Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Geelong convention and exhibition centre

Mr EREN (Lara) (15:50): It was a great pleasure to join my local Geelong Labor colleagues, along with the Minister for Regional Development, over the Christmas break to announce that work has started on a bigger and better than planned Geelong convention and exhibition centre, GCEC as I call it from now on. This precinct on the Deakin waterfront car park site will also include a luxury hotel and other commercial opportunities. The Victorian government will contribute an additional $120 million to the project on top of its existing $141 million investment, creating a total project worth $294 million, with additional contributions from the commonwealth government and the City of Greater Geelong.

The Victorian government will soon begin a market-sounding process for architects, designers and builders suitable for the project’s scale. The Victorian government will be looking to partner with the private sector to deliver the GCEC as part of a broader precinct development, with hotel and other commercial opportunities to activate the area and create better connections to the CBD and Western Beach. The new precinct will include a 1000-seat plenary venue, which will be developed with 3700 square metres of flexible multipurpose space to enable large and small events to run concurrently. As the previous Minister for Tourism and Major Events I understand firsthand the value of a project like this for our region, and I wish it all the best for the future.