Lithgow Council with Bob Debus (Member for Macquarie) and Member for Bathurst, Gerard Martin hosted the Jobs Summit.

It was facilitated by Tom Murphy, CEO of the Western Research Institute and included an address by Gary Gray AO, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development.

The packed room listened to Tom Murphy speak about the Lithgow Local Government Area Economic Profile, explaining statistical information relating to areas such as labour force participation, unemployment and income by occupation.

The statistics compared the Lithgow LGA to a NSW and a Central West average, providing summit participants with information as to what areas Lithgow is underperforming in and also in what sectors Lithgow LGA is outperforming the State and Central West averages.

The next session was then continued by Mr Gray after being introduced by Mr Debus.

Mr Gray said that the number of participants at the summit and workshops shows Lithgow is on the right track for planning for the future.

He stressed the importance of working together to support local industry, devising strategies to make Lithgow attract industry and opportunities that support the community.

He said that it was important to have strong local champions in the corridors of power who can bring a genuine regional view to Canberra, and strong and dedicated local and regional governments were needed for a sustainable community.

Mr Gray made a point of saying that the idea was not to bring forward a wish list expecting the government to pay for it.

He said there will be proper processes in place and decisions will be made in the interest of Australia.

The afternoon session focused on interactive workshops to determine outcomes that will achieve jobs growth and development of the region.