Spirits were high as more than 300 people got together to talk about where the Great South Coast region is headed at an assembly on Thursday evening.
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Great South Coast Regional Partnership chairwoman Emily Lee-Ack said there was a surprising amount of consensus about what the main issues facing the region were.
“We know that people want to have opportunities to attract and secure jobs in the region,” Ms Lee-Ack said.
“Whether it’s through things like the visitor economy or building on the massive industry that is agriculture and food and fibre.
“There were also a lot of conversations about roads and infrastructure, and digital connectivity came up a lot. People also felt strongly about access to education and health services across the whole region.”
Ms Lee-Ack said the region’s assembly had the highest number of attendees in the state.
She said a performance by students voicing the issues they care about energised the conversation for the rest of the night.
“It set the tone about our accountability to the next generation,” Ms Lee-Ack said.
Other key discussion points included the need for residential rehabilitation services for people facing addiction and using mentoring to connect people to education and work.
Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford will take the priorities raised to help form state government policy.