The Business Council of Australia held its second Strong Australia forum in Busselton bringing chief executives from Wesfarmers and ATCO Gas Australia with them.
The forum was hosted by Sky News reporter Ticky Fullerton who led a panel of business and community leaders including City of Busselton mayor Grant Henley, Business Council of Australia chief executive officer Jennifer Westacott, Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott and ATCO Gas Australia CEO Stevan Green.
The forum, held in the function room at the Esplanade Hotel last Thursday, was supported by the Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Busselton, Dunsborough and Yallingup.
The purpose of the forum was to give CEO's insight about what investment was needed in the regions and to take that information back to capital cities.
Ms Westacott said they were trying to tap into regional Australia to find out what would make these communities even stronger economically and how that benefitted the nation.
She said the forums were aimed at finding out what infrastructure, skills and regulation change was needed to build a national picture and what areas like Busselton needed to unleash its economic potential.
"The airport is a game changer and it obviously needs to scale up to be a bigger airport, but the progress that has been made has been really good," she said.
"The airport opens the door for tourism but I think people should not underestimate the importance of tourism from the Eastern States.
"Now there will be a long weekend option that was not there before and it also opens the opportunity for freight, which means this incredible agri-produce that is around here, be it cheese, wine, beef etc can get to other parts of Australia and Asian markets.
"The Busselton Jetty is a huge attraction here, when I explain to people on the East Coast that you can actually walk down into the ocean and see real fish not captured fish people cannot believe that."
