The Hunter's strong economic foundations and industrial capacity had the potential to drive Australia forward into the 21st century, the head of Australia's peak business body believes.
The region's untapped potential will be the focus of a Business Council of Australia Strong Australia Network forum to be held in Newcastle on Tuesday. The forum, the first of a series to be held around Australia, will provide an opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for the region.
"The Hunter is a major centre in Australia. To me it tells the story of what could be achieved," Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said.
"If we get behind some of these areas like the Hunter and get some coordination across the country we could unleash the nation's economic potential."
While resources such as the University of Newcastle, Hunter Medical Research Institute, the Port of Newcastle and CSIRO make the Hunter the envy of many regional centres, Ms Westacott said the region had much more to contribute.
"What holds it back, I think, is lack of ambition and coordination by decades of governments," she said.
"That's not to be critical of them but I just think we have always been reluctant as a country to say, look, there are about 20 places across the country that hold enormous potential for Australia and the Hunter is certainly one of them."
Improved infrastructure, such as high speed passenger rail between Sydney and Newcastle and the upgrade and extension of the M1 Motorway, was essential to the transformation.
"High speed rail is a no-brainer," Ms Westacott said.
"We've seen in countries where locations that were two hours away by normal transport become 25 minutes apart when you put high speed rail in. Suddenly, you open up an incredible residential opportunity and the consumer market that comes with it."
Ms Westacott said she believed the export of coal would remain a major economic driver for many years while new clean energy industries grew around it.
Agribusiness in particular represented a major opportunity for the Port of Newcastle and the broader economy.
"We could really get the agribusiness unleashed in this country and that's about the value added high end agricultural production," she said.
"Some of that will go through the new Western Sydney Airport but a lot of stuff will still have to go through shipping."
Ms Westacott said the region's success in reinventing itself following the closure of BHP gave her confidence that it would once again transform itself.
"Everyone thought the end of BHP would be the end of Newcastle but then the Honeysuckle Development Corporation was established, John Hunter Hospital expanded and the university took an incredibly innovative pathway and things started to regenerate." she said.
The Business Council of Australia is among the groups that supports the establishment of a National Transition Authority to support region's such as the Hunter transition to a clean energy economy.
As much as its role would be to support local communities, it would also have a key role reviewing planning approvals, particularly in the Upper Hunter, that facilitate new investment in the region.
"If I was looking at doing a development in Singapore it would take about six months to get it underway; I wouldn't be waiting three years for a planning approval. That's a real impediment for us in Australia because companies just go somewhere else," Ms Westacott said.
The Strong Australia Network forum will be held at Noah's on the Beach at Noon on Tuesday.
