Gloucester is a great location for new innovation and existing industry to grow and expand was the message from the Regional Competitive Advantage event on Friday, July 22.
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The Regional Development Australia (RDA) Hunter’s Smart Specialisation event attracted visitors from around NSW, including John Barilaro MP, NSW Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Skills and Minister for Small Business, and Michael Johnsen MP, National member for Upper Hunter.
Ian Shaw from Advance Gloucester spoke about the opportunity Gloucester has to grow its industry and create job opportunities by taking advantage of the Government’s commitment to restoring focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the local schools and the AGL Legacy grant. He also put a call out to Mr Barilaro and Mr Johnsen for an additional financial ‘donation’.
He spoke about how David Leask from Hunter TAFE had offered to bring his robotics and engineering program to Gloucester during the school holidays to help introduce children s to the world of advanced manufacturing.
Dallas Stokes from Leveltec explained how connecting with other small overseas manufacturers is allowing his business to grow here.
“Being a tiny company in Gloucester doesn’t restrict where we go,” he said.
Adrian Drury from Drury Farm in Upper Lansdowne explained why he shifted his dairy production to a robotic system. “We needed to improve the technology to attract the right staff,” he said.
He discussed how robotics leads to better workers producing high quality milk and cleaner practices. Mr Drury emphasised the need to upskill local people around advanced manufacturing.
Mr Johnsen encouraged businesses to drive the initiative and the future of Gloucester.
He said how he wanted to bring Minister Barilaro to see the great things Gloucester is doing.
“To see how good Gloucester is and hopefully go back to his office and write a few more cheques.”
Mr Barilaro stressed how kids going through school today need to learn the skills for the future of manufacturing. He talked about how the new generation understands technology and the need for this to be supported by bringing STEM into the schools.
“We need a system in place to meet the need for the future innovation.
“We need to start in the schools.”
He explained that the greatest threat to the growth of Australia’s economy is a skills shortage.