Welcome

The City is working on a draft Greater Geelong Economic Development Plan for 2024-2034 (the Plan). We're calling it Geelong on the Rise: a Clever and Creative International City.

The Plan will guide our priorities to make sure we keep delivering great services and support for local businesses, and help create a sustainable, prosperous future for our community.

We're consulting with businesses, advocacy groups, industry bodies and people in the community across Greater Geelong.

Geelong on the Rise is a contemporary and very local story, one focused on innovation and creativity. Geelong has long been a clever and creative place. It has always been a place of business and industry.

Local government plays a key role in the promotion of the local economy and employment growth. Economic development creates employment, provides essential goods and services and establishes communities as attractive places to live, work, learn and visit.

We recognise the Plan is part of a broader, comprehensive Community Plan to support and nurture a proud, safe and health community for all our residents. The Plan also recognises important work that has been done previously to support specific industries and we have aligned the Plan to this broader strategic context.

We recommend you read the Plan prior to providing feedback.

Our Bold Plan

It is time for Geelong to rise and take its rightful place on the national and international stage. Geelong has all of the right ingredients to be a clever and creative international city. Like all major international cities, Geelong has an international airport, port, major CBD, university, a large and diverse economy and a large and growing population base.

We want to have vibrant communities and a local economy that everyone can benefit from. Through pursuing inclusive economic development, we can ensure that future growth benefits all parts of our community.

This Plan is designed to catapult Geelong onto the national and international stage and foster an entrepreneurially-minded, innovation-focused and growth-obsessed city. It is focused on Geelong’s unique strengths and capabilities. It is focused on key industries where Geelong can compete and leverage to deliver an international scale clever and creative city.

This first round of engagement gathered business and community feedback to help us understand key priority areas, specific issues and opportunities for Greater Geelong's regional economy.

We engaged with over 100 stakeholders regarding our future economy. We appreciate everyone’s contribution. Input from these stakeholders has allowed us to identify our competitive advantages, opportunities, barriers and challenges. The Plan is guided by our local businesses and stakeholders, which makes it realistic and fit for purpose.

Key themes from the public engagement included:

Our Competitive Advantages: strategic location, attractive lifestyle, fast growing region, significant transport assets, strong industry, diverse and skilled workforce, strong leadership and collaboration, cost competitive, research, education and innovation assets, and economic diversity.

Our Challenges and Barriers: lack of available and affordable housing, traffic congestion and lack of public transport, rapidly changing environment, pockets of high socio-economic disadvantage, climate change and sustainability, lack of serviced industrial land, and changing skills base within the workforce and some shortages within the workforce.

Thank you to everyone who provided input, it is valued and appreciated.

We have now prepared the Plan, and request feedback on what is proposed.

Your feedback in this round is a vital part of our planning, and helps us make decisions to ensure the Plan is reflective of your desired future.

We'd love you to review the Plan and provide your feedback.

Once this stage of engagement closes, we will review and take into account all of the responses. Your opinions are greatly appreciated and will aid us in making decisions that will finalise the Plan.

By following this project via the 'FOLLOW' button at the top left of the screen, you will stay updated as it progresses.

Your feedback

To help finalise the Plan, we need your input. Your feedback plays a vital role in shaping our strategy, ensuring it aligns with the present and future needs of both the local community and visitors. This Plan will serve as our compass, directing our efforts to continually enhance services, bolster support for local businesses, and foster a sustainable, prosperous future for our community.

We'd love you to review the Plan and let us know if we have captured your thoughts from the first round of engagement or alternatively, tell us if we have missed anything.

Your feedback is important to us, please visit one or more of the multiple options below to have your say:

  • By our quick poll (located on the right hand side of this page) to show if you think our Plan meets the needs of our city and/or,
  • By our online survey located below to provide more detailed feedback.
  • By contacting us via email or phone (refer to the 'Contact Us' section of this page for details).
  • You can also contact us to request a hard copy of the draft Greater Geelong Economic Development Plan 2024-2034 or survey.

Feedback is open from Wednesday 24 April 2024 to Wednesday 22 May 2024.

The personal information requested on this page is being collected by City of Greater Geelong for the purpose of the Economic Development Plan 2024–2034 or any other directly related purpose. If the personal information is not collected, we may not be able to contact you for further questions or solutions.

Your personal information will only be disclosed to carry out a deeper analysis of the data*, or as required to do so by law. Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to City of Greater Geelong, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.

*In order to gain a deeper understanding of the data provided to the City and improve our services to you, we may disclose the information you provide to us to AWS Comprehend and Converlens Pty Ltd which carry out analysis of the data. Your personal information may be disclosed to AWS Comprehend and Converlens Pty Ltd based in Sydney only in relation to the primary purpose of collection. View the following link for AWS Comprehend’s Data Privacy statement and Converlens Pty Ltd Data Privacy statement.

We'll use your feedback and the feedback we receive from businesses, advocacy groups, industry bodies and people in the community to finalise the draft Greater Geelong Economic Development Plan 2024-2034. Look out for the finalised Plan in the Document Library on this page.