Business Hunter invites you to the rescheduled Hunter Business and Economic Development Forum with NSW Chief Economist, Stephen Walters. We are pleased that Stephen’s visit lines up with the timing of our partnership with Committee for the Hunter to deliver a program of events in April to discuss the outlook for the global, national and state economy and what this means for the Hunter’s positioning and priorities.

By hosting Stephen in the Hunter, we are opening our membership and key strategic partners to a unique opportunity to show, collectively, that we are a region ready to lead the economic recovery of NSW and Australia. It is our role to demonstrate the Hunter as an easy place to do business – growing our emerging industries and diversifying traditional economies which have been the engine room of Australia for many decades.

Stephen will deliver a keynote address on the NSW Economic Outlook and how this may be viewed in the context of a Federal Election, and the challenges and opportunities facing the state to restore our economy and drive business growth.

Stephen will then be guided by a panel presentation of the key markets for business and economic growth where the NSW Government can make evidence-led investments in the Hunter including in:

New Energy
Defence Industries
The Innovation Ecosystem
Medical Technology and Manufacturing

The panel will be facilitated by Katherine O’Regan and our invited guests in the forum will be from across the region and across the industries including but not limited to those on the panel. This forum will guide the NSW Chief Economist on the barriers to and opportunities for government investment to unlock economic growth in the Hunter; be that planning legislation, infrastructure funding, regulatory reform, beyond feasibility project funding, or grants to facilitate start-up and scale-up of growth business markets. He will leave our forum with a comprehensive economic outlook for the Hunter that he can draw on when contributing to investment and expenditure discussions for this region.

Please join us on Thursday 28 April to contribute your clear expertise in the economic development of the Hunter. We encourage all participants to preload the forum by taking part in the Committee for the Hunter’s federally-slanted economic lunch on Wedneday 27 April 2022 with KPMG’s Senior Economist, Sarah Hunter.