The business-led Committee for the Hunter has diversified to include charity, arts and union representatives as it seeks to provide a unified voice for the region.
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The committee's inaugural chair, solicitor and former Hunter Business Chamber president Richard Anicich, will unveil the expanded membership at a launch on Tuesday night at NeW Space.
The group started a year ago with representatives from the business chamber, the Hunter chapters of the Property Council of Australia and the Urban Development Institute of Australia, industry network HunterNet, the University of Newcastle, the privatised Port of Newcastle and Newcastle Airport.
It attracted criticism in some quarters for being overtly business-oriented, but it has now added Samaritans chief executive officer Brad Webb, Independent Creative Alliance Newcastle's Justine Cogan and Hunter Workers secretary Daniel Wallace as board members.
Compass Housing, the Hunter Medical Research Institute and Hunter Water have also joined the board.
Mr Anicich said the committee had formed with the intention of diversifying its membership.
"This is not a business organisation; it's an organisation which can hopefully develop strategies and thought leadership ideas for the whole of the region," he said.
"It's important, if we're going to be able to say we speak with a unified voice, that we have that broader stakeholder engagement."
He said there was "strong evidence" that cities and regions with collaborative leadership and a "shared vision" attracted major public and private investment.
Labor's continued electoral dominance in the Hunter has often been perceived as a weakness when it comes to attracting funding from either side of politics.
Mr Anicich said the committee could be an effective advocate for the region outside that political reality.
"Yes, I think it's important that the committee work with local government throughout the whole region to align our thinking and be another voice outside local government as well.
"If we don't, it's too easy for the political masters in Sydney and Canberra to say the region is disjointed and doesn't know what it wants."
The committee will appoint a chief executive by the end of the year and hold an annual general meeting to appoint a new board early in 2020.
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