The Western Region of Melbourne has been growing significantly over recent years; the outer municipalities contain some of the fastest growing communities in Australia.
In order to support the current growth profile, significant challenges must be met to provide on-going employment opportunities, economic growth and appropriate transport infrastructure
In collaboration with the Western Melbourne councils, the Western Transport Alliance and the Committee for Werribee, the Institute for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (ILSCM) at Victoria University has undertaken a research study to identify potential opportunities for the West.
In conjunction with project sponsors, the ILSCM has developed a Position Statement which proposes that the Western Melbourne region integrate its competitive strength in logistics to become a ‘National Logistics City’ stimulating broader, coordinated economic development for the West. This concept is the result of a research process encompassing sponsor and stakeholder consultation and systematic analysis of pre-existing data.
The West has a considerable wealth of logistics related infrastructure. A significant percentage of the overall Australian economic activity associated with sea and airports occurs in the region. These factors present an economic opportunity for the West that could be enhanced to significantly increase the contribution to the national economy.
This Position Statement proposes the development of three pivotal elements entitled ‘Enablers’ to facilitate development of the West as a ‘Logistics City’. ILSCM proposes that the Position Statement and its supporting Enablers have the capacity to transfer focus from issue and
challenge to outcome, building on the numerous research projects, reports and studies that have been undertaken to identify aspects of the social and economic challenges facing the West.
ILSCM suggests the implementation of this framework could positively affect efficiencies and provide significant additional opportunity, change the development profile and add additional economic opportunity for the West.
The projected implementation process will involve development of the Position Statement through scoping and feasibility phases to execution.
For this reason, the Position Statement and Enablers are currently not firm recommendations of the Institute.
The Statement is considered achievable and with the necessary political impetus, the process to initiate each Enabler can commence without delay. The Institute has the capacity and capability to undertake scoping and assess feasibility of the Position Statement.
ILSCM acknowledges the support provided by our project sponsors in facilitating the research to develop this Position Paper. The findings and conclusions have been formulated by the Institute for Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Victoria University and supported by our
project sponsors.
We believe the Position Statement in this report can significantly alter the macro view of Melbourne, delivering a new level of conceptualisation and potentially positioning the West strategically as an area of national significance.