This has been an incredible first month with BGCCI – it is an honour to be appointed into this position. Thank you to the Executive Committee for trusting me to represent our local businesses and build a strong and vital community.I have been getting out and about meeting with our members and key stakeholders. I’ve been busy getting my feet under the desk and immersing myself in the range of themes impacting our members, as well as the projects and initiatives that are either in play or evolving. With a pipeline of project work worth more than $2b to deliver over the next 2-3 years, this is and will continue to be an exciting time to be living and working in the South West.From the 12-13 November I had the privilege of attending our RCCIWA annual conference in Perth together with Rob Skipsey and one of our founding members Rolf Stene. The first day included a parliamentary review held at Hale House. We had the opportunity to speak directly with Ministers from our State Government and opposition leaders from both the Liberal and National Parties. This gave Rob and I an opportunity to present key issues and represent the Bunbury Geographe Chamber members. Key topics of advocacy focussed on priority for regional preferencing and decentralisation, workforce and skills development, greater attraction and focus on the Bunbury Geographe sub-region as being a great place to live and work in.It was also a great opportunity for me to personally meet leaders from our other regional Chambers across WA. We shared the different challenges facing each region and the variety of events and initiatives being run to support their local communities and business members. These ideas, together with insights from our local members, will be great to feed into my planning for Chamber events and focus areas in 2021.I want to reiterate the key message from my first address at last month’s BAH - I am open for conversation – I am here to listen and get a better understanding of how we can continue to improve our interaction with our members and what services and support we can offer.  So please feel free to reach out and contact me if you need help our would just like to catch up.Looking ahead to 2021 It’s encouraging to see our hospitality and retail sectors ramping up as we enter the festive season. These sectors are still some of the most impacted communities so please support our local businesses as we head into the festive season.The Chamber and our Regional Stakeholders continue to drive infrastructure spend and capital investment preferencing for our local region.Job creation and workforce development continue to be our prime focus to meet the numerous stimulus and support measures in play. The demand for skilled workers and all trades has also increased significantly across WA.  All the stakeholders are working on joint initiatives with our education and training institutions on the jobs and skills front to address these issues.The pipeline of work continues to grow so we remain positive that this demand will continue for several years ahead of us. There has never been a better time to train, up-skill or cross-skill in our region.Kristy GillianBGCCI CEO
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