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Edition 5, Winter 2018
GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER
Regional Living News
James Flintoft, Chief Executive Regional Development Victoria

Welcome to the Winter edition of the RDV Newsletter. In this edition you can read about the many ways we are partnering with businesses and the community to make regional Victoria a better place to live, work, and invest. From helping a family business to expand in Rutherglen, to streamlining services for young children and their families in Wimmera Southern Mallee, to creating career pathways in the public service for young people, RDV is busy delivering for regional Victoria.

James Flintoft

Chief Executive 
Regional Development Victoria

About RDV

RDV is the Victorian Government’s lead agency responsible for driving economic and community development in rural and regional Victoria. Our aim is to work with local communities to help make regional Victoria a better place to live, work and do business by continuing to make significant contributions to investment, growth and regional planning.

Baking traditions cook up new jobs in Rutherglen
Matilda, Joe and Harry Perry

At RDV, we love to hear stories of people returning to life in the region after a time away, and the Perry family has done this and made a real success of their new life. Siblings, Matilda, Joe and Harry grew up in Rutherglen where their parents ran Valentines bakery.

When the parents thought of retiring the kids found their calling and returned from places of study, travel and other pursuits to take over the family business and expand its operations. RDV has assisted the Perry Group in a $750,000 expansion project that will create 20 new local jobs and keep the tradition alive for another generation.

Border communities to benefit from Victoria’s first Cross Border Commissioner

RDV is currently running the recruitment process for Victoria’s first ever Cross Border Commissioner.

Border communities have long advocated for the establishment of the role to further the interests of businesses, organisations and individuals who live, work and operate in Victoria’s border communities.

The Mallee Regional Partnership championed the issue and RDV helped to develop the business case for establishing the Cross Border Commissioner.

The Commissioner will be responsible for promoting the interests of Victorian border communities, resolving issues, and developing common approaches with neighbouring states.

The regionally-based Commissioner will work to remove barriers and find solutions to maximise growth and productivity.

Listening and delivering across the regions

Between May and July this year, RDV assisted Victoria’s nine Regional Partnerships to host Regional Assemblies for the third year running.

Regional Partnerships consult and engage with their communities year-round to identify priorities for their regions and to develop collaborative solutions to local problems. The cornerstone of engagement is the annual Regional Assembly.

This year’s Assemblies each included an element of reporting back on achievements to date, while conversations with the community were mostly focused on in- depth discussion of already agreed priorities. Across the nine regions, more than 2,000 people attended a Regional Assembly in 2018.

To stay up to date with your Regional Partnership year round, sign up for updates via www.rdv.vic.gov.au/regional-partnerships and also follow the Partnership on Facebook.

Regional Assembly
Finding the best model for early years care in remote communities
child drawing on the ground

The Wimmera Southern Mallee (WSM) Regional Partnership Early Years Project is now up and running, which aims to streamline and coordinate services that support young children and their families in the WSM region.

The project came directly out of the Regional Partnership process, with the community identifying the need to improve early years services in a region where communities are often small and dispersed. That message was taken to the Victorian Government and the Partnership was thrilled when the Premier announced support for the initiative at the 2017 Assembly.

The project aims to provide the very best early years learning experience for children in a regional, rural and remote setting and is aligned to DET's Early Years Reform agenda. The project involves testing new ideas and ways of operating within a place-based context.

Sixteen communities across the Wimmera and Southern Mallee nominated to take part in the initiative and results of the trials may then be used to inform policy changes across other regional and rural parts of the state.

Regional jobs – they are ready when you are

Everything that Regional Development Victoria does is focussed on making sure the regions are great places to live, work and do business.

The ‘Ready when you are’ campaign, launched in 2017, is currently in production for its next phase which will have a regional jobs focus. With case studies on how RDV investment has helped regional business to create local jobs, filming has been underway in Rutherglen, Port Fairy and Geelong.

Some of the businesses to be featured in the campaign have been beneficiaries of Regional Jobs and Infrastructure (RJIF) funding.

The delivery of the RJIF has progressed well following its launch in July 2015, and the number of jobs expected to be created/retained in RJIF supported projects is estimated to be 5,097. Significantly, these jobs have been created across all 48 LGAs in regional Victoria, ensuring job creation has happened right across regional Victoria. Overall, 509 RJIF projects have been formally approved by the Minister for Regional Development, which equates to grant funding of $342.1 million.

Building on the great outcomes of RJIF, and other RDV-managed funds, the campaign aims to encourage Melburnians to move to regional Victoria, and to showcase the jobs created through the funds and the work of RDV.

The campaign is supported by the Regional Living website, filled with information about jobs, housing, education and recreation for those considering a move to regional Victoria.
The new jobs-focussed campaign videos will be promoted on Facebook, and the Regional Living website, in the coming months.

Youth cadets from the city to regions

The Jobs Victoria Youth Cadetship Scheme gives young Victorians a job in the public sector and experience that will help put them on the path to a meaningful career and creates a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Regional Development Victoria is a proud participant in the scheme and has had cadets working with it for several years. The three cadets currently working with RDV are Laura Jones in the Melbourne CBD office, Luke Marriot in the Gippsland Regional Business Centre, and Stef Maloney in the Ballarat Regional Business Centre.

Their responsibilities include general administration, work on special projects such as the roll-out of new technology into their teams, and being a liaison point between central business services and other departmental stakeholders.

As well as paid on-the-job experience, the cadet program includes extra training through a TAFE Certificate IV in Government, as well as mentoring that comes from reporting to a senior manager.

RDV is committed to participating in the various Victorian Government employment programs, such as the Youth Employment Scheme, and the graduate program, and wants to expand this further in the regions to provide opportunities to engage our potential future workforce.

The benefits to cadets include hands-on experience, and support through extra training, and the benefits to RDV are greater diversity in the workforce and developing future staff members.

Since 2000, more than 8,000 people have gone through the program across the Victorian Government, and RDV plans to continue its participation in the program in 2019, especially in the regional offices. 

For more information about the Youth Cadetship Scheme, go to jobs.vic.gov.au/about-jobs-victoria/youth-cadetship-scheme

RDV and Regional Partnerships support #DIFVic

This year, the Digital Innovation Festival (DIF) is expanding to all nine Victorian Regional Partnership areas to improve innovation and accelerate technology adoption in regional businesses and communities. The Festival’s regional program is funded under the Connecting Regional Communities Program (CRCP), which was developed in response to advocacy from the Regional Partnerships for better digital connectivity. Check out the program for events in your area between 24 August and 7 September.

 
 

 
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This email was distributed by Regional Development Victoria.

Have questions? Email: rdv@rdv.vic.gov.au

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