A business expo, held in Harcourt this week, featured a wide array of professionals available to help business owners navigate recovery.
It was revealed during the panel discussion, led by Business Mount Alexander’s Jacqueline Brodie- Hanns and featuring local state MP Maree Edwards, Mayor Toby Heydon and Coolstore Cafe owner Remy Snowman, that at least four emergency recovery positions will be created and filled by Mount Alexander Shire Council, with plans to expand the positions to eight. The positions will be filled for two years and help businesses and communities navigate recovery.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards said the Disaster Recovery Officer position, funded by the state, will lead the process and will be on the ground, hopefully by next week.
“They will be the go-to for anyone in the shire who needs access to information and support. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is to take the pressure off the volunteers who have been doing the heavy lifting here, but also to make it more streamlined for families, households and businesses to access supports that are available.
Ms Edwards noted that the recent bushfires impacted a lot of Victoria, and there are still many assessments that need to be done.
“The variety and the geographical spread of the disasters are challenging. We are looking at the packages that might be delivered in the future, but we’re still in the phase of not knowing what the rest of the summer will bring and doing that broader assessment of what the packages might look like for each area of business, from tourism operators through to the agricultural sector,” she said.
Coolstore Cafe owner and Harcourt Progress Association member, Remy Snowman, said that up until now, whilst the community has been able to connect and access services, the business community has been left out.
“Now’s our opportunity to come together and look after ourselves and think about what the future looks like for us and how we want to grow as a town and have an impact on the long-term recovery of the region,” he said.
“I feel, personally, that I have a responsibility in the recovery. Our venue was customer facing hospitality. We were a place for people to connect, and we’re looking at how we can rebuild with that in mind. How can we create a space where people can come together and get a cup of coffee, but also be with each other and share stories and hugs?”
Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns acknowledged the extraordinary contributions of the business community and outlined multiple fundraisers that have taken place.
“But what Business Mount Alexander has done is establish a fundraising account with the Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal specifically to help with economic recovery. We currently have about $100,000 pledged, and we’re on track for $200,000,” she said.
“We will be coming out to the community, businesses and producers and asking, ‘What is the most effective use of this bucket of money to help support economic recovery?’ The sorts of things I would envisage are promotion and marketing campaigns… tourism campaigns, and potentially more events,” Jacqueline said.
“We need to start articulating what we want from the future because if we can start articulating that now, we can feed that into the funding plans, we can look at creating a dynamic precinct around the Coolstore. How can we reimagine what that looks like?
“This is not back to what we were, but where we want to be. Build back better.”