Our Region and Our Partnership
The Goulburn Regional Partnership is one of nine Partnerships across the state, established by the Victorian Government, recognising that local communities are in the best position to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by their region.
From Melbourne’s northern growth corridor to the Murray River, the Goulburn region is renowned for its fertile soils, mild climate, good water resources and growth opportunities for population and business.
Often described as the 'food bowl of Australia', agriculture underpins the economy here, followed closely by manufacturing, health care and social assistance.
Shepparton, the largest city in the region, is the primary location for health, cultural and higher education services. It, along with other towns including Yarrawonga, Euroa and Seymour, is culturally diverse and has a strong Indigenous population.
Our region includes:
- Five municipalities (City of Greater Shepparton, Mitchell Shire, Moira Shire, Murrindindi Shire, Strathbogie Shire);
- A Gross Regional Product of $7.9 billion;
- Population of 167,900
- 47% projected population increase in Goulburn between 2016 and 2036, driven by a forecast 134% increase in the Mitchell Shire between 2016 and 2036, due to its proximity to Melbourne.
- Over 13% of residents were born overseas.
Since our establishment in 2016, the Goulburn Regional Partnership has been actively consulting and engaging with thousands of people living and working in our community.
From 2019, our engagement has evolved and is now much more focused, with a small number of targeted deep-dive engagements. This follows on from the annual Regional Assemblies held from 2016 to 2018.
Our Partnership presents annually to Government on our region's priorities. However, in early 2019, the Partnership completed a Goulburn Outcomes Roadmap (PDF 1509.65 KB)
- a summary of the key outcomes the Partnership is striving to achieve long term, as well as a description of the actions and key projects the Partnership is focussing on, and what success will look like for the region.
Over the past three years, a number of Partnership priorities have been supported in successive Budgets and, as a result, we have seen a number of Partnership-championed projects get off the ground.
However, the Partnership is about much more than winning funding at Budget time.
We have been active in bringing different groups and different levels and parts of Government together in our region, in getting people talking and listening, and in providing Governments with insight into how we can better design policy so it fits the needs and expectations of our communities.
