Environmental upgrades: Greater Shepparton small businesses can apply for assistance to fund environmentally friendly upgrades.
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Radevski Coolstores
Greater Shepparton small businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint and save on operational costs are being offered the chance to do so through an Environmental Upgrade Agreement.
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The agreements assist businesses wanting to fund environmentally friendly upgrades, such as solar panels, energy efficient lighting, and heating and cooling systems, while saving money and reducing their environmental impact.
Greater Shepparton City Council has partnered with Better Building Finance to offer the agreements to small and medium-sized local businesses.
Council said the agreements were designed to be cash-flow positive, meaning repayments could be lower than the savings from the very first year, and the loan period can be up to 20 years.
Valuable insights: Committee for Greater Shepparton chief executive Lindy Nieuwenhuizen says the Community Connector Program has resulted in unexpected benefits for the region.
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Murray Silby
Community Connector Program brings benefits to the region
The Community Connector Program, which was established through a partnership between the Committee for Greater Shepparton and Greater Shepparton City Council, has helped more than 500 individuals and families move to the region, but that is not the sole measure of the benefit of its work.
Committee for Greater Shepparton chief executive Lindy Nieuwenhuizen says through the process of helping workers and their families from all over Australia and the world move to the GV, the program has been able to gather interesting information that can be used to assist businesses in their recruitment and even Greater Shepparton planning.
“Initially we were collecting anecdotes about what people were looking for when they relocated, and as the numbers have grown, and obviously as we’re breaking that 500 mark, we’ve got this cohort of data that is really informative and giving us an understanding of what we need to do as a region to best position ourselves to attract the talent that we’re looking for,” she said.
“So we’re seeing really strong trends on their preferences around schooling, housing, proximity to work, participation in sports, arts and activities, and then also getting an understanding once they relocate as to how well we’re servicing that need.”
Ms Nieuwenhuizen said one of the surprises was the preference for high-density, apartment-style CBD accommodation options for a large proportion of people the program had assisted.
The Community Connector Program is nearing the end of its funding cycle and Ms Nieuwenhuizen is calling on the business sector, among the wider Greater Shepparton community, to work on an ongoing funding model that will ensure the program’s long-term future.
Murchison medical booster
The town of Murchison may soon have six GPs, according to Dr Harsha Aluthge, who has purchased the Murchison Medical Clinic.
Dr Aluthge will primarily be based in Melbourne, and visit the clinic a few days a week, but says he’s looking forward to working alongside the clinic’s current doctors and registrars and possibly bringing others to the town through the Distribution Priority Area Australia classification system.
The system identifies locations with a shortage of medical practitioners and facilitates the placement of international medical graduates in rural areas, and communities where there is a greater need for GPs.
“Murchison will potentially have up to six doctors soon, which means patients won’t have to wait,” he said.
“They can call in the morning and hopefully be seen that same day.”
