THE BUSINESS CONNECTION

Grant Writing for Beginners

Curious to know about grants and if you can get one for your business or your community activity?
Where do you starting looking and what should you know before you start writing?
Come along to the Grant Writing for Beginners Workshop where Pat Grosse will introduce you to some fundamental truths about grants, how they work, and how to go about writing applications that get funded.

 OCTOBER 14, 2022 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

As the Albury Wodonga Business Awards were put on hold this year, we are planning to celebrate local businesses a bit differently in a unique one-off event. Hear from past winners, connect with like-minded businesses and celebrate all that is amazing about our Albury Wodonga business community. You’ll get a sneak peek at the exciting developments and update to the Business Awards program and key dates to get involved in 2023.

Best Western Plus Hovell Tree Inn
614 Hovell St, Albury
18 October 2022
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

State Election Platform 2022

Regional Victoria is the lifeblood of Victoria’s economy. Industries like agribusiness, advanced manufacturing, and tourism power our state.

The Growing Regional Victoria launch follows extensive consultation with businesses across Regional Victoria, including roundtable meetings, focus groups and member surveys ahead of the State Election on November 26.

The Victorian Chamber is passionate about positioning Regional Victoria for success through improving regional housing, planning and infrastructure as well making meaningful economic strategies to grow our regions. Our 17 recommendations to help grow Regional Victoria include:

• Creating a housing development scheme to expand housing supply and planning in Regional Victoria 
• Funding a targeted, industry-led `Work in the Regions’ initiative to encourage new regional Victorian and young people to work in industries with labour shortages 
• Creating an Agriculture Passport to allow seasonal employees to work across growers and farms 
• To grow Regional Victoria we need to secure our youth’s educational pathways, continue reinforcing economic recovery opportunities and provide good returns on incentivised investment opportunities. By building our regions and incentivising careers that are future facing, all of Victoria will benefit.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Paul Guerra said: “Regional Victoria is the lifeblood of Victoria’s economy and its growth will play a key role in powering Victoria’s future.

“Our regions are home to one in four Victorians and account for 700,000 jobs and almost 40 per cent of the State’s small businesses. Victoria is also Australia’s biggest food producer and in 2026 will host the first truly regional Commonwealth Games.

“Generating $72 billion annually and contributing nearly 20 per cent to Victoria’s economy, Regional Victoria also provides a third of the State’s total exports and it’s crucial that we empower our regions to continue to grow and innovate.”

“For Victoria’s regions to prosper we need to invest in infrastructure, transport and housing and ensure we are developing a skilled workforce for the future.”

The Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions is surveying businesses in regional Victoria to get a better understanding of the business environment.

If you are a regional business, or have operations in regional Victoria, you are encouraged to complete the survey via the following link.

Please note the survey closes COB Friday 7 October 2022.  Feel free to distribute the link further, as required.

As many of you would know both NSW and Victoria’s Cross Border Commissioners were heavily diverted into advocacy around COVID-19 related border restrictions over the last two years. However, both are now well and truly back into the business of advocacy on “regular“ border anomalies.

If you would like to raise an issue affecting your business in and around the border please reach out to Victoria’s Cross Border Commissioner via https://www.rdv.vic.gov.au/about-rdv/cross-border-commissioner or email enquiries@crossborder.vic.gov.au.

Victoria’s Commissioner is particularly keen to hear of any border issues now confronting our trades-related businesses following the recent, but staged, introduction of Automatic Mutual Recognition. And don’t worry if you’re not sure which state is the source of your issue. The two Commissioners share information regularly , so they’ll look after that for you.

Sustainable Food actors wanted

Are you a food related business that sells or buys local produce?

Do you want to connect with other local food actors and help strengthen the North East regional food system?

If so, Sustain is proud to present our ‘Mapping Regional Food Systems Project’ which aims to map the full North East regional food system to encourage more food to stay in the region and support a focus on local food procurement

Interested? Please sign up to our directory today!

Alternatively contact us @: MappingRegionalFoodSystems@outlook.com

Health & Safety Month

4 to 28 October 2022

• Wodonga TAFE (The Hangar)  
• Thursday 27 October 2022
• 10:00am to 3:00pm

Key note presentations and concurrent sessions covering:

• Mental injury in the workplace - Learn more about mental injury in the workplace; how big a problem is it; what can everyone do about it and what is WorkSafe's role and objectives
• Dangerous Goods Safety Basics - WorkSafe Dangerous Goods experts presenting on Dangerous Goods safety basics and what they mean to your business
• Employee Assistance Programs

Greenfreight is a second-generation transport business which was founded in 1973 by Fred and Barbara Green.

Fred arrived in the Myrtleford region as a Mobil fuel agent and identified the need for a local LTL and contract cartage operation.

The burgeoning hops and tobacco industries of the region provided further opportunities to grow and expand the business into servicing local industry and providing general freight services.

The construction of the Australian Forest Industries Mill at Myrtleford prompted the expansion into plantation timber harvesting, log cartage to the Mill and distribution of finished products to customers on the Eastern Seaboard.

Major log haulage contracts were won to service the softwood transport needs of Australian Newsprint Mills at Ettamogah on the outskirts of Albury NSW. It was at this point Fred’s brother, Geoff Green, joined the business in 1980 to oversee Greenfreight’s forestry division.

Greenfreight’s Head Office was subsequently moved from Myrtleford to Albury around the early 1980’s to support the growth of the business.

Greenfreight then began to expand its range of transport services in the local region into food, beverage and retail. This  rapid expansion was mainly accomplished via the purchasing of three smaller logistics companies in short succession.

We believe our growth is largely attributed to both the business’s ability to develop and maintain a close working relationship with our customers and via the commitment of our workforce.

Greenfreight continues to be a family-owned business with all three of Fred and Barbara’s children, Tony, Kate and Richard, performing various roles within the company, and committed to growing and developing the business into the future.