Employment

Meet Lionel Marr, a proud Bunuba man, who always felt a calling to return from the city back to his childhood home of Fitzroy Crossing. He wanted to know more about his country, his people and his culture and became a trainee ranger with the Parks and Wildlife Service, earning a coxswain skippers ticket. Lionel’s efforts during the Kimberley floods of January 2023, despite losing his family home, and his commitment to his job, earned him special recognition.

An important step to rebuilding essential health services across regional and rural NSW has been taken by the state government with the establishment of a Regional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel, but there are no local representatives advocating for the Northern Rivers region ... panel is to focus on building the regional health workforce, strengthening community engagement, and improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has sent a clear message to the Albanese Government: The Closing Loopholes Bill is fraught with issues that will make it harder and more expensive than ever to create employment opportunities in farming. The NFF Workforce Committee Chair Tony York told the Senate Committee responsible for the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill would only add layers of complexity to the industrial relations system, push up costs and make doing business more difficult than ever before.

Balanced Choice founder, Adam Drake, is in Tennant Creek to deliver his program to community members. RN Employment has made this possible for him. During his visit, Adam will be working with both adults and youth to help them achieve positive outcomes in their personal and professional lives.

Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) is stronger than ever ahead of the upcoming bushfire season with a significant boost to its workforce and rapid response capability.  Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos announced the Allan Labor Government has bolstered crew numbers to combat bushfires – investing $21.7 million to create 100 ongoing and 54 fixed term Forest Fire Operations Officer positions, adding to the 550 seasonal firefighters recruited to work with FFMVic this season.

Ambulance Victoria (AV) is looking for more recruits to join the Ambulance Community Officer (ACO) team in Corryong. ACOs are First Responders, who are employed on a casual basis to work ‘on call’ in rural and remote communities where the ambulance caseload is low and the ambulance branch is not staffed by multiple paramedics on a full-time basis.

Imagine building half of Perth in three years because that's what's needed to accommodate the nearly one million people that are expected to arrive between 2022 and 2025 ... No doubt, some will trek inland to the smaller country towns but don't expect them to stay long as the Federal government has recently moved to introduce new visa rights making it easier for migrants who have taken one of the regional work visas to bail from the bush and retreat to the big cities, leaving the businesses that sponsored them in the lurch.

One of Australia’s oldest checkout chicks is our own sprightly 81 year old, Judy Biggins of Naracoorte. “I love my job!” says Judy, while packing and sorting groceries as they pass through her checkout, and her customers love her.

Maldon’s own Andrew Fedorowicz was last week formally appointed to the Greater Bendigo Heritage Advisory Committee. He will join one other architect, as well as the Greater Bendigo councillors, heritage advisors and town planners who make up the committee of around 10 members.  

Rex said the airline is forced to make further reductions to its regional network as the major carriers, particularly the Qantas Group, continued their relentless pillaging of Rex’s pilot group. The reductions, effective from 30 October, all involve the regional routes serviced by Rex’s fleet of Saab 340 turboprop aircraft.

A new program designed to tackle regional skills shortages in the housing and planning sectors is being established through a State and Local government partnership ... the Grow Your Own program is a joint initiative between the Malinauskas Government and Local Government Association – focused on training local talent and providing pathways to grow regional councils’ planning workforce.

The Clarence Valley timber industry is still uncertain how many jobs could be lost due to the suspension of logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park as the NSW Government assesses the impact on the endangered marsupials and timber industry jobs ... “They still haven’t actually said what the areas are that they are going to not harvest in and where the actual koala hubs are, so it’s really hard to work out what the ramifications are going to be”: Donna Layton, Marshall Notaras Hardwoods GM and VP of Timber NSW.

Young car joyriders likened the adrenalin rush from car theft to the effects of drug or alcohol use. Some noted, yet often disregarded, fears of death or injury as the result of a car accident. And the prospect of gaining, or losing, a job is a stronger motivator than incarceration for joyriders.

Will Hunter. Educators across Yorke Peninsula called for better pay and conditions as part of industrial action … The strike followed a breakdown in negotiations between the state government and the Australian Education Union ... Educators across the state assembled in key locations to voice their frustrations, with local teachers uniting in Victoria Square, Kadina, to broadcast the AEU’s live stream from Parliament House, Adelaide.

Michelle Daw. Security guards have begun work around the clock at Wallaroo Hospital in a six-month trial to combat violence and aggression against staff ... ANMF SA branch chief executive Professor Elizabeth Dabars said the trial of security guards was a great result.

The Wilcannia fashion store Cooee Clothing had its first trading days earlier this month and attracted residents needing a wardrobe refresh ... The recycled clothing store complements another CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes Cooee social enterprise. Cooee Cuts is an affordable hair salon that operates one week every month ...

The skills shortage in regional Australia and agriculture 12 months on from the Jobs and Skills Summit remains in crisis, pushing cost-of-living pressures higher … workforce shortages in the agriculture sector continued to drive up food prices and regional Australia still had a skills crisis.

The state’s peak farm group has laid out a plan for government to resolve an acute shortage of large animal veterinarians in country NSW. NSW Farmers has given evidence to the Inquiry into the Veterinary Workforce Shortage … putting forward three solutions being used internationally.

Will Hunter. Casual employees who work a regular pattern of hours may soon have the right to request a permanent position sooner in their employment, under proposed federal government reform. The definition of what it means to be a casual employee is set to be redefined to allow eligible workers a stronger pathway to secure permanent employment.

For a month of seasonal agricultural work in Poland, Ukrainians can earn as much money as they receive in 10 months in Ukraine. This is so profitable that poor Ukrainians prefer to spend their holidays on the farmer's fields in Poland, and not in the resorts. Diligence enables Ukrainians to save their own country. ... Oksana Pitchenko told us what seasonal agricultural earnings are in reality.