The Central Highlands 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.
Our region spans the east-west transport corridor connecting Melbourne to western Victoria. The region’s bustling major centre, Ballarat, has the fastest growing population of any regional city in Victoria, while our region also takes in the Rural City of Ararat in the west, the mineral springs at Daylesford, Bacchus Marsh in the east and Bannockburn in the south.
Our region includes:
- six municipalities (Ararat Rural City, City of Ballarat, Golden Plains Shire, Hepburn Shire, Moorabool Shire , Pyrenees Shire)
- a Gross Regional Product of $10.28 billion (2020)
- a fast-growing population, growing 23.1% between 2011 and 2021 to 212,535
- the largest employers including Health and Community Services (18%), Education and Training (10%) and Construction (10%)
- top sectors by gross value add (2020) include Health care and social assistance ($1.2B), Construction ($1.0B), Agriculture, forestry and fishing ($663.9M) and Manufacturing ($655.4M).
For further information about the Central Highlands, see:
Our engagement has evolved and is now much more focused, with a small number of targeted deep-dive engagements.
Our Partnership annually presents regional priorities to Government. In 2023, the Partnership raised priorities across housing, jobs and connectivity in the Central Highlands. Several priorities have been supported in successive Budgets and, as a result, we have seen a number of Partnership-championed projects get off the ground.
We are active in bringing different groups, levels and parts of Government together in our region, getting people talking and listening, and providing Governments with insight to better design policy so it fits the needs and expectations of our communities.