COUNCIL is racking up the frequent flyer points this years, as mayor Col Murray jets-off to Nashville for another “economic development” trip.
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Nashville may lay claim as ‘Music City, USA’, but this Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) trip is trying out a different tune this time.
Rather than just finding harmonies on hosting the largest country music festivals in their respective nations, Cr Murray hopes Tamworth can learn something about attracting business to town, particularly in the health sector.
“Nashville is almost the health capital of the United States,” Cr Murray told The Leader.
“We wouldn’t be able to achieve that.
“They’ve been really clever about attracting new business and industry, we could never expect to emulate them, but if we could achieve about 10 per cent of what they have, that’d be a real success.”
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The mayor will be joined on the trip by TRC general manager, Paul Bennett, and director of business and community, John Sommerlad.
It will be a whirlwind five-day visit for the council, but Cr Murray said regional Australian cities, need to be “working hard” or they’ll get left behind.
“It’s a competitive environment for regional re-locations,” he said.
“I would love to see my grandchildren get a great, and higher, education and a good professional job in Tamworth.
“Some people come back to Tamworth, but we have a real talent-drain, which is why we need to get a quality range of education options here.”
Return flights for the delegation costed about $3000 each, while accommodation was covered by the Sister Cities of Nashville.
Funding was also provided from the 2017/18 budget for attendance expenses.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
