West Coast Council and Stornoway are Innovative Service finalists in the 2017 Innovative Tasmania Awards, for our resource sharing agreement that sees both organisations sharing workers, equipment and business networks to help with asset maintenance and infrastructure works around the West Coast.

The public can vote for the winners, across a variety of categories, by heading to the Breath of Fresh Air website.

As part of National Science Week last week I was a guest speaker at the "Mining in Tasmania – Dinosaur or Deliverer' event in Hobart.  I spoke about the importance of mining to the West Coast community and what the potential consequences would be if mining were to become 'extinct'.  Listening to other speakers such as Saul Eslake and Guy Barnett, it was certainly food-for-thought as we move towards diversifying our West Coast industries, whilst building upon our role in the mining industry.

The Australian Masters Games are rapidly approaching, with between 4000 and 5000 interstate and intrastate visitors expected to pass through the North West Coast from 19 October.  Whilst the games finish on 28 October, a large number of participants are expected to travel around the state – including the West Coast – in the week after the Games.  Some participants may also travel West on days they aren't competing.  There are a number of ways West Coast tourism and business operators can work to benefit from this influx of visitors – if we are promoting ourselves as a great tourism destination to Games participants, we must be "open for business" and I encourage West Coast operators to contact Christine at the West Coast Council office for more information.

Phil Vickers

MAYOR