Today, the Chair of Namoi Unlimited and Mayor of the Liverpool Plains Shire Council, Cr Andrew Hope welcomed the announcement from the Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, John Barilaro, and Minister for Local Government Gabrielle Upton on the future of joint organisations of councils.
“The announcement about the future of groups of councils working together is exciting news for the members of Namoi Unlimited. We have been working hard to develop a new model for regional
development, collaboration and leadership in Local Government.”
This morning Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro, and Minister for Local Government Gabrielle Upton announced that the NSW Government will introduce new laws to
allow councils in regional NSW to voluntarily create new Joint Organisations in 2018. Mr Barilaro said Joint Organisations would transform the way the NSW Government and local councils collaborate, plan, set priorities and deliver important projects in regional NSW. Cr Hope said “Namoi Unlimited is clear about our strategic priorities; our priorities are to build the
economies, the infrastructure and jobs in the Namoi region.
“We realised early in the pilot process that by working together on strategic opportunities around investment, roads, as well as skills, we can support each others individual goals and deliver on ourambition to be a prosperous region and economy.”
The formerly know Namoi Councils Joint Organisation is now know as Namoi Unlimited. Cr Hope said the new brand reflects the vision of the region and their ambitions.
“We have been collaborating with the NSW Government to focus on the issues that matter most to our communities.
“Funding is recognition of the work being undertaken to engage in international markets to attract investment on the right terms, supporting infrastructure that will drive agricultural innovation, and developing the skills of people who work in Local Government and want to work with us.” Namoi Unlimited is a collaboration of seven regional Councils across; Gunnedah Shire Council,
Gwydir Shire Council, Liverpool Plains Shire Council, Narrabri Shire Council Tamworth Regional Council, Uralla Shire Council and Walcha Council encompassing over 100,000 people in the region across almost 60,000 square kilometres. Namoi Unlimited exists to create scale and capacity to deliver practical and collaborative regional initiatives.