WIMMERA residents have highlighted more infrastructure, funding for local government and improved telecommunications as the biggest priorities for the region.
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Residents were able to have their say on what the main issues were for the region ahead of the Wimmera Southern Mallee Regional Partnership assembly in Horsham on Wednesday.
Partnership chairman and Murra Warra farmer David Jochinke said the online submissions about priorities would shape the agenda for the assembly.
The top submissions were about distributing more state government money to rural shires, instead of metropolitan; improved telecommunications; more support for families; and better tourism opportunities to attract visitors and industries to the region. Other priorities included finding solutions to population decline, giving people more reasons to stay in the Wimmera and addressing climate change.
Mr Jochinkie said the aim of the partnership was to identify priorities for the region and identify any gaps that were not being addressed.
“We are there to help ideas get up and help develop ideas, either through online engagement or direct engagement,” he said.
“The project is in its initial stages and the assembly will be a major event that happens each year.”
Mr Jochinke said health, education, infrastructure, telecommunications and roads were common themes the group was hearing.
“Everyone who lives in the area will understand these issues,” he said.
“We see them as a priority and will push forward – we want to either get more funding or improve policies.”
Partnership members, government ministers and residents will attend the assembly to discuss the future of the region.
“We have a range of people and a range of ideas, so the assembly isn’t open to the public because then the discussion could be heavily skewed to one aspect of the community,” Mr Jochinke said. “We had an expression of interest period of anyone who wanted to attend.
“Unfortunately, there has been a tight time frame to pull this together, so it won’t be perfect but we hope that next year everyone understands the process a lot better.”
Other partnership members include Emma Vogel, Will Flamsteed, Robyn Gulline, Ralph Kenyon and Wendy Sturgess.
