March 28, 2017
Empty shops in Kingaroy shouldn’t be seen as indicating there’s something wrong with the South Burnett’s economy, Mayor Keith Campbell told the Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce on Monday night.
The Mayor said Council officers were currently dealing with 10 to 12 development applications, and they all indicated local businesses were looking towards the future with confidence.
“Without breaching the confidentiality of the applicants, I can tell you these projects include piggery expansions, quarries, a large retail enterprise, a retirement home, a new motel and several business expansions,” the Mayor said.
The Mayor said he’d also been talking to a tradesman earlier the same day who told him he was “flat to the boards” meeting his current work commitments.
“The Swickers fire was a great tragedy, but the rebuilding effort that Swickers are putting in has created a lot of work for our region’s trades people,” Mayor Campbell said.
“The next big project on the horizon will probably be the AGL wind farm. Now that it’s been approved, I’m sure it will generate a lot more work for our region’s tradies as it’s being built.”
The Mayor said while Kingaroy currently had a number of empty shops in the main street, this was no reflection on the local economy.
It simply reflected that retailing was facing a changing market.
The Mayor said the South Burnett’s population was continuing to grow at its long-term trend rate of around one per cent per year, and seemed on track to expand to 35,000 residents by 2021.
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Kingaroy’s CBD will receive a make-over at some point in the next few years, Mayor Campbell said.
After similar upgrades in Nanango, Wondai, Murgon and Blackbutt in the past four years, Kingaroy was looking “tired” and Council intended to change that.
He said the Council’s engineering staff had produced an initial concept based on ideas developed by landscape architect John Mongard in 2003, and an early draft of the proposed changes should be available for public comment by the end of the year.
John Mongard was responsible for the O’Neill Square redevelopment and the award-winning Kingaroy Information Art and Heritage Precinct, both carried out by the former Kingaroy Shire Council.
The Mayor said he thought the current Glendon Street car park was likely to become the new CBD hub.
“We have plans to build a new parking area in the empty railway land behind Haly Street, so Glendon Street could be opened up to connect all other parts of the town,” the Mayor said.
However the final shape of the make-over will only be determined once a full public consultation process has been carried out.
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An excavator driver who toppled off Ennis Bridge at Brooklands earlier this month had a lucky escape, Mayor Campbell said.
He understood the man had suffered several broken ribs, but was glad to hear the driver seemed to have escaped more serious injuries after his machine plunged seven metres into Barker Creek.
All being well, the man should be back at work completing the remainder of the job within the next 4 to 6 weeks.
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Employing a worker with a disability for 8 hours a week has been so successful for Kingsley Grove Estate that the winery hopes to treble his hours in the near future, winemaker Simon Berry told the KCCI meeting.
Simon said the winery has been employing a viticultural consultant for three days a week for some time.
But as the business has slowly expanded, the consultant gradually had more and more of his time taken up with routine vineyard maintenance tasks.
“My wife and I looked at this and realised that our consultant’s time – and our own time – was worth a lot more than focussing on small jobs, so we hired a part-time worker through Jobmatch Employment,” Simon said.
Simon said the new worker had proven invaluable to the business’ growth.
Apart from freeing up the consultant’s time to attend to more important things, the new employee had turned out to be a bit of a mechancial genius who was able to fix broken farm and winery equipment on site.
“He’s saved us a fortune in bringing in outside repairers, and really fitted in with what we do,” Simon said.
“It’s worked out really well, and as soon as we can complete the paperwork to get a wage subsidy from the Government we want to move him up from eight hours a week to 24 hours a week.”
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Workers with disabilities can often be the best candidates when businesses are looking to hire new staff, Tonia Gilbert told the meeting.
Because they are so often overlooked, workers with disabilities deeply appreciate the opportunity to work and make very loyal employees.
In addition, most attract wage subsidies from the Government.
Jobmatch Employment specialise in finding work for people with disabilities, Tonia said, and help employers not only get the subsidies, but also provide on the job support for new workers as they settle into a new job.
They don’t need to be full-time positions either.
“You can hire staff for as little as 8 hours per week, depending on their Centrelink classification.”
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The State Government’s “Back To Work” package which provides employers with a $10,000 wage subsidy to hire new staff is an economic development program, not an employment program, KCCI members heard.
Bob Hockey, from the Department of State Development, said his department had been charged to run the program because the State Government saw it as a way to leverage growth in Queensland’s economy.
Mr Hockey said the Government has allocated $100 million to the four year program, and $80 million will be paid directly to employers who hire new staff through it.
“The way we see it, whenever a business hires new staff they are increasing their capacity to do things,” Mr Hockey said.
“You know how it is. You run your business and your time is all tied up trying to do everything. But then you hire a new staff member to do those things, and suddenly it frees you up to concentrate on the important stuff.”
Mr Hockey said the program aims to directly create 8000 new jobs, but the State Government believes the end result will be many more than this as Queensland businesses grow and expand.
Subsidies can also be much higher if employers hire young people aged 18-24.
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The Kingaroy Chamber Of Commerce and Industry’s next Meet ‘N’ Greet will be held on May 8.
Meet ‘N’ Greets are open to all businesses, whether they’re KCCI members or not.
A meeting fee of $10 per head applies to cover the cost of drinks and catering, and more details can be obtained by emailing KCCI secretary Paula Greenwood.
