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.

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.

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.

Is Australia’s housing crisis self-inflicted? If so, then we need a series of reforms to reverse it
The best long-term solution to the structural problems of the rental crisis is to build more public and/or affordable housing.

Make renting more Sustainable. Increase rent assistance or look at rental caps, similar to countries in Europe and some US states, long term tenancy agreements with incentives for all parties to the agreement.

Build to Rent
The Build to Rent property sector is growing in Australia – this new class of housing is focused on providing high quality purpose designed and built rental stock, creating an additional housing choice for Australian renters with greater security and service.

Build to Rent developments are typically owned by institutional investors for the long term and the owner could be the developer/ongoing building manager. The format provides tenants with the flexibility of renting with the security of home ownership.

Build-to-Rent developments are usually large-scale residential properties specifically designed, built and managed for long-term ownership and rental.

Social Housing
In the 40 years between 1981 and 2021 the percentage of all Australian households living in social housing (i.e. state owned and managed public housing or community managed housing) has ranged from 4.9 per cent in 1981 to 3.8 per cent in 2021. Such a drop in the proportion of social housing raises the question of has Australia achieved the balance right, and also just what is the right level of social housing for Australia?

In 2018 Statistics Canada said 628,700 Canadian households, more than one in ten renter households nationally (13.5% of 4,652,500), were living in social and affordable housing.
In New Zealand, as of 30 June 2021, there were 74,337 public housing households. This equates to 4.0% of households living in social housing.

In England (in 2018) 17% of households (3.9 million) lived in social housing, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes that 1.2 million households live in public housing, which is 0.98 per cent of all housing.

High value manufacturing is one promising prospective growth sector for the region, particularly in Geelong. The sector provides an opportunity to retain the depth of Geelong’s manufacturing know-how and use those skills for different applications, such as automotive and aeronautical parts design and production, clean technologies and advanced fibre manufacturing.

Climate change is one of the most significant challenges we face together as a community. Broad-scale urgent action is required to respond to current impacts and to prepare for emerging impacts as climate change intensifies.

Our responses to climate change need to be fair, equitable and conducted in partnership - the Barwon South West community, industries and sectors are well placed to respond to issues together.

Environmentally, the Barwon South West enjoys higher than average rainfall and wind, providing us with ongoing competitive strengths in agriculture, food, renewable and clean energy production. The region also boasts nearly forty percent of Victoria’s coastline, including marine national parks, the Surf Coast, the Shipwreck Coast and the iconic Great Ocean Road.

Residents in the Barwon South West region have observed the impacts of climate change – about two-thirds believe that more bushfires, storms/flooding, drought and coastal erosion have occurred in Victoria during the past 10 years. The majority know that climate change is influencing the occurrence of these events and are concerned about future impacts.

Many community-driven climate action initiatives are taking place across the region. This action is led by community groups and passionate individuals who are determined to support their communities to prepare and respond to climate impacts. For example, local community energy groups are supporting communities to reduce emissions through local initiatives and advocacy, our Neighbourhood Houses are driving circular economy initiatives and our dedicated coastal volunteers are contributing to important data about the way our coastline is changing.

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.