Destination Goulburn Valley visits Canberra
Day one
Recently our Board Chair, Eugenie Stragalinos and I travelled to Canberra to advocate for Destination Goulburn Valley. We decided to self-fund our trip as the opportunity was too good to miss. And it exceeded our expectations. We met with Sam Birrell MP, and his helpful staff to discuss Destination Goulburn Valley and Seasoned ‘A Taste Trail of the Goulburn Valley’.
We had the chance to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by the visitor economy of our region. Topics of discussion included:
The vision and development of Seasoned
Support required for our region regarding workforce planning and development
Our role of advocacy on behalf of the region
The development of the Visitor Economy Partnership and Destination Management Plan
The priorities of Destination Goulburn Valley
Sam’s office is committed to continually supporting our work and we look forward to ongoing engagement with our local Federal Member
Day two and day three
We attended the Regional Australia’s Institute flagship event of the year, the Region’s Rising National Summit 2023 – Shifting Our Gaze. The main focus of RAI and its framework is to use collective knowledge and research to ensure a level playing field between regional communities and capital cities.
The summit did not disappoint as we heard from over 80 guest speakers all passionate about regional Australia, and all working together towards the growth and investment of our communities.
My highlight was meeting the winner of the 2023 AgriFutures Rural Women's award, Nikki Davey. Nikki is a Victorian rural tech entrepreneur and co-founder of Grown Not Flown. She was recognised for her work in creating a digital platform and app to connect micro and small-scale farmers with consumers. Her aim is to see consumers celebrate the provenance of flowers in the same way they do food. Nikki spoke from the heart and she exuded passion and drive for what she does and supporting local. WOW, I just loved meeting her.
I have plans to visit Canberra again in November (if time and $$$$ permit) as we need to keep advocating for building the visitor economy of our region.
Vicki Scott