Hobart is great place to live and work. It's always had a neighbourly culture and welcoming community, and it is a stunning place to spend your days. But it wasn’t often thought of as a city where business would thrive.

Once upon a time Hobart was considered Australia’s ‘backwater’ capital.

For the 11th time in three years, Tasmania has been able to boast ranking as the best performing economy in the country.   With a daring mix of historical architecture and artistic innovation that is MOFA and MONA, Hobart has evolved into a place that grips the world’s imagination and curiosity.

Hobart’s City Economy is roaring. In 2021 the economy was valued at $8.3 billion*. It has increased 12.4% since 2019 despite the terror of COVID-19 and its impact at that time.  We didn’t just survive, we soared, grew, and innovated our way to better things.

To evolve the City of Hobart ever forwards the Hobart City Council is developing a new City Economy Strategy to identify, promote and capitalise on the ‘Hobart Difference’ for the benefit of all those who live, work, and do business in the city.

We are well aware we need to attend to both ongoing and emerging challenges if we wish to ensure that Hobart shines and evolves to its very best.

To prepare our new strategy, we have produced a discussion paper to prompt conversations across the community, test ideas, learnings, proposed actions and priorities that have been gathered from stakeholder engagement and research to date.

The best ideas for innovation and good healthy change will always come from the community itself. It's why this discussion paper is so important.  YOUR thoughts and input are needed to help guide this City.

Prior to being elected I found it exceptionally hard to be heard as a small business owner.  Even as Chair of the Confederation of Greater Hobart Business Ltd my ability to communicate meaningfully and have impact on the Hobart City Council decisions was limited.  I am proud to see that the doors for listening are opening to the community at large more than they have ever been before – and this discussion paper will just be the first foray for the City Economy Portfolio into this process.  I am looking forwards to seeing my vision of large round tables being held to also discuss the city function at large as a regular occurrence also crystalise in time.

I have a deep appreciation and experience of all things small business and want to ensure that small businesses in Hobart can be both heard and in turn supported. I appreciate running a small business is tough and small business owners are likely the most time poor of anyone in the community so being creative with the various channels to ensure we hear you all is vital.

Establishing and strengthening the small business environment to ensure we best support Hobart small business owners ensures that Hobart residents are in turn rewarded with innovative goods, services, opportunities and experiences – as well as healthy local employment opportunities.

As Chair of the City Economy Portfolio Committee, I look forward to hearing from businesses big and small, employers, employees and our wider local community as we create a plan for a resilient, sustainable and fair economy.

Hobart is no longer the ‘backwater Capital’ and we should cherish and support the changes needed to ensure we maintain those very reasons why we are so successful.

I encourage all members of the Hobart community to review the draft discussion paper and provide their feedback, prior to the 26 May. See here for further details- https://yoursay.hobartcity.com.au/city-economy-strategy