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27 March 2025
In this newsletter – help shape the shire's future, new TAFE courses in Castlemaine, bagMUSTER, nbn upgrades and a customer experience expert session.
Our Shire, Our Future 2025 - 2029
Shape the future of our shire! We're planning for the next four years, and we need the voices of our business community to help Council set its priorities. Your insights are crucial to ensure our Council Plan reflects the needs of local businesses.
Why it matters:
- Your feedback will guide our decisions and spending
- Help us understand what matters most to businesses in our shire
Get involved:
- Take the One-Minute Survey: share your top three business priorities
- Deep-Dive Survey: spend 20 minutes to provide detailed feedback
- Join a Drop-In Session: discuss your ideas in person
Act Now! Click the button below before 22 April 2025 to make your voice heard.
Upskill your team and strengthen your business with Bendigo TAFE in Castlemaine
The new Castlemaine Community Health and Learning Hub is opening mid-July, with Bendigo TAFE offering health courses in Castlemaine. Your business can take advantage of high quality training to develop staff, attract new talent, and improve service delivery. It's a great opportunity to enhance your, and your team's, qualifications to boost compliance and build a more resilient business.
Courses offered:
- Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance (HLT43021) – build essential skills to support healthcare teams
- Certificate III in Individual Support (Ageing and Disability) (CHC33021) – make a difference in aged care, disability and community support.
Investing in further education and training helps your business stay competitive by gaining industry-recognised skills that set you apart in the market. It ensures compliance by keeping you up to date with the latest regulations and best practices in the health sector. It also strengthens business resilience, allowing you to expand your service offerings and confidently adapt to industry changes.
View the full range of courses available at Bendigo TAFE here.
bagMUSTER – a new option for agricultural plastic recycling
bagMUSTER is a new free recycling service available at the Castlemaine Transfer Station.
bagMUSTER is an industry-led, not-for-profit program dedicated to addressing single-use plastic bag waste in Australian agriculture. It ensures agricultural plastic bags are collected and processed responsibly, and then turned into fence posts, pipes and other durable items.
Bags must be single-use woven polypropylene bags with a "PP5" recycling symbol, and purchased from participating retailers after 1 October 2024. Participants must register online before drop-off.
nbn upgrades for local businesses
We caught up recently with Chris Rowlands, nbn Local's Regional Development and Engagement Manager, to find out about network upgrades happening in our shire.
Did you know nbn Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) is now available in large areas of Maldon and Castlemaine?
Full fibre is faster and more reliable than Fibre to the Node, which uses ageing copper to deliver broadband services. It enables access to nbn's fastest upload and download speeds. For homes and businesses, faster broadband speeds enable more people and devices to be online at the same time with minimal disruptions. This means smoother streaming, faster downloads and uploads, and stronger connections - even with multiple devices online at the same time.
A decade ago, the average Australian home had seven internet-connected devices and consumed around 40 gigabytes per month. Today, the average household consumes more than ten times that amount across 22 internet-connected devices. Within the decade, the average monthly download usage is forecast to reach more than 1,100 gigabytes across around 40 internet-connected devices. Both for your business and the customers you're trying to reach, accessing nbn FTTP is a great step forward.
Last chance to snap up a business mentoring voucher
We are offering local business owners and entrepreneurs the opportunity to receive FREE personalised mentoring through the Small Business Mentoring Service (SBMS). SBMS offers a range of mentoring services, including financial management, marketing strategies, business planning and more.
The vouchers are to be used by 30 June 2025. If you think your business could benefit from expert guidance, get in touch!
Want to take your customer experience to the next level? Hear from an expert
Sueanne Carr from boutique consultancy Customer Frame is speaking at Daylesford Macedon Tourism's upcoming Industry Briefing Session. Sueanne is a best-selling author in the field of customer experience and strategy, and she is passionate about helping our regions and businesses reconnect with the ultimate reason we’re in business - our customers.
In this groundbreaking session, you’ll:
- Hear real life examples of customer experience done well…and not so well
- Hear tips for how to make the smallest changes in your business that will make the biggest difference to your bottom line
- Walk away with actions you can take in your business tomorrow, to improve your customer experience and grow your business.
📍 Location: 37C Piper Street, Kyneton
📅 Date: Tuesday 8 April 2025
⏰ Time: 3:00 - 5:00pm
💵 Cost: Free
Tips on organising an accessible event
Mount Alexander Shire Disability Access Group (MASDAG) has a useful guide to help organisers plan events that are accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
For detailed information about how to run an event in the shire, you can also access the Council's Event Toolkit. And for more accessibility resources, head to the MASDAG website.
ATO courses and online masterclasses to support small business
The ATO has a range of free short courses and webinars designed for small business owners. The topics covered aim to improve business owners' tax, super and business management knowledge.
Business Victoria courses
Find short courses, online events and resources from the state’s top education providers and industry experts to help you upskill and run your business better.
Upcoming webinars include:
- 1 April: Advanced strategies to taking your business online
- 3 April: Social media and content marketing
Good news stories
We love featuring good news stories from businesses across the shire.
If your business has any recent achievements or awards, email business@mountalexander.vic.gov.au so we can feature the good news in Business Link.
What's On
Stay up-to-date and sign up to the What's On newsletter here. Discover things to see and do, and all the best places to eat, drink and stay across the region via our tourism website.
Click here to add your own event.
For updates on local events and things to do, follow Castlemaine, Maldon and Surrounds on Facebook and Instagram.
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Mount Alexander Shire Council
email: business@mountalexander.vic.gov.au web: www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au
Mount Alexander Shire Council acknowledges that the traditional custodians of this
land, the Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung peoples, proudly survive. We acknowledge their continued practice of custom and their close cultural, spiritual, physical, social, historical and economic relationship with the land and waters that make up
their country, which includes Mount Alexander Shire.