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Vintage Hunter

  • December 09, 2015

Vintage Hunter

Premier Baird’s address to a packed City Hall at December Hunter Lunch capped off a vintage year for Australia’s biggest and most productive region.

Mr Baird said the debate was “no longer one that says whether we will have change here in Newcastle” – it was “about how great we can make it.”

The industry submission to UrbanGrowth NSW’s options for revitalising Newcastle – Maximum Opportunity – said the debate around Newcastle’s urban transformation had been dominated by conspiracy theories that truncation of the heavy rail line was a sop to greedy developers.

The NSW Premier had a different take on the matter.

“There is a conspiracy,” Mr Baird said.

“And it’s this. I want Newcastle to be the best regional city in the Asia-Pacific.

He said his government had $3.4 billion in infrastructure projects under way in the Hunter, and he believed the region was getting closer to receiving the “fair share” of government spending it had long called for.

Prior to the Premier’s speech, the Property Council’s NSW Regional Director – Andrew Fletcher, thanked the crowd for being part of a record year which had seen close to 2,0 people attend industry events in the Hunter.

“And I’m pleased to report that each of our policy and advocacy priorities for 2015 has been met.”

He said a major breakthrough came in November when Minister Stokes declared the $17 million Mine Subsidence Remediation Fund open for business.

“The issue of mine subsidence has been one of the greatest market failures in NSW.”

“Thankfully, those days are now over.”

Looking forward to next year, Mr. Fletcher said 2016 was already shaping as a year for more substantial policy reform, more advocacy work on behalf of the region and more great business networking events.

“A major focus will be converting a meaningful chunk of the thought leadership behind Maximum Opportunity into policy reality.”

“Beyond the City Centre, we’ll devote significant resources to analysing the recently released Draft Hunter Regional Plan and the companion plan for Growing Hunter City.”