Conference Program
Day 1: Thursday 25 June 2015
9:30am Registration and morning tea
10:00am Welcome and conference opening

Cr Bill McArthur, President, Municipal Association of Victoria and Cr Margaret Rae, Mayor, Murrindindi Shire Council.
10:15am Plan – to deliver on bold ambitions – Marcus Spiller, Partner, SGS Economics and Planning
Marcus is a founding partner of SGS Economic and Planning and has years of international experience as a planner and urban economist. Marcus
will reflect on his career and challenge conventional planning thinking and reveal how we can better deliver on bold land use planning ambitions
10.55am Capitalising on foreign investment in agriculture and Australia’s free trade agreements – Chris Stamford, General Manager, Investment,
Victoria & Tasmania, Austrade, Australian Government
Foreign investment and free trade agreements have been front and centre for many rural and regional Victorians. Chris will share the hard cold
facts on foreign investment, the opportunities and the benefits of the recent free trade agreements. He will also share his thoughts on the future
of agriculture and the challenges for land use planning.
11.30am The importance of leadership and partnering with the community – Rob Hunt, AM, FAICD, former Chief Executive Officer, Bendigo Bank
Between 1993 and 2000, more than 2,050 bank branches closed across Australia. Bendigo Bank is one of the few banks that bucked this
trend.Rob and his team created and drove the deliver of the Community Banking Business model. Rob will share the lessons for land use planners
and the importance visionary leadership and partnering with the community
12:00pm Networking lunch proudly sponsored by:
1:00pm Concurrent sessions
Session A – Year in Review: the top
10 decisions that have shaped rural
and regional Victoria
Session C – Enabling
appropriate development
in potable water supply
catchments through

Kathy Mitchell, Chief Planning
referral agreements, the
Panels Member, Planning Panels
environmental significance
Victoria
overlay and domestic

Laurie Hewet, Senior VCAT
waste water management
member
plans
Kathy and Laurie will share the top 10 Planning policy highlights
planning decisions that have
the importance of
influenced planning for rural and
protecting water supply
regional Victoria’s future and explain catchments, while
why.
facilitating appropriate
Session D – Managing Residential Character in Regional Victoria
Planisphere was commissioned to provide authoritive advice on how to
successfully influence the look and feel of residential development in rural
and regional Victoria. Making reference to successfully resolved examples,
the session will explain how we can use our toolkit to achieve its potential.
Tim Peggie from the Metropolitan Planning Authority will also provide an
update on the soon to be released Regional Precinct Structure Planning
Guidelines.
Lisa Riddle, Director, Planisphere and Tim Peggie, Director, MPA
Session E: Facilitating brownfield development in regional Victoria in line
with the plan – A case study - Little Creatures Brewery and the Port of
Geelong
With regional economies restructuring and a push towards a serviced based
economies, the push to develop unconvental sites will become prevalent.
The City of Greater Geelong will share the lessons from the Little Creatures
Brewery and the Port of Geelong redevelopment.
development. What a
balancing act. Moorabool
and Mansfield shires will
show how its done and
Planning has traditionally been
Marshall Sullivan, Acting Statutory Planning Coordinator, Greater Geelong
preoccupied with managing growth. share the lessons learned City Council
Eleven municipalities are dealing with for the 25 municipalities in
Session F: Field Trip – Building back better, a town big on small town
a declining population and stagnating these catchments.
charm
economies. How do we plan for this?
Sian Smith, Manager of
Dr Laura Schatz will share her new
The field trip will take you on a tour of Marysville and include a visit to a
Statutory Planning and
research.
property built to the requirements of the bushfire management overlay.
Community Safety and
This tour is a must for planners and those curious to understand what the
Dr Laura Schatz, Lecturer in Urban
Michael Bismire,
requirements look like on the ground
Planning & Urban Studies at the
Development Manager at Melissa Crane, Murrindindi Shire and Mark Holland, CFA
University of Sydney and member of Mansfield Shire
the Shrinking Cities International
Research Network
Session B - Dealing with decline –
the role of land use planning
2:10pm Afternoon tea
2.40pm The Hon John Brumby, former Premier of Victoria and Chair of the Regional Services Review
The Hon John Brumby established Regional Development Victoria 15 years ago and is now leading the review of the regional service delivery
model and the best policies to drive economic growth. He will provide an update on the review and share his pearls of wisdom on delivering on
bold ambitions
3.10 pm International and national disasters -: Imperatives for land use planning – Karl Sullivan, Insurance Council of Australia
Karl Sullivan is the General Manager of Policy, Risk and Disaster Planning at the Insurance Council of Australia. Karl will share the land use
planning and broader policy lessons from recent international and national disasters and what we should be doing now to learn from the
experience.
3:40pm A second bite at the cherry – extended discussions with targeted speakers and the ARUP Wind Farm Noise simulator in the Radius Cafe
4:30pm Day one conference close
5.30pm Debrief and networking drinks in the Radius Woodfire Bar & Grill and dinner at 6.30
Conference Program
Day 2: Friday 26 June 2015
8:30am Registration
9:15am Making regional cities a great small city of the world
Trevor and James will share how we can be bold and make regional cities and towns great small cities of the world.
Trevor Budge, AM, Manager of Strategy, City of Greater Bendigo and James Larmour – Reid, Director, Planisphere and PIA (Vic) President
9.55 am Delivering a thriving tourism industry in your patch
The Regional Growth Plans and planning schemes reveals the importance of tourism and our ambition to grow its contribution to regional
Victoria. Tourism operators in Tasmania won 10 out of 29 gongs at the recent National Tourism Awards. Lonely Planet has nominated Tasmania
as its fourth hottest destination in the world in 2015. They are doing something right! With global tourism expected to grow by 60 per cent, with
over half of that growth coming from China and India the opportunity is huge. Luke will share how we can deliver on our bold planning ambitions
and facilitate a thriving tourism industry.
Luke Martin, CEO of Tourism Tasmania and keen St Kilda supporter.
10.35
Christine Wyatt, Deputy Secretary – Planning, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
11:00am Morning tea
11:30am Concurrent sessions
Session A: Driving the
revival of main streets in
rural and regional Victoria
– what councils can do and
what we need to know
For years, planning policy
has aimed to drive the
revival of main streets.
Stephen and Chris will
share what councils need
to know about the
mechanics of main streets
and what we can actually
do to actively facilitate
their revival.
Stephen Sully, Executive
Officer Positoning
Brimbank at Brimbank City
Council and Board
Member of Main Streets
Australia and Chris
McNeill, Director, SPADE
Consultants
Session B –Delivering planning outcomes Session D: Engaging Communities in Big Planning Decisions – Macedon
in regional Victoria
Ranges Localised Planning Statements
Wodonga and Baw Baw Council will share
the benefits of the regional planning work
with Metropolitan Planning Authority and
share the lessons learnt for other rapidly
growing municipalities.
Jayne Cluning, Coordinator Strategic
Planning at Baw Baw Shire and John
Sidgwick, Manager of Planning and
Building at Wodonga City Council and
John Petrakos, Senior Structure Planner
at the MPA
You will leave this session with the top tips for engaging with the
community on big planning decisions. Keith and Fi Cotter will share the
lessons from the community engagement process in the Macedon Ranges
Localised Planning Statements.
Keith Greaves, IAP2 Board Member and Fi Cotter, Manager of Strategic
Planning, Macedon Ranges Shire Council
Session E: A partnership to deliver affordable housing in rural and
regional Victoria – A case study – North Dennington Residential Area,
Warrnambool City Council
Delivering affordable housing and an appropriate housing mix is a policy
aspiration found in many housing strategies and policy documents.
Session C: Facilitating intensive animal
husbandry and regional infrastructure
Andrew will share the lessons learn’t from the joint initiative between
investment in line with the plan – A case Warrnambool City Council and the Federal Government that is facilitating
study – Golden Plains Shire
the delivery of affordable housing with the North Dennington Residential
Estate.
Several rural and regional planning
scheme talk about facilitating intensive
Andrew Paton, Manager Economic Development & Investment
animal husbandry and other similar
Warrnambool City Council
facilities to generate job growth, yet few
Melissa Crane, Murrindindi Shire and Mark Holland, CFA
have been successful. Leigh will share
what Golden Plains are doing to turn this
Session F: Building back better, a town big on small town charm
into reality and the lessons for other
The field trip will take you on a tour of Marysville and include a visit to a
municipalities.
property built to the requirements of the bushfire management overlay.
Leigh Page, Team Leader at Golden Plains This tour is a must for planners and those curious to understand what the
Shire
requirements look like on the ground
12.40 – Networking lunch
1:10pm Panel discussion - Plan – to deliver on bold ambitions
The panel will be made up of a mixture of keynote and concurrent session speakers and include key staff from Murrindindi Shire
2:00pm Conference close
Note: Wayne Caldwell, Director and Professor, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Ontario
presentation on the reservation of primary agricultural farming land will be distributed post conference