POPULATION growth, infrastructure projects and lower power costs are among the key priorities listed by the Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce for the newly elected Liberal State Government over the next four years.
Chamber president Lynette Martin OAM has congratulated Liberal Party leader Steven Marshall, who was sworn in as the state’s premier yesterday.
The business leader also acknowledged Independent Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell, who has been returned after Saturday’s state election.
Ms Martin said the state’s political leaders needed to look beyond the toll-gate and acknowledge the Limestone Coast’s significant contribution to the SA economy.
“The city-centric mantra by the former government must now come to an end – we need a new focus on Mount Gambier and I am hopeful the new Liberal Government, together with Troy, will see this happen,” she said.
“We don’t want to see politicians just making promises during the election period and hopefully the Liberal government will keep their pre-election promise of working for the regions.
“We need politicians working for the benefit of the entire state and becoming more bipartisan to ensure opportunities and public expenditure is spread across all electorates.
“Together we can work for the future to grow business and therefore employment for the economic benefit of Mount Gambier.”
Ms Martin vowed the chamber would continue to be the pre-imminent independent business voice advocating for the Mount Gambier community over the next four years.
But she said the chamber needed strong membership to ensure it represented a cross section of the community and urged people to sign up if they were not members.
“With the Limestone Coast now having the highest international visitation in regional South Australia, we need to capitalise on that with new infrastructure to enhance the region’s growing tourism sector,” Ms Martin said.
In particular, she said tourism-focused projects were needed to encourage visitors to stay longer in the region.
She said the city must progress the construction of an indoor pool/multi-sport recreational centre, new commercial tourism opportunities and see the city’s population moving forward.
“We also need to see new businesses and entrepreneurs come to Mount Gambier and the State Government can play a key role in attracting these opportunities with incentives and the right environment to lure business to the Blue Lake city,” she said.
Establishment of a biomass plant is an example of new industry.
“The Motor Accident Commission put up signs stating ‘country roads need safer drivers’, but the reality is ‘country drivers need safer roads,” Ms Martin said.
“Country roads are vital in freighting product around the state and also for the thousands of tourists that flow into our region each year.”
Equally important, she said well-constructed and maintained roads were vital for the safety of the regional community.
“The former Labor government say they have reduced speed on some roads to increase safety, but in reality the decision was based on the poor condition of the roads.”
She explained the Limestone Coast boasted an “amazing food bowl” of agriculture, aquaculture, viticulture, forestry, dairy and beef farming and had an abundance of water.
“But to grow our economy we need investment, good infrastructure and a government that wants to see our region reach its full potential,” Ms Martin said.
“The government over the next four years must also work vigorously to bring down the cost of power as it is becoming more and more difficult for small to medium business, along with major industry, to absorb skyrocketing energy costs.”
Ms Martin also highlighted the Mount Gambier Airport redevelopment as a crucial project moving forward and supported Troy Bell’s push for the Qantas Pilot Training School to be established in Mount Gambier.
