The region has gold, mineral sand and rare earth mining, and renewable energy sectors.

The region is home to Fosterville Mine – the largest producer of gold in Victoria. Since commencing exploration in 2005, it has produced over 3.5 million ounces. Simulations by the Geological Survey of Victoria predict significant gold deposits in the vicinity of 75-million ounces, with multiple million-ounce occurrences, still to be unearthed.

Antimony is the second-most valuable metallic commodity in Victoria after gold, and on Australia’s critical mineral list. Loddon Mallee is home to Australia’s largest antimony producer located in the City of Greater Bendigo. The mine is estimated to contain 17,800 tonnes of antimony – a mineral essential for hardening lead in storage batteries and producing semiconductors.

VHM Limited has exploration tenements in the region for zircon and other rare earth minerals critical in the manufacture of industrial permanent magnets and high energy density batteries required in production of electric vehicles and essential for the renewable energy market.

Big ideas and extraordinary talent drive our creative sector, which spans the performing and visuals arts, music, design, digital game development, film and television, fashion, literature and publishing, and more.

We’re proud of our local artists and creative professionals and support them to develop and maintain thriving careers here in Victoria.

From solo practitioners, grassroots collectives and small businesses to major organisations and institutions, we support the sector at all levels. We do this through a range of programs and initiatives that raise the profile, reach and impact of Victorian creatives, and by investing in a strong creative ecosystem.

The Region is home to the prosperous and vibrant regional cities of Bendigo, one of the State’s largest and fastest growing regional cities, and Mildura, the major regional city for the north of the Region and the largest urban centre on the edge of the outback. Echuca, Swan Hill, Castlemaine, Gisborne, Kyneton and Maryborough are also important centres, offering employment and lifestyle services.

The Region is home to the prosperous and vibrant regional cities of Bendigo, one of the State’s largest and fastest growing regional cities, and Mildura, the major regional city for the north of the Region and the largest urban centre on the edge of the outback. Echuca, Swan Hill, Castlemaine, Gisborne, Kyneton and Maryborough are also important centres, offering employment and lifestyle services.

The Region is home to the prosperous and vibrant regional cities of Bendigo, one of the State’s largest and fastest growing regional cities, and Mildura, the major regional city for the north of the Region and the largest urban centre on the edge of the outback. Echuca, Swan Hill, Castlemaine, Gisborne, Kyneton and Maryborough are also important centres, offering employment and lifestyle services.

The Region is home to the prosperous and vibrant regional cities of Bendigo, one of the State’s largest and fastest growing regional cities, and Mildura, the major regional city for the north of the Region and the largest urban centre on the edge of the outback. Echuca, Swan Hill, Castlemaine, Gisborne, Kyneton and Maryborough are also important centres, offering employment and lifestyle services.

The Hume Region hosts the largest Australian Defence Force presence in Victoria and is bustling with industry already supporting Defence.

The Albury Wodonga Military Area consists of the Gaza Ridge, Wadsworth and Latchford Barracks, with the Army Logistic Training Centre headquartered in the region to provide effective logistic training to a large portion of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Local businesses already supplying to the Defence sector (either directly or through its major contractors) include Milspec Manufacturing, Australian Target Systems, Australian Aerospace Engineering (AAE), Meggitt Training Systems, Wodonga TAFE, Bertazzo Engineering, NIOA and many more.

Many of these local businesses are increasing the capacity of Defence through the innovation solutions they offer the sector.

As the region’s population and industry grows, there will be an increased demand for waste and resource recovery management within the region.

This creates a challenge for securing land for future waste management facilities, including for sorting and processing, recycling and reprocessing, export, reuse and disposal of waste.

The largest PET recycling plant in the country is now up and running and will substantially reduce Australia’s plastic waste by recycling the equivalent of around 1 billion PET beverage bottles each year.

The $45 million plant in Albury-Wodonga has boosted regional jobs and is helping to build a domestic circular economy, along with increasing the amount of locally sourced and recycled PET in Australia by two thirds, from around 30,000 tonnes to over 50,000 tonnes per annum.

Climate change is predicted to have significant consequences for the biodiversity of the Central Hume region. Research indicates that the effects of climate change will occur at many different levels, from individual animals to ecosystems. Species may alter their distribution, abundance, behaviour and the timing of events such as migration or breeding.

The most susceptible species will be those with restricted or specialised habitat requirements or small populations, as well as those that lack the ability to disperse easily.

Climate change will also have indirect impacts on biodiversity, through increased pressure from competitors, predators, parasites, diseases and disturbances. Altered patterns of water flow in rivers and wetlands and decreasing snow cover, combined with the increased occurrence of bushfires, droughts and floods will influence the composition of ecosystems, particularly in alpine areas.

The future climate of the Hume Region is predicted to be hotter and drier than the long-term average, resulting in an increased risk of droughts and extreme fire danger days.

Opportunities exist in the region for sustainable electricity generation in close proximity to existing electricity distribution infrastructure. Potential and existing alternative energy resources in the region include:

 wind energy in the Strathbogie Ranges
 solar energy, particularly in the northern parts of the region
 hydro-electricity related to key water resources
 bioenergy and biofuel generation from waste products, such as agricultural wastes
 other opportunities for local power generation and distribution.

Earth resources, in the form of minerals and quarry products, make a valuable economic and social contribution to the Hume Region. Opportunities to take further advantage of earth resources could support the diversification of the regional economy. Planning for these activities needs to continue to consider environmental and community values and access to markets.

Opportunities to develop minerals and extractive industries should be further explored, supported and managed. Past mining activities in the region have degraded substantial areas of alluvial soils. Minerals and extractive industry activities are now regulated to manage environmental impacts such as potential impacts on ground water.

A number of festivals are held in the Hume region offering something for everyone. The Bright Autumn Festival, Euroa's Show n Shine, Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, Rutherglen Winery Walkabout, APS Head of the River in Nagambie, the Australian Superbike Championship in Winton and SheppARTon Festival are just a few to add to your calendar.

Goulburn Ovens TAFE (GOTAFE) offers a range of courses at the Wangaratta and Benalla campuses.

The Upper Hume sub region is well serviced in higher education. La Trobe University has a student campus in Wodonga and a multi-purpose centre in Beechworth, Wodonga TAFE offers a broad range of courses and Albury- Wodonga Community College is expanding its higher education offerings.

Albury has campuses of Charles Sturt University, the University of New South Wales School of Medicine and Riverina TAFE. These facilities can be accessed easily from Wodonga and its surrounds.

Agriculture is still an important component of the Hume economy but its contribution is declining. The service economy has experienced the strongest employment growth in the last decade. Viticulture has grown as an industry, supported by fine-food areas, particularly in Milawa, Oxley and the Kiewa, Ovens and King Valleys.

The Goulburn Valley has a strong rural economy based on irrigated and dry land agriculture, grazing, viticulture and forestry. The region is widely regarded as the food bowl of the Murray darling Basin. In other areas particularly in Strathbogie Shire, there is a significant equine industry.

The Goulburn Valley region is of national significance for dairying and horticulture and supports a large fruit and vegetable processing industry. The dairy and beef industries account for a high proportion of this value, although wool and meat dominate in Strathbogie Shire. Major food-processing companies are located in the region, including SpC Ardmona, Campbell’s Soups and Unilever.

The main primary industries are horticulture, dairy, cropping, viticulture, wool, forestry and grazing (sheep and beef).

Grazing is the dominant agricultural land use and the proximity of the region to Melbourne accounts for the relatively high value of production, particularly from the poultry industry. Pockets of horticulture also exist, including nurseries, cut flowers, cultivated turf, tomatoes and berries produced primarily for the Melbourne market. The region also has viticulture and aquaculture industries (trout and salmon).

The region includes four of Victoria’s six alpine resorts –Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, Mount Buller and Mount Stirling – which are managed on behalf of the State Government by Alpine Resort Management Boards

The Lake Mountain Alpine Resort is a significant tourism destination for the region. The Lake Eildon and Kinglake National parks and Cathedral Ranges State park are also major tourist attractions in the eastern part of the region.

Tourism in the region focuses on heritage, wine and food, recreational assets and nature-based touring.

The historic town of Beechworth is a major attraction and a popular rural-residential location, given its proximity to employment opportunities in Albury, Wodonga and Wangaratta. Rutherglen has a unique connection to wine making and wine tourism.

Manufacturing is the largest employer in the Central Hume region, followed by retail, health and community services. Wodonga has an important manufacturing base, with many national companies established in the area as well as a significant defence force presence.

Hume is a fast-growing region in Victoria with a social and cultural fabric and heritage to match its natural beauty. Renowned for world-class wines and gourmet food, the region is woven together by the Goulburn, Broken, Ovens, Kind and Kiewa Rivers – all vital to sustaining a rich environment, lifestyle and business. The Strathbogie Ranges represent the gateway to Victoria’s High Country and integral to the region popularity for nature-based tourism and cycling.

Hume is extremely varied in its industry and employment make-up, with a strong concentration of agriculture in the west and the alpine, wine and gourmet food areas in the region's east making tourism a strong contributor to regional employment.

Two of Australia’s nationally important transport routes – the Hume and Goulburn Valley transport corridors – traverse the region, providing an exceptional competitive advantage by linking supply chains to national and international markets through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

The Goulburn Valley area is a long-established agricultural region, which is at the forefront of global food production. Traditional broad acre farming combined with dairy, viticulture, orchards, olives and aquaculture endorse the 'food bowl' label, and various large and international companies call the region home including SPC Ardmona, Uncle Toby's, Mars Petcare and the Woolworths Distribution Centre.

Manufacturing is the largest employer in the Central Hume region, followed by retail, health and community services. Wodonga has an important manufacturing base, with many national companies established in the area as well as a significant defence force presence.

Hume is a fast-growing region in Victoria with a social and cultural fabric and heritage to match its natural beauty. Renowned for world-class wines and gourmet food, the region is woven together by the Goulburn, Broken, Ovens, Kind and Kiewa Rivers – all vital to sustaining a rich environment, lifestyle and business. The Strathbogie Ranges represent the gateway to Victoria’s High Country and integral to the region popularity for nature-based tourism and cycling.

Hume is extremely varied in its industry and employment make-up, with a strong concentration of agriculture in the west and the alpine, wine and gourmet food areas in the region's east making tourism a strong contributor to regional employment.

Two of Australia’s nationally important transport routes – the Hume and Goulburn Valley transport corridors – traverse the region, providing an exceptional competitive advantage by linking supply chains to national and international markets through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

The Goulburn Valley area is a long-established agricultural region, which is at the forefront of global food production. Traditional broad acre farming combined with dairy, viticulture, orchards, olives and aquaculture endorse the 'food bowl' label, and various large and international companies call the region home including SPC Ardmona, Uncle Toby's, Mars Petcare and the Woolworths Distribution Centre.

Manufacturing is the largest employer in the Central Hume region, followed by retail, health and community services. Wodonga has an important manufacturing base, with many national companies established in the area as well as a significant defence force presence.

Hume is a fast-growing region in Victoria with a social and cultural fabric and heritage to match its natural beauty. Renowned for world-class wines and gourmet food, the region is woven together by the Goulburn, Broken, Ovens, Kind and Kiewa Rivers – all vital to sustaining a rich environment, lifestyle and business. The Strathbogie Ranges represent the gateway to Victoria’s High Country and integral to the region popularity for nature-based tourism and cycling.

Hume is extremely varied in its industry and employment make-up, with a strong concentration of agriculture in the west and the alpine, wine and gourmet food areas in the region's east making tourism a strong contributor to regional employment.

Two of Australia’s nationally important transport routes – the Hume and Goulburn Valley transport corridors – traverse the region, providing an exceptional competitive advantage by linking supply chains to national and international markets through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

The Goulburn Valley area is a long-established agricultural region, which is at the forefront of global food production. Traditional broad acre farming combined with dairy, viticulture, orchards, olives and aquaculture endorse the 'food bowl' label, and various large and international companies call the region home including SPC Ardmona, Uncle Toby's, Mars Petcare and the Woolworths Distribution Centre.

Manufacturing is the largest employer in the Central Hume region, followed by retail, health and community services. Wodonga has an important manufacturing base, with many national companies established in the area as well as a significant defence force presence.

Hume is a fast-growing region in Victoria with a social and cultural fabric and heritage to match its natural beauty. Renowned for world-class wines and gourmet food, the region is woven together by the Goulburn, Broken, Ovens, Kind and Kiewa Rivers – all vital to sustaining a rich environment, lifestyle and business. The Strathbogie Ranges represent the gateway to Victoria’s High Country and integral to the region popularity for nature-based tourism and cycling.

Hume is extremely varied in its industry and employment make-up, with a strong concentration of agriculture in the west and the alpine, wine and gourmet food areas in the region's east making tourism a strong contributor to regional employment.

Two of Australia’s nationally important transport routes – the Hume and Goulburn Valley transport corridors – traverse the region, providing an exceptional competitive advantage by linking supply chains to national and international markets through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

The Goulburn Valley area is a long-established agricultural region, which is at the forefront of global food production. Traditional broad acre farming combined with dairy, viticulture, orchards, olives and aquaculture endorse the 'food bowl' label, and various large and international companies call the region home including SPC Ardmona, Uncle Toby's, Mars Petcare and the Woolworths Distribution Centre.

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.

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.