ALBANY Business Enterprise Centre chairman Bruce Manning has been appointed director of the Great Southern Development Commission.
Mr Manning has an extensive background in regional and rural development, natural resource management and business and strategic policy development.
In his capacity as executive office with the Southern Province Projects Group – a non-profit organisation involved in economic and community development issues – Mr Manning has been leading the proposal for a Natural Resource Management Centre of Excellence in Albany.
Mr Manning was also regional manager of the Great Southern Regional College for three years in the mid-1990s.
Mr Manning said he believed the time had come for the Southern region with so much going for the area, in terms of infrastructure, life style and government support.
“You’ve got a reliable and stable workforce, you’ve got excellent support not only from the Commission but relevant local Governments, you’ve got, in comparative terms, good infrastructure,” he said.
Mr Manning said the Commission was putting together a strategic plan which would focus the Commission efforts on a number of key areas. Together with the University of WA, industry groups and Government agencies the Commission was also working on forming a Natural Resource Management Centre.
Epic Energy has also raised the prospects of extending the Port Headland to Bunbury gas pipeline to the Great Southern, which, according to Mr Manning, would provide opportunities for new value-added industries which rely heavily on energy.
Combined with the Albany Port expansion program and the growing tourism opportunities in the area, Mr Manning believes the future looks brighter than at any other time in the history of the area.
