MORE than 100 guests converged on Taronga Western Plains Zoo on Friday night to hear first-hand how the Orana economy was travelling and what opportunities there were for it to grow domestically and globally.
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Guests got the first look at the findings of two reports released by Regional Development Australia (Orana) to coincide with the dinner.
The Orana Outlook Report 2014 (and Opportunities Update) and the Workforce Capacity of the Orana Region reports showed a willingness to prepare the local economy to move forward and position itself to take advantage of new opportunities and work together to achieve goals, RDA Orana chairman John Walkom said.
He said while the workforce report showed many opportunities for the region and that many employers were planning to grow their businesses there were factors affecting their ability to attract the skills they needed to grow.
These included a lack of basic work skills and specialised skills, and many were concerned about investing in unskilled employees.
"The Orana Outlook Report 2014 was one way to help address barriers to growth, Mr Walkom said.
"Last year the Orana region contributed over $7 billion towards Australia's gross domestic product," he said.
"This output alone not only illustrates the strength and resilience of the economy, but provides confidence of the future and promise of new opportunity.
"We live in a very innovative environment... as a region we need to look at how we can measure this innovation - does this innovation compare and compete in a national and global environment?"
RDA would undertake an innovation assessment to understand where Orana sat as a region in the Australian and global economy, Mr Walkom said.
"A collaborative study of innovation across the region's business, government, suppliers and the supply chain will allow us to better understand our competitive nature and areas for growth and support."
In addition to Mr Walkom, the night featured talks from Deputy Premier Troy Grant and Parkes MP Mark Coulton.
Another guest speaker, former Wallabies captain Nick Farr-Jones, talked of his recent experiences investing the mining sector.
Economics commentator Jonathan Pain spoke of the rise of the Asian middle class and highlighted Australia's potential to take advantage of developing markets, with Chinese and Indian consumers set to be spending nearly $10 trillion by 2020, and Australia was well-placed to benefit.
