Radio 2GN audio clip>>

Craig Prichard: We’ve got some exciting news, the Hume Lifestyle Precinct looks as though it’s got an exciting future about it.

Angus Taylor: It’s fantastic to see, Rohan can talk about it in more detail. It’s up towards the Big Merino. It’s a fantastic new development there which is bringing in new businesses, a series of businesses that are growing fast. We’ve seen extraordinary jobs growth in this area over the last year or so. Across Hume we had about 1500 new jobs created by jobactive, the employment service provider, but about a third of those are in Goulburn. So this is really exciting and we know that these jobs are coming from the businesses around town. This is where we are getting this jobs growth and the work that people like Rohan are doing and people going into the Lifestyle Precinct is absolutely critical to getting more of that jobs growth, so very exciting. It certainly is exciting.

Craig Prichard: So Rohan, tell us a little bit about the Hume Lifestyle Precinct and how that all came about?

Rohan Geale: It’s been a couple of years in the making now. There were a couple of businesses originally with the old Ranger Geale site and Caradel Hire site and it was a project where we had to think about what we could do to redevelop the site. So the idea came that if we broke it up into smaller retail shops, bulky retail shops, that we could entice local business to come forward and expand their businesses and have a bit more of a showcase on the Hume Highway there, or Hume Street, where the traffic flow comes with plenty of parking and things like that which have paid off now. Young, local businesses move up there that have wanted to expand, showcase their businesses, employ more staff  and the project should now be completed around June and we will have four local businesses ready to go.

Craig Prichard: What businesses are they?

Rohan Geale: The first business is a shop for tiles. Glen and Wayne have been redeveloping up there to open up more of a showroom type area for people to select their tiles and bathroom supplies. We’ve got Charlie McDonald from Goulburn Water Systems who wants to expand his business and go into more product and we’ve got Nathan from Goulburn Roller Doors who’s expanding his business as well and providing shutters etc. And we’ve got Collette McGregor from JSF Interiors, who is an interior decorator who has relocated from Goldsmith Street. She has just finished her showroom and it looks magnificent.

Craig Prichard: They’re all local businesses expanding and it’s great they are all together in the one place and more people will be able to come along and shop at all of those businesses at the one time.

Rohan Geale: Yeah, that’s correct. A one stop shop.

Angus Taylor: This is where Goulburn’s growth comes from. It’s businesses like these who grow and employ; that’s where the jobs come from. That’s how we pay our taxes, that’s how salaries are paid and I’ve been keen as a local member to really encourage it and celebrate it. The work that people like Rohan do goes uncelebrated and people like Collette and Charlie and so on who are in that area, we don’t celebrate the work they do, but we should because they really do supply an enormous amount to the town and the region.

Craig Prichard: We certainly should celebrate it and the future of this area and the community. It’s guys like you that make this possible, that will make it a better future for us.

Angus Taylor: There is other stuff going on around town, AFS is continuing to expand, Aviagen up in that area as well, they’re already out on the Braidwood Road but they’ve just recently opened up in that area as well. So we are seeing fantastic jobs growth and that’s coming through in the data and certainly the government wants to see much more of this. That’s why we are giving these small businesses tax relief packages that are in the budget. And more generally we just want to see more businesses investing, growing and creating more jobs like what we are seeing in this region.

Craig Prichard: And with these jobs it’s a mixture of casual and full time jobs, isn’t it?

Angus Taylor: Yeah there’s a mix. That’s the modern workforce. The key thing is that we’ve got this demand for work, for people with opportunities. You know the abattoir up around there is expanding, they had a $10 million expansion up there, quite recently more jobs. So we really are seeing a lot of investment and we need to keep encouraging it.

Craig Prichard: It certainly is a good sign that this area is expanding and growing. As you said, it’s June these guys will be in, so it’s not long to go now and it will be up and running.

Rohan Geale: It’s exciting for us to have a project like this finished, there’s still a bit of room up there for any local businesses, we have a few shops left, so anyone that might be interested and wants to dress their business up and get up there and be part of the exciting development is quite welcome.

Caption: Angus Taylor talking on Radio 2GN about the growth being driven in Goulburn by local business people including developer Rohan Geale from Wollondilly Constructions who is building the new Hume Lifestyle Precinct near the Big Merino.