HAVING a diverse range of industries is vital for a regional city such as Bathurst, according to the new head of the Western Research Institute (WRI), Wendy Mason.
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In the past few years, hundreds of people have been made redundant in Bathurst across a range of businesses including Downer EDI, Simplot, Charles Sturt University, TAFE, Essential Energy, Devro and various government departments.
And just last week, the remaining Electrolux workforce of 200 employees walked out of the factory for the last time as the business shut its doors in Orange.
New WRI general manager Ms Mason says the future health of a city is helped by having a diverse range of industries.
“The diversity of an economy is particularly important in a regional area,” she said.
In the case of Bathurst, she said, the burgeoning tourism industry will help make the city more resilient to any future industrial job losses.
“It [Bathurst] is still accessible for Sydney-siders, it’s only a couple of hours away,” she said.
Ms Mason said another important factor for ongoing employment was continued education throughout life to ensure people were up-skilling and learning what they could to remain employable.
“The importance of education, and that people are continuing to learn, is vital,” she said.
“The world’s changing and I think we need to move with that.”
The WRI is a not-for-profit group launched in 1999 that applies local knowledge for social and economic research, as well as regional and business development planning services.
“The regional development story needs to be an economic story and I think that’s about the hard facts,” Ms Mason said.
“It’s about the importance of understanding and looking closely at research and how that plays into strategy.”
Ms Mason has big plans for the group and its relationship with businesses in the region and how the WRI can help them grow.
“We can help them look towards the future,” she said.