What is essentially the Olympic Games of business, the World Chambers Congress is an exciting opportunity for Victoria and a great chance to showcase our State. The good news is Melbourne has made it to the final two along with China and so we will keep our fingers crossed when the host city is announced next month. Good luck to Paul, CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau Julia Swanson and Global Victoria CEO Gonul Serbest who are representing us in Paris.

The Victorian Chamber has strongly advocated for a dedicated business events strategy for Victoria, so we can continue to try and attract events like the World Chambers of Congress. Victoria has the facilities, the people and the brain power to deliver world-class business events that will bring global leaders here and open up significant investment opportunities for the State.

Later this month we will showcase this to the world when we deliver the 36th Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Renowned local and international speakers will fly in to present and exchange ideas with business leaders from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, including the President of CACCI, Samir Modi. It is something we are all looking forward to, and you can find more details here.

Last Friday we presented Future Victoria, in collaboration with the Herald Sun and sponsored by Crown Melbourne, John Holland and CSIRO. Not only was this the first event of its kind but it was also a unique opportunity for Labor and the Coalition to share their vision for Victoria for 2030 as the State Election campaign began.

I’d like to thank the Treasurer of Victoria Tim Pallas and Leader of the Opposition Matt Guy for generously giving their time during such a busy period, as well as our panel of business leaders - Ciaran Carruthers, Crown Resorts CEO; Penny Fowler, Chairman of Herald & Weekly Times; and Janet Whiting AM, Chair of Visit Victoria, for sharing their insights. A summary of the keynote addresses can be found here. You can also view photos from the event here.

Congratulations to the Herald Sun for their excellent ongoing coverage of Future Victoria, including our advocacy for new events and infrastructure to support the fantastic work being done by Visit Victoria to ensure we remain not just the events capital of Australia but a global leader.

We will be able to squeeze a few more special events into 2022 before we break for the holidays, including the 2022 NAB AFLW Grand Final Lunch on Thursday 24 November at Marvel Stadium and our annual Women in Business luncheon in December, so keep an eye on our events page for more details.

This week we released the second video in our advocacy series to promote our State Election Platform, Powering Victoria’s Future. It features the Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University of Technology, Professor Pascale Quester, as she talks about the importance of strengthening Victoria’s jobs and skills. You can view and share the video from here.

Finally, Episode 3 of our podcast Business Voice has landed and this week’s episode features the inspiring CEO and co-founder of Be Fit Food, Kate Save, as she talks about what’s needed to build Victoria as the best state to operate a business. We also discuss the very latest in the State Election campaign with Sean Sammon from the York Park Group.

Have a fantastic week.