strategic planning and community education.

The growing amount of waste modern society produces is impacting the environment worldwide. When this waste is not disposed of properly, through littering or dumping, it can have a significant impact on plants, animals and the ecosystems that sustain them.

Carbon emissions related to waste also have significant environmental impacts. The methane gas generated under anaerobic condition is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

Increased use of plastics for single use items and packaging has significantly increased the amount of plastics in the oceans. If we continue to rely on disposable plastics, this trend will continue.

The Shellfish Reef Project at Portarlington is reusing waste scallop shells harvested from the Bass Strait that would otherwise end up at landfill, the region has made a significant contribution to reduction in waste and innovation in the management of the coastal zone.

A 130 metre long shellfish reef, made up of steel cages filled with rocks and waste scallop shells, was established in 2018 off the Ramblers Road foreshore in Portarlington, which was heavily impacted by erosion.

The reuse of waste scallop shells to construct the artificial reef has provided a cost efficient and environmentally friendly alternative engineering solution to preventing erosion.

With such a strong tradition in agri-business, food production, mining and energy, it is not surprising that over time, innovative and high-tech advanced manufacturing companies have established themselves across the Gippsland region. Today, there is diverse range of products that are manufactured in the Gippsland region.

The Gippsland region has a long tradition in advanced manufacturing including the production of food, energy, pulp and paper, high-tech machinery, aircraft and more. Built on many of the region’s natural resources, advanced manufacturing has developed over time to be a globally competitive and vibrant sector in the Gippsland region. Numerous

Australian business icons, such as Burra Foods, Patties Pies, Australian Paper, Australian Gas and Light (AGL), Australian Sustainable Hardwood (ASH) and Esso have advanced manufacturing facilities in the Gippsland region.

The Gippsland region also has considerable strategic transport infrastructure in the form of major highways, railways and regional airports to ensure the smooth movement of people and products within the region and beyond. The region provides strong connections to the Melbourne CBD, Port of Melbourne (Australia’s largest container port), future Port of Hastings development and Melbourne International Airport. From the Gippsland region, companies can reach 87% of Australia’s population in 2 days of motor freight.

Representative of the strong advanced manufacturing and industrial nature of the Gippsland economy, the region boasts a highly skilled workforce, proving proportionally 20-25% more trades and technical workers than the state or national average.

Our premium, clean, and green products, supported by strong water policy and forest, land, lakes, and coastal management, are in demand worldwide. Our natural assets make us a renowned eco and Traditional Owner and Aboriginal cultural tourism, food, and beverage destination.

We are transitioning to become a leader in sustainable energy and forest products and cultivating the circular economy.

Regional Australia, and Gippsland are seeing a significant growth in “new energy” opportunities and projects such as medium-large scale solar and large scale off shore wind - Star of the South.

Climate change, climate variability and increased natural hazard risk is a significant barrier to the ongoing economic prosperity of East Gippsland.

The creative and entertainment sector is diverse, consisting of a mix of artistic and non-artistic sectors, commercially driven businesses, start-ups and microenterprises, individual practitioners, not-for-profit and community organisations, and cultural institutions.

The creative scene in East Gippsland is strong, but there is a lack of arts infrastructure and an under celebration of the region’s heritage and culture.

The state-of-the-art Gippsland Performing Arts Centre is set to electrify the region’s performing arts scene and create world-class professional training opportunities for artists across Gippsland.

Gippsland is renowned for its natural attributes, including Gippsland Lakes and coastlines, Wilsons Promontory National Park and one of Victoria’s largest visitor attractions, the Phillip Island Penguin Parade.

Roughly the same size as Switzerland, Gippsland covers over 41,500 square kilometres and is the largest region in Victoria. The community works and lives in a resource-rich landscape (one of the most diverse in regional Australia) from the Latrobe Valley’s industrial heartland to rich agricultural lands, coastal and lakes regions, highlands, and the forested north and east.

Each year, nearly eight million tourists visit Gippsland, attracted to the unspoilt lakes, beaches, snowfields, bushlands, and rainforests, as well as the beautiful towns and villages. Its major towns are Traralgon, Warragul, Drouin, Morwell, Bairnsdale, Moe, Leongatha, Sale and Wonthaggi.

Gippsland has a reputation for producing quality products and services across various industries such as food and fibre, energy, forestry, fisheries, manufacturing, and tourism.

Gippsland is home to the Federation University campus at Churchill. Federation University provides easy access to a range of courses and research opportunities for rural and regional students.

The Federation University has the highest overall employment rating with 92% of any Victorian-based university. The university experience is highly regarded among graduates, rating Federation University 5 stars for both student support and overall satisfaction.

Complimenting Federation University’s program, the development of the Gippsland Hi-Tech Precinct in Morwell is currently underway, a centre for research, business incubation, new product development, start up support, and education and training.

Based in Bairnsdale and Sale, the Gippsland East Higher Education Study Hub provides local support services for students studying locally at Federation University or by distance education through universities across Australia. Vocational education and training courses are offered across the region at TAFE Gippsland’s campuses from Leongatha to Lakes Entrance.

Gippsland is the leading source of energy and resources, producing approximately 85% of Victoria’s electricity, 97% of Victoria’s natural gas and 26% of Australia’s oil. With a rich history in mining and electricity generation, the region has strong foundations and infrastructure in the energy sector. While production from the region’s traditional power generators will continue to cover the majority of Victoria’s power needs, opportunities have emerged for the private sector to take a leading role in the research, trialling and implementation of technologies and practices that will enable the more sustainable use of resources for power generation into the future.

Strategic opportunities associated with coal-based derivatives, clean coal energy production and associated renewable energy technologies offer leading-edge enterprises significant new areas for investment, exports and jobs growth in the Gippsland region. The Gippsland region will continue to evolve and develop as Victoria’s energy hub with current investigations into geothermal, clean energy and bioenergy well underway.

Due to large historical energy facilities in Gippsland, we have a network of transmission lines. The largest is a 500KV line, and there are also 220KV lines running to Melbourne and beyond; the 330KV Basslink to Tasmania; and a 66KV line east to Bairnsdale. These provide significant opportunities for renewable energy projects to feed into the grid.

As part of the movement to renewable energy, Gippsland features several wind farms, a solar farm with planning approval and Australia’s first proposed offshore windfarm, 10-25km off Gippsland’s coast. Additionally, there is a significant waste to energy plan proposed by Australian Paper Mills. With strong support from the government, programs such as the Macalister Irrigation District Efficiency Program are put into place to support farm-based businesses in the area.

The $60 million modernisation project activates the largest irrigation area in Southern Victoria covering 53,000 hectares, dominated by dairy cattle, but also supports horticulture and beef cattle. Gippsland’s water storage and supply infrastructure comprises 13 major catchments, including the Thomson Dam, which supplies 60% of Melbourne’s total water storage capacity. Gippsland is also home to the Victorian Desalination Plant, which provides water security as it is Victoria’s only source of water not dependant on rainfall.

Gippsland is well suited to agribusiness and the region is fortunate to have a combination of stable climate, strong rainfall patterns, arable soils and close proximity to processing, transport and markets, making it a premium investment destination.

Infrastructure like the Macalister Irrigation District covers 53,000 hectares and distributes water to irrigators through a gravity fed system of channels and pipes.

With a $7 billion net worth, the region is renowned for its high-end agricultural products, grown on some of Australia’s best-quality agricultural land. These natural advantages make it a favoured investment region for successful enterprises. The reputation of Gippsland’s food and fibre production is grounded in good stewardship of resources.

Gippsland has over 9,000 food and fibre businesses and employs 16% of the workforce in the region, with about three quarters of the workers engaged on the farm and roughly 25% in value-added production. Gippsland is a dairy power house producing 22% of Australia’s dairy including milk, milk powder, butter, cheese, yogurt and other value-added products.

The region also produces 25% of the beef in Victoria (much of it for export), wool and prime lamb as well as 27% of Victoria’s vegetables. Further, Gippsland houses the largest pulp and paper mill in Australia and produces 23% of Victoria’s timber. A strong trend towards the organic, viticulture and aquaculture sector has been growing with new businesses emerging.

Lakes Entrance is the home of one of Australia's largest fishing fleets, while Mallacoota is the base of a significant abalone industry.

Gippsland’s health sector is diverse with highly respected training and research facilities in place as well as a considerable health multi-layered infrastructure including 7 hospitals and a wide range of smaller organisations such as general practice or specialist clinics.

The Gippsland health system is staffed by an exceptional range of highly skilled health professionals and is the largest industry sector in terms of number of people employed. The 2016 Census recorded 13.9% of total working residents are employed in the ‘Health Care and Social Assistance’, which offers great investment and trade opportunities.

The aviation sector is well established in the Gippsland region with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base in East Sale, West Sale Airport and the Latrobe Regional Airport.

The RAAF base has recently undergone a $385 million dollar redevelopment, including new facilities, security upgrades, new air traffic control complex and numerous ancillary developments, whilst the Latrobe Regional Airport is part of the Latrobe City Aerospace Precinct to build on the airport’s manufacturing capabilities.

Across Gippsland’s aviation sector there are opportunities for aircraft (and component parts) manufacturing, maintenance, refurbishment, pilot training and more.

Given the existing aviation sector in the Gippsland region, there are strong supply chains already in place, providing a solid foundation for the aviation sector. Additionally, the large advanced manufacturing and engineering sectors provide a highly skilled workforce and a capacity to provide a wide range of parts and supplies.

Education in the sector is provided through numerous aviation-specific courses available through the local TAFE Gippsland network, which is expanding their aero skills courses and feature avionics training at the Sale campus.

Gippsland offers a variety of natural attractions like nowhere else in Victoria. From rugged alpine mountain ranges, historic rural towns to pristine beaches, Gippsland is a diverse place attracting local and international visitors all year around.

The tourism industry in Gippsland is an important contributor to the region’s economy, worth $2.4 billion in direct and indirect expenditure per annum. Gippsland has outperformed regional Victoria for domestic and international visitation percentage growth, with 10.8 million visitors to the region annually. The visitor economy supports over 3,000 businesses who derive the majority of their income from overnight and daytrip visitors.

Strongly backed by the government, multiple projects have been put into place to further Gippsland’s visitor economy. This includes the $48 million upgrade of the Philip Island Nature Park, the $30 million Latrobe Creative Arts Precinct and the $13.9 million West Gippsland Arts Centre.

To develop East Gippsland’s circular economy, there is then a need to support and foster initiatives to reduce waste, redesign products and production methods and increase the use of recycled products.

Many leading economists, like Ross Garnaut, see the transition to a net-zero economy as
a massive opportunity for regional Australia, creating an array of economic opportunities for new products, processes and industries.

Agriculture, as but one example, will have opportunities to transition to more resilient food production systems that are innovative, diverse, risk-managed and climate-ready. Places and businesses that act first can take advantage of being an early mover.