Rob Pollock, President Moruya Business Chamber, presentation to ESC March 25 Meeting.

The Moruya Business Chamber understands that the Masterplan will be runout firstly for Batemans Bay then other major centres in Moruya and Narooma. We also understand that the LEP/DCP will be worked on to reflect the masterplan.

ESC doesn’t have large businesses in this Shire. Moruya will have the two biggest employer groups, Eurobodalla Shire Council and the New Regional Hospital.

90 % of businesses in our region are owner operators with a small workforce of less than 10 employees, so it is vitally important that we look after them and we need investment and growth. Small Businesses are doing it tough and they are very reliant on tourism from our closest major Cities Canberra/Wollongong/Sydney/Melbourne.

Businesses and the community are happy that the ESC has not had the rate hikes which our neighbours have had. We are happy that there is now a financial officer at ESC and our finances are more transparent and seems to be heading in a better direction.

We now need an investment strategy that will work and bring larger investors. A Masterplan is needed to bring clarity to future investment that will help small business and allow existing businesses to remain viable in an area with no Major Businesses at present.

I represent Moruya and was born here at MDH. Our community is growing older and we are attracting many Baby Boomers of my generation. All of our CBDs need investment and allowances for multiple level development. Our town Moruya has just one motel in the CBD area and are in desperate need of more short- term accommodation in the CBD. Moruya is in a crisis for housing at present and urgent housing development needed. A Masterplan for Moruya must be worked on to prepare for the New Regional Hospital opening. There are some people who just don’t want development but you can’t have a Major health Facility without the housing required for the staff to operate the facility. Can’t have you cake and eat it!

Masterplan can’t be just aspirational and a wishy washy statement, it needs to seriously attract investors to our CBDs and townships to create accommodation both short and long term. Our aging population need somewhere to live. We have not enough jobs for our youth, this is reflected in the age dependency ratio which puts our Shire at 557th out of the 563 Shire in the entire Nation. This needs addressing and the bold decisions with regard to investment need to be made to have a more balanced demographic.