Call To Build A Wealthier Upper Hunter

MEAGHAN Burkett, an industry cultivator, is calling upon the local community to help revolutionise economic development opportunities for the Upper Hunter and hopes visionary people will join the Zoom meeting tomorrow night.

Meaghan who has worked in government and private industry, explained the community can’t wait for ideas to come from government and trickle down and proactive grassroots initiatives can create diverse economic opportunities, citing successful models already implemented by Ethical Fields in Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

“We’re not hearing our local Councils or our state Governments talk about these models that are actually working all over the world, so really this is a community information session to say, ‘hey here are some really good ways of looking at this differently,'” said Meaghan Burkett.

Meaghan said she hopes industry, business and community members will then work with each other and local government to develop local economic strategies.

“We’re being told that what we need across the Hunter is diversification and what I hear from that is we need to bring in a few new industries, not just one or two,” Meaghan said.

“We’re hoping to get interest off people in these communities who may have capital and connect them to some really good new businesses, particularly young people who have great new ideas about business,” she said.

“We are also hoping that some local Councils will really get behind these principles because a local Council can easily adopt these policies and fundamentally shift their economic development strategies,” she said.

The ‘Upper Hunter & Muswellbrook -Let’s build community wealth & local industry event‘ aims to tell locals about other economically viable ways of setting up industries and how they can set them up. 

“What this meeting is offering is just a space for the community to hear about some different approaches, such as community wealth building and locally scaled industry…these different models truly benefit local community,” Meaghan said.

“Community wealth is all about increasing community owner ship of state capital…how we redirect wealth and opportunity and how we anchor jobs to send money back into the local community,” she said.

“When people who work in the organisation also have a share in it or own it, then they’re making decisions…the people that live in that region get to decide what is best for that particular industry…and when that community has that control and ownership of business industries, then they’re the ones that continue to make all of the decisions about their future economy,” said Meaghan Burkett.

To register for the event, click here.

Event Details

When: Thursday 3rd August 2020
Time: 6.00pm – 7.30pm (AEST)
Where: Online via Zoom. The zoom link will be emailed the day before the meeting.
Cost: Free