OPINIONS and experiences will be collected of Rural, Regional and Remote Women's Network of Western Australia (RRR Network) members to inform a core group of women and key decision-makers.
Chief executive officer Kendall Galbraith announced the program - the RRR Roundtable - at the organisation's Christmas catch up last month.
"It will not be a program that relies on the opinions of one isolated group of women, but a collective and inclusive process that ensures opinions on the ground are communicated right to the very top," Ms Galbraith said.
As an issues-based program, it aims to influence and affect real change for rural, regional and remote WA, driven by women.
From 1996 to 2016 the RRR Network was a reference group, which provided advice to the Regional Development and Agriculture ministers.
In 2017 the RRR Network became incorporated and stepped away from government.
Since then, the communicating of RRR issues have occurred by other means.
However, Ms Galbraith felt there was a missed opportunity with a gap that the reference group once filled and it was time to resurrect the program, but in a new and revitalised way.
This time the program will be facilitated solely by the RRR Network and it will be open to anyone willing to participate.
The program hopes to improve understanding of WA regions through the eyes of women and to create a structured and organised conduit for the communication of issues affecting regional communities to various stakeholders, including government.
Agriculture, Food and Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan attended the announcement and spoke about how valuable she believed the program would be.
The RRR network asked all RRR women to consider this program in their 2021 schedule.
Proposed topics for the roundtables include (all events are Perth-based):
- State election debrief: Is WA getting its fair share? To be held Thursday, March 18, 2021 at noon-2:00pm.
- WA tourism: Can the regions cope with increased demand? On Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 7am-9am.
- Building a sustainable regional WA: Are regional communities attracting young people? Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at noon-2pm.
- Access to aged and childcare facilities: what is the regional experience? On Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 7am-9am.
- Regional digital connectivity: How can regional WA achieve digital equality? Thursday, November 18, 2021 at noon-2pm.
The program is not exclusive and is open for anyone to attend who feels they have something to contribute to the topics selected.