Representatives from local businesses, corporate organisations, local, State and federal governments and research, education and training institutions attended the event to hear about the economic growth of the City and its aspiration of becoming a primary centre for metropolitan Perth.
One of the most important challenges mentioned was the number of residents who travel outside the City of Joondalup to work because there are not enough jobs available locally.
Keynote speaker WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Deidre Willmott said about three quarters of the City’s resident workers commuted out of the area every day, with almost 70 per cent using their car.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW‘This is one of the biggest challenges facing this expanding northern corridor ” how can it create the type of economic environment to generate local jobs and reduce the out-commuting.’
The City’s new strategy, titled Expanding Horizons, aims to address this issue by increasing local job opportunities with a long-term target of 2000 new businesses and 20,000 new jobs.
‘There has been a lot of recent media coverage regarding traffic congestion issues facing metropolitan Perth and the costs and impact on the environment, local communities and businesses,’ Mayor Troy Pickard said.
‘Creating new employment in strategic centres such as Joondalup is vital to offset this major challenge for Perth.’
Ms Willmott said the City’s strategy was strongly aligned with CCI’s vision for WA to become a world-leading place in which to live and do business.
‘By creating the type of environment that encourages a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation and investment we can create growth and opportunities for employment,’ she said.
She said the WA economy was starting to transition from the resources-led investment boom to growth from other sectors of the economy but Joondalup’s economy was already quite diverse.
‘While construction still makes up the largest proportion of the local economy, we are beginning to see other sectors such as retail, health, education and professional services begin to increase in value,’ she said.
‘Professionals make up the largest occupation group in Joondalup but most of them don’t work locally.’
She said the City had ‘record low levels of unemployment’ compared to the Perth metropolitan area and WA.
‘Edith Cowan University will become the cornerstone for education becoming a key driver of economic growth,’ she said.
‘And it’s not just the university, the Joondalup Health Campus has become a national example of a successful public-private partnership.
‘There’s also West Coast Institute, the Motor Industry Training Association of WA, the WA Police Academy and the NECA College of Electrical training.
‘It’s the CCI’s vision that we will see more public/private partnerships particularly in the education sector.’
A summary of Expanding Horizons can be viewed at City of Joondalup
Grants lure more ideasTHE City of Joondalup is offering grants between $5000 and $20,000 to foster innovative ideas that will contribute towards developing entrepreneurial business activities in the City.Joondalup Mayor Troy Pickard announced at yesterday’s business forum that $100,000 had been allocated in the budget for the Innovation Fund.‘We are now seeking applications from local businesses for innovative or digital-based activities that will help promote economic development within the City and support the aims of our digital city strategy launched last year,’ he said.