The mayor flies to Australia for a country music festival, it looks like a holiday on ratepayer money.
But the real value isn’t in the festival at all, It’s in what two similar towns can learn from each other.
Tamworth and Gore are remarkably similar — both agricultural service centres trying to solve the same challenges around youth employment and economic growth.
That similarity creates opportunities you don’t get from reading reports or hiring consultants.
At Apollo Engineering, I saw an apprenticeship programme that brought 62 young people into trades last year.
They’re connecting high school students directly with on-the-job training, creating pathways into careers in regional towns.
We’re now looking at how our Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs programme could work with local engineering firms to do something similar.
It’s one thing to read about youth employment solutions, it’s another to see one working and talk to those running it.
The business connections matter too.
A Gore agri-tech company we helped connect with Tamworth last year has offered us an opportunity to visit Australia’s version of Field Days, AgQuip.
We’re working on another exchange with a local hemp farm exploring Australian opportunities.
For Gore businesses trying to access overseas markets, having an established relationship in a similar town opens doors that would otherwise stay closed.
We’re also building tourism partnerships by working with Tamworth operators on itineraries that could bring Australian visitors to Gore.
It’s about creating two-way visitor flows between towns that already share interests.
Country music has been the foundation of this relationship since 1992 and, yes, the festivals are part of maintaining it, but what makes it valuable is that we’re both regional towns trying to figure out the same things, how to create jobs, support local business and attract visitors to our beautiful towns.
Is this the right way to build those connections? I hope so.
