I have received many lovely letters, cards and emails from folk wishing me the best. While I have asked them to wait to the end of my statutory role, you can imagine I've also been happy to hear that folk want to employ my services in the future.
One delightful letter I want to share comes from my friend of 35 years, Louise Asher, the Victorian Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business. Along with very nice greetings and good wishes, Louise wrote:
"Your commitment, hard work and enthusiasm in promoting and representing Victoria has been greatly valued and appreciated by the Government. The bilateral government, business and people links you have developed and strengthened in the region have also been of great value to the Department of Business and Innovation and the many Victorian organisations working in-market...."
I share this because of Louise's wise reference to people links. Throughout my time in the job, I have been very conscious that there are already millions of people links between Victoria, Australia and the Americas. My job was to build on those links, strengthen them and make new ones. I have been delighted to see introductions blossom into great business, NGO, government and personal collaborations.
I am proud of my team's efforts in building the Victorians Abroad and then Victorian Connections on-line presence. This has been adopted as a global platform by the Victorian Government. There were very few places in the Americas where we could not find a Victorian and Victorian Connections events delight Australians living in the Americas and our American friends. The platform has enabled self-organizing groups to get together around the world.
We have found linkedin to be very helpful as was facebook. More important still was our collaboration with DFAT, Austrade, the American Australian Association, the Chambers of Commerce, Advance, VECCI, AIG, Committee for Melbourne and I could go on and on. Ambassador Beazley in the U.S.A. has been a great support as have his fellow Ambassadors in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia. My friend, the former Commissioner for Queensland Peter Beatty, was a great collaborator as we agreed it was a big market where we could do best by working. Thousands of people and hundreds of organisations have contributed to my work and thus helped contribute to the prosperity of Victoria & Australia and all the nations of the Americas we have worked in. You know who you are. Thanks to all of you!
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Location:Clay St,San Francisco,United States
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