The Victoria Park members’ stand after it had to be moved. HORSE racing would return to the city under a fresh push that has won the backing of Premier Jay Weatherill and key government ministers. A group of influential businessmen is spearheading racing’s return to Victoria Park, an outcome supported by the South Australian Jockey Club and Thoroughbred Racing SA. The move is sure to trigger a robust response from interest groups, which have resisted the return of racing to the city. It would almost…
Continue readingColin Goodall. Picture Campbell Brodie.SOME of South Australia’s best minds have launched a new campaign to lure more big companies to Adelaide as part of ambitious to drive economic growth across the state. The Committee for Adelaide, whose membership include business, charity and arts leaders, is lobbying to have at least two publicly-listed companies and a major international brand to move to the city within two years. The committee, which is politically neutral, is already in discussions with one major Australian Securities Exchange-listed company while…
Continue readingA view of Adelaide from the new Torrens foot bridge. Picture: Calum RobertsonADELAIDE “thinks but never grows” because city leaders give people false hope that change is on the way, the state’s former Commissioner for Integrated Design has warned. In a highly outspoken attack, Timothy Horton said a generation of “old thinkers and old men” had overseen years of inferior debate about how to improve the state. His criticism was directed at Adelaide City Council after it conducted an event linked to developing a city…
Continue readingSouth Australia is a small market within a small market, so local sales will never drive Pharmaceuticals to headquarter here based on volume. But increasingly, pharmaceutical companies operate as integrated global businesses, where R&D can be located in centres close to research capability and markets that are suited to speedy trials, and a friendly regulatory environment. Economic factors that inform decisions on the location of R&D and production facilities include; availability of key factors of production and other specialised resources (such as high quality local…
Continue readingCommittee for Adelaide - Josh Fanning from Committee for Adelaide on Vimeo.
Continue readingThese projects start the hard work of delivering on the major themes of the Committee’s two publications; Earning our place in a global economy (Nov 2013), and Agenda for Growth (May 2014). According to Committee Chair, Colin Goodall “Adelaide works best when it works together. So importantly, each of these projects is being delivered in partnership with leading South Australian organisations. Our first year has been about bringing well-researched ideas to public attention. Our second year is about developing practical ways to bring these ideas…
Continue readingThe group describes itself as a non-partisan think-tank and is self-funded by its members, who are something of a who's-who of Adelaide. Ian Smith is one of the group's founders; a corporate lobbyist with strong Liberal Party ties, but his motivation is more personal than political. "I've got two young kids, a nine-year-old and a six-year-old and ... if you don't plan now for a sort of an Adelaide in which they can work, it won't happen," he said. Mr Smith is pleased the committee…
Continue readingThe decision by GMH last week to cease production in South Australia by 2017 is a reminder that bold leadership and new partnerships are needed if we want to transform our economy to a more sustainable platform for innovation and growth. Much of this transformation will be painful and success is not guaranteed. Our industries are being asked to transform in order to compete in our region. Their success is essential to the wider regional economic development of South Australia. From the 1850’s to the…
Continue readingHere's an opinion piece our Chair, Colin Goodall posted on Indaily, 2 December 2013, introducing himself and the work we hope to achieve with this new alliance. I came to Adelaide by choice three years ago, having lived and worked around the world with BP, in the US, UK and Europe. I liked the idea of a 'Committee for Adelaide' because the model works. It brings together a broad spectrum of people and organisations that think the same way but lack a common forum. Everyone…
Continue readingAdvertiser journalist Cameron England was one of the first to cover the Committee, writing in March 2013 that South Australia's best and brightest were quietly being tapped on the shoulder with a vision to drive economic growth and help the state play to its strengths.
Continue readingAdelaide could be a smart small city built on nano- and bio-tech industries – if it can come to accept that old ways and old industries aren’t the future, says a high-powered new local think-tank. The Committee for Adelaide, a creation of local business and public service leaders, entrepreneurs, consultants, publishers and media identities, was launched today with the publication of its first manifesto for Adelaide – Earning our Place in a Global Economy. Advertisement The committee argues Adelaide should focus on newly emerging industries…
Continue readingBut what if we started with the notion that the sky could be the limit for this state? That doesn't mean everything should be seen through rose-tinted spectacles; indeed, we must always be a community that has a healthy regard for debate and questioning. However, it seems we must address the prevailing attitude of despondency with more than an occasional gripe, or even a newspaper column. If we believe in pushing ideas, we need to be able to do it with the correct structures in…
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