Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the opportunity last Friday to host a roundtable of economic development officers in Euroa. We had 13 local government areas from the Hume region, Echuca, Shepparton, Cobham, the committee for Shepparton, the committee for Echuca-Moama, economic development officers from Mansfield, Wodonga, Benalla and Seymour, all coming together to add their advice on the $20 million Jobs and Investment Fund that has been put forward by Senator Fiona Nash. This is going to be a locally designed and developed investment package to create jobs. It is actually putting in place the mantra that we started with earlier, during the election campaign. This is going to be a program that is locally designed for local needs and local capacity. Applications that come forward to create jobs and investment will be pitted against the criteria that have been designed for each and every area. The $20 million for the Hume region and the Goulburn Valley region is going to be well appreciated. The members who were there were able to talk about what is needed in their area, but certainly expressed a very strong idea to maybe bring together a committee of seven to nine people to lead this fund to design their own locally designed set of criteria against which each of the applications will be assessed.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.