Good Evening Everyone,

Welcome to GovHack 2018! I'm excited as this is Wyndham’s second time hosting this international event.

Firstly I wish to acknowledge the peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which Wyndham is being built. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present.

I would also like to acknowledge my fellow Councillors, staffs, volunteers, mentors and everyone here this evening.

Most of you have just finished a whole day work and made here on time. We all know what the traffic is like on a Friday afternoon. So, please give yourself a round of applause. Well done.

As Smart City Portfolio holder, I’m very excited to be here tonight to be part of GovHack, one of the biggest, annual hackathons in the world. I’m looking forward to seeing all the creativity and innovation that is about to occur.

GovHack aims to encourage and celebrate Wyndham’s technical and creative skills by working together to develop innovative ideas - using government open data to develop potential solutions to some of our City’s challenges.

Everyone here would know Wyndham is a rapidly growing city. Our population is now greater than the City of Geelong and the challenges that represent requires innovative ideas and solutions.

GovHack is about creative problem-solving. Challenging participants to think outside the square and experiment with new ideas and concepts. It is an opportunity for the government to collaborate with keen, clever and artistic people to develop ideas and projects that can make a difference to our community.

Hands up if you attended GovHack here last year. I’d like to congratulate all of you. Well done. Last year, we hosted GovHack for the first time. We had the largest number of participants outside capital cities in Australia. I was impressed by the enthusiasm of people like you. Some teams did really well and even made into the finalist. And this time, I wish some of you will achieve an even better result.

On behalf of Wyndham City, I would like to thank everyone for participating in this year’s event. I’d like to wish you all the best. This is still a great opportunity to develop and challenge yourself, even if you don’t win a prize. Having the willingness and courage to participate in this event, is already a big achievement! Good luck to all of you and I’m looking forward to hearing about the exciting projects you will create.

Enjoy the next 48 hours! Thank you, everyone.