So, who are we?

By Melissa Meehan
PEOPLE need to know that Cardinia starts with a “C” and not a “K” according to councillors wanting to promote the Shire to businesses.
At the final council meeting for 2011, Cardinia councillors supported a motion to adopt the Casey Cardinia Investment Attraction Framework.
But councillor George Blenkhorn said the council needed to promote the area so that people didn’t confuse it with its Geelong based namesake.
With the continual growth of the Casey Cardinia region, both the City of Casey and Cardinia Shire are looking to attract investments into the area so residents will no longer need to commute to the city for work.
The AEC Group was commissioned by the City of Casey, Shire of Cardinia and the Southern Melbourne Committee of Regional Development Australia to identify opportunities to attract new investment and new employment into the region.
Councillor George Blenkhorn said attracting investment and employment opportunities into the area was the most important piece of work for the council in coming years. He said Cardinia alone had more people than the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Canberra and it was a sad state of affairs that there were limited employment opportunities.
“Some 65 percent of our population leaves the area to go to work every day,” Cr Blenkhorn said.
“They spend at least two hours sitting in their car, stuck on the Monash, when they should be able to work where they live.
“We have the land and the people here.”
Cr Blenkhorn said opening the port of Hastings would really help Casey Cardinia attract investment, but said that was still 10-12 years away.
“We also need to ensure there is a Thompsons Road link to Cardinia, it is essential for that to happen before the port is opened,” he said.
His colleague, Councillor Collin Ross said it was important that the council seek investment that will create new jobs in the area as “we already have people here, wanting to work” and the building boom would not be around forever.
The framework was supported by all councillors and will now be a focus of council for the future.