By any measure, VECCI's Victoria Summit held at Parliament House on Tuesday 8 November 2005 was an outstanding success.
The level and quality of discussion and audience participation on the day was excellent and the widespread support for the Summit from senior representatives from both the public and private sectors reflected a shared understanding of the challenges facing Victoria and their joint willingness to work together to actively shape the State's competitive future.
Feedback from participants, including senior Government figures and business leaders, has been most positive, and media coverage of the day's proceedings has been equally impressive, both for its volume and the range of topics reported on.
A major aim of the Summit was to set the agenda that Victorian business requires to continue to trade profitably, generate new investment and create new jobs into the future. To this end, a number of key recommendations were delivered to policy makers based on the findings of our policy Taskforces.
The policy papers delivered by the Taskforce Chairs covered labour supply, infrastructure, energy, exports and Commonwealth/State relations. Their recommendations will form the basis of VECCI's lobbying and representation efforts in the lead-up to the 2006 State Election.
Another gauge of the Summit's success was the calibre of the speakers, who included Premier Steve Bracks, Treasurer John Brumby, Phil Barresi (who represented the Federal Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews), Opposition Leader Robert Doyle and Melbourne Lord Mayor John So. Participants also heard a most interesting and stimulating Summit dinner address by eminent historian, Geoffrey Blainey, AC.
Of course, an exercise of this magnitude would not be possible without the support of our Summit partners – the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments and the City of Melbourne – and our impressive line-up of sponsors representing leading organisations from the public and private sectors.
As reported in The Herald Sun (9 November 2005, p54), the Summit painted a challenging picture of the urgent need for Victoria to plan for the future to stay internationally competitive, with the challenge falling uniformly across the many groups present, including employers, unions, and State and Federal Governments.
For the benefit of VECCI members, full copies of the Summit policy papers, slides used in the presentations of the Taskforce Chairs and newspaper reports of the Summit are available in this section of the VECCI website.
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