In This Issue:

• Welcome From The Chair
• National Stronger Regions Fund To Kick Off In 2015
• Guyra Tomato Farm Set To Expand
• New Job Commitment Bonus From July
• Career Search
• Nominations Open For Australian Farmer Of The Year
• What's On In The Northern Inland
• Featured Grants and Funding Opportunities

Welcome From The Chair

Dear Northern Inlanders,

It’s been another busy month for RDA Northern Inland as we continue to focus on initiatives to grow businesses and job opportunities in the region. We are still progressing our project to provide an online shopping platform for small businesses to be launched in the second half of the year as well as developing a Regional Investment Prospectus.

With a growing $8 billion dollar economy and home to Australia’s most productive agricultural areas, our region boasts a strong and diverse economy based around innovation and highly skilled people. However, we need to sell ourselves better at a regional level and try and talk-up our competitive advantages and some of the investment opportunities around. Did you know there are currently over $6 billion worth of projects underway or proposed for the region across a number of industry sectors both private and public?  Stay tuned to see our prospectus in the coming weeks.

All the best,

Mal Peters, Chair

National Stronger Regions Fund To Kick Off In 2015

The Australian Government this month confirmed the new $1 billion National Stronger Regions Fund will provide $200 million a year from July 2015 – good news for communities in the Northern Inland.

This funding will support priority projects which create jobs and support economic growth in regional Australia. The fund will enable councils and community groups to apply for grants between $20,000 and $10 million, to meet up to half the cost of suitable community building projects.

We would encourage eligible applicants to start preparing their projects now, as projects will need to be shovel ready by July 2015.

Guyra Tomato Farm Set To Expand

The NSW Government this month announced significant support for an expansion of Guyra’s Costa Tomato Category operations.

Visiting the facility in northern NSW, Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner said two new glasshouses would help Costa toward their long-term goal of producing 21 million kilograms of tomatoes a year to supply the Australian domestic market and provide a massive boost to employment.

“After visiting Guyra’s Costa Tomato Exchange just six months ago, I’m pleased to be back announcing important support from the NSW Government,” Mr Stoner said.

“Significant financial support through our Regional Industries Investment Fund (RIIF) means the first stage of the project will start up on schedule and create additional employment opportunities for local workers.

“Costa is investing around $45 million in this first stage, which is expected to create around 171 new jobs in the area.

The first stage of the Guyra Tomato Exchange Pty Ltd’s expanded operations would increase current holding from 20 hectares to 30 hectares and become a vital link in its parent company, Costa Group’s, national trade in food.

New Job Commitment Bonus From July

The Job Commitment Bonus is part of the Australian Government’s plan to boost workforce participation and productivity in Australia. The bonus will provide a payment of $2500 to young Australian job seekers who have been unemployed for 12 months or more, if they find and keep a job and remain completely off welfare for a continuous period of 12 months.

Job seekers will receive a further payment of $4000 if they remain in a job and off welfare for a continuous 24 month period. The bonus will provide long-term unemployed young Australians with an incentive to get into paid work.

More info: https://employment.gov.au/news/job-commitment-bonus-young-australians

Career Search

ave you found yourself asking questions like ‘how do I go about choosing a career’, ‘which is the right career for me’ or ‘is it time for a change in my career’?

Start to answer these questions, plus some you hadn’t even thought to ask yet, using Career Search. You can use career search to:

• sort through more than 450 job descriptions to find ones that appeal to you
• investigate career paths available in all sorts of fields that interest you
• find careers that will suit the type of work you prefer
• determine the skill level that you might need to pursue your ideal career.

Whether you’re just starting out in your career search or you're simply looking for a career guide, Career Search can help you find the right job for you and the courses that can help you get there.

Career Search is provided by Hobson’s Australia and can be found at: www.hobsonscoursefinder.com.au/career/search#.U37nzyjDXGA

Nominations Open For Australian Farmer Of The Year

he Australian Farmer of the Year Awards celebrate the highly professional, innovative and sustainable approach of our farmers and farming families, showcasing their passion and raising the profile of the important role they play in Australian agriculture.

In its fifth year, the Australian Farmer of the Year Awards has quickly occupied its place as one of the showpiece attractions on the national events calendar.

With 11 award categories, the winner of each category automatically qualifies for the prestigious Australian Farmer of the Year award.

Hosted by Kondinin Group and ABC Rural this year’s dinner and award ceremony will be held at The Langham Hotel, Melbourne on Wednesday September 10, 2014.

www.farmingahead.com.au/FarmerOfYear

What's On In The Northern Inland

Nundle Rocks – Beauty and the Beast
Saturday 7 June 2014
Nundle

Nundle Rocks presents "Beauty and the Beast", a night of music and food with Leah Flanagan and Mick Daley,The Supper Room, Nundle Memorial Hall.

$35 per person includes a complimentary glass of champas on arrival, and 3 course meal: watercress soup, Umido Chicken (slow braised chicken in redwine, rosemary and tomato)on polenta, and dessert. Please BYO. To secure your seat (numbers are limited).

For more information please go to: http://nundle.com.au/events/queen-s-birthday-june-long-weekend/

Wintersong Carnival
Wednesday 18th to Thursday 22nd of June
Tenterfield

The main focus of Wintersong is to develop and showcase young talent and provide positive activity in the Tenterfield community.

Music, Visual Arts and Entertainment are at the heart of Wintersong's operation and the biennial Wintersong Carnival is a great chance to show off the best Tenterfield has to offer, whilst providing performance opportunities for our young people.

Wintersong provides a range of workshops, mentoring programs and lots of other fun stuff for the community with the theme – “4 Arts - 4 Seasons - 4 Youth”

Further details are available on the carnival’s website: wintersong.org.au

Winter Lantern Parade
Friday 27th June 2014
Nundle

Make a lantern at home or come along to our lantern making day in Captain Cook Park on Saturday June 21st from 10.30am in preparation for our Winter Lantern Parade on Friday June 27th from 5pm.

Starting from Nundle Public School the lantern parade will travel along Jenkins Street before following the River Walk and finishing around the fire pit at Fossickers Tourist Park.

Enjoy the spectacle of the lanterns coming to life, glowing as the sun sets. Then warm up around the fire and enjoy homemade soup, bread and hot chocolate while listening to violin by Libby Wakefield.

If you would like more information please go to: http://nundle.com.au/events/winter-lantern-parade/

Winter Solstice at the Standing Stones
Saturday 21st of June
Glen Innes

Celebrate the winter solstice at the sunrise and sunset ceremonies at the standing stones. The Greet the Sun morning ceremony provides a magical experience with pipers, and a bonfire marks the evening entertainment. Breakfast and dinner are available for both events, with bookings required. Further information is available on the Glen Innes tourism website at: www.gleninnestourism.com/events_monthly.asp?selectmonth=1/06/2014

 

War Dog - The true story of Australia's four legged diggers
Saturday 21st of June
Glen Innes

Local returned soldier, Murray Young, will be speaking about his experiences in the Australian Army's Explosive Detection Dog Section. Murray will talk about his work training military dogs, his deployment in Afghanistan and his experiences with the Explosive Detection Dog (EDD) Sarbi. This is a unique opportunity to hear first hand about thw war zone comradeship between man and dog that saved numerous lives.

All proceeds will go towards obtaining and training a companion dog for a returned wounded soldier. Further details are on the Glen Innes tourism website at:  www.gleninnestourism.com/events_monthly.asp?selectmonth=1/06/2014

Frost Over Barraba
Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th of June
Barraba

Frost Over Barraba is a lively community art exhibition held in the northern inland town of Barraba for 37 years. The festival has many aspects, including a large exhibition of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs in the Barraba RSL Memorial Hall, a 40th Frost Retrospective in the Anglican Church Youth Centre and a wonderful variety of guest artists and demonstrators.

As Artists in Residence, Steve Parish and Gordon Rossiter will both be running two day workshops and will each present their creative journey at The Playhouse Hotel. More information can be found on the festival’s website: www.frostoverbarraba.org.au

Keith Urban – Light the Fuse Tour
Friday 27th of June
Narrabri

When it comes to an all energy show with world-class production, Grammy and ARIA Award winning Keith Urban certainly delivers, and this is exactly what Australian audiences can expect when Urban tours nationally in June 2014 on the Light The Fuse Tour Australia. The all-new show will not only feature first-time performances of new music from his #1 album 'Fuse', but will boast a production size and scope that has become synonymous with Urban's electrifying concert experiences.

Keith will be performing an outdoor concert in Narrabri in Collins Park, with an afterparty to be held after. Further details are available on the Narrabri Tourism website here.

Orange Festival
Saturday 28th of June
Bingara

The countdown is on again for the annual Bingara Orange Festival on Saturday 28th June which coincides with the Orange picking ceremony on Friday the 27th.

A great line up of entertainment is planned with much loved band Hoi Polloi taking centre stage as well as a fantastic range of stalls and kids entertainment including a jumping castle, face painting, craft tent, giant bubble fun and entertainment by Loopy the Clown who will perform magic shows, juggling, animal balloons, games and musical comedy.

This year's street parade will take place at 2.00pm and the Special Events Committee is encouraging all community groups to get into the spirit of the festival and organise a float. Floats can be anything from a bike, classic car, bus or even a wheel barrow, whatever mode of transport you choose we encourage you to enter.

Further details are available on the Bingara Tourism website here.

Featured Grants and Funding Oportunities

Don't pay for free grants information!
The ACCC warns that small business owners and entrepreneurs should be careful of websites that charge for grant related services, when such assistance is already available for free. More info here.

NSW Arts & Cultural Development Program
Applications close on various dates

A new arts and cultural development program will be introduced in 2015 to replace the Arts Funding Program. The new Arts and Cultural Development Program (ACDP) will deliver quality arts and cultural experiences to diverse audiences across the State, and support a resilient creative sector.

The new structure offers arts and cultural organisations the opportunity to progress from project funding to annual program funding, and then on to multi-year funding, depending on their capacity to achieve sustained success.

Read more at www.arts.nsw.gov.au/index.php/category/funding-and-support/types-of-funding/

 

Heywire Youth Innovation Grants
Applications close: September 2014

2014 Heywire Youth Innovation Grants are designed to bring the ideas of young people in regional Australia to life. There are $100,000 in grants to be shared across ten communities.

Find out more at www.abc.net.au/heywire/
 

Innovate NSW – TechVouchers
Applications are ongoing

Innovate NSW TechVouchers (TV) assists technology SMEs to collaborate with a NSW research organisation to overcome a technical challenge or test a new technology.

The grant provides matched funding of up to 50% of total project cost to a maximum of $15,000 to the research organisation/partner. SMEs can connect with an expert in their field and engage on a joint research project, or access high tech instruments and facilities for testing and feasibility studies.

Further details are available at: www.business.nsw.gov.au/doing-business-in-nsw/innovate-nsw/innovate-nsw-techvouchers

Regional Visitor Economy Fund
The Regional Visitor Economy Fund (RVEF) is managed and administered by Destination NSW and supports investment in the regional New South Wales visitor economy on a matched dollar-for-dollar basis.

Applications may be submitted for product development and marketing activities that will contribute to the NSW Government objective of doubling overnight visitor expenditure by 2020.

Applying for Contestable Funds:

There will be two rounds in the 2014/15 financial year:

• • Round 1: opens 05 May 2014 and closes 13 June 2014
• • Round 3: opens 29 September 2014 and closes 07 November 2014

Applying for Quarantined Funds:
Only Registered Tourism Organisations may apply for quarantined funds.

Please note: The Program Guidelines have been updated to provide more detailed information regarding KPIs and the information required in addressing each of the criteria. We encourage you to have a fresh read of the guidelines prior to developing any applications and proposals.

Application forms and further details are available at: www.destinationnsw.com.au/rvef

Further informaiton on grants and funding opportunities are available in the Grants and Funding Opportunities area of the RDA-NI website.