Winter Business After Hours - Recap
Thursday the 27th of June, GIBC hosted the first of its newly rebranded “Business After Hours event”. These events, which remain free for GIBC members, are hosted seasonally and welcome both members and guests alike to hear from a range speakers and local business owners.
The evening started with guests networking and enjoying some light catering that’s to the Stones restaurant and were soon welcomes by GIBC president Cassandrea Hill. Cass gave a brief update on the works in progress in the chamber, the focus on building connection with other chambers within the New England North West, and the positive feedback GIBC received from Business NSW on the 2023 Business Awards night.
Following from this Cass Introduced the first guest speaker – Moree Solicitor and newly elected State MP Brendan Moylan. Originally from Gunnedah, Brendan completed his Law degree “down the hill” at UNE and moved to Moree with the intention of only staying 2 years before moving on to “bigger and better”. But like many other, Brendan loved the country life, putting down roots and buying into the law firm. He noted how important this is from Business Chamber and economic development perspective – attracting young professional 20 somethings, giving them a network, providing them with a taste of country life so they will stick around, put roots down. Which is incredibly important for our regional communities.
Throughout his 21 years at the firm Brendan encountered challenges with hiring professional talent; a problem felt by many businesses within the region. As a result, he looked outside the box believing that if students and young professionals experienced Moree, they would decide to stay. With this in mind he created a working relationship with the colleges at UNE and developed a pathway for law students to work at the firm. Starting with 11 employees the firm has 30+ employees across Moree and Narrabri, including 13 solicitors, 9 of which are from the UNE College.
Brendan was also involved in the Moree Business Chamber for 7 years, where the committee at the time were really focused on their Spend Local Campaign. Similar to many other country towns, there can be significant ebbs and flows in local spending as a result of good seasons or periods of hardship. He noted this can have a huge impact on small businesses and the vibrancy of a community, and highlighted the importance of having young, enthusiastic and forward-thinking professionals as part of an active business chamber.
Now as a State MP, Brendan’s main focus will be in fighting for regional funding. The current state budget does not favour the regions, but rather areas of rapid growth in the state. Creating incentives to attract young professionals is one aspect of his vision for the region. He also highlighted that many of the challenges we face are imposed by different levels of government, but if we keep the “team Northern Tablelands” mentality between the mayors, the councils, the chambers and now himself as state MP we can really make the government listen.
Next Gayleen Burley, Director of Place and Growth, welcomed the newly appointed Manger for Growth and Development Andrew Niel. While working in a consultancy position for Glen Innes Severn Council for the past 7 month, Andrew has brought with him a wealth of experience.
When applying for the permanent role, Gayleen asked why would you leave your consultancy position to put in the hard yards here at GISC? Andrew provided her with 3 reasons:
In his short time here, Andrew has Fallen in love with the Glen Innes community, specifically the business community
He loves the fresh direction that Glen Innes Council is taking and how they have shifted to a customer centric and community perspective
Over the past 7 months, Andrew has already put in motion several new initiatives he wants to see come to fruition.
Gayleen noted this resonated with her personally, experiencing similar feelings after relocating to Glen Innes 18months ago. Andrew was then welcomed to the stage and thanked Gayleen for her warm introduction.
Prior to joining GISC, Andrew held some significant roles including his work on the Ultimo-Pyrmont Peninsula strategy for City of Sydney Council. He noted it was a bit of a shock going form this masterplan which proposed 8000 new residences, to a town with a total population of 8000. But this is why he loves planning – every project is different and presents diverse and interesting challenges.
Prior to City of Sydney, Andrew was the Manager for Strategic Planning at Maitland Council for 4.5 years. At the time it was a LGA that was experiencing rapid growth as people began to be priced out of Newcastle market. During this time, he worked to ensure delivery of the infrastructure that communities value – parks, drainage, libraries etc. He also noted the challenges and importance of balancing the needs of existing residents, with those who were relocating to Maitland.
It was a time of great change in the area, and something he valued was the direction that council was taking. During that time he grew his team of 3 to 15 and proved council could work on a cost recovery model.
Prior to Maitland Andrew had mixed experience in both the public and private sector. He was director of a consultancy firm, so is well versed in the challenges of small business. He can also appreciate and empathise with the growing complexity and red tape that is imposed by councils, especially on small business owners. With this in mind he is looking forward to working with the community from the start to ensure that applications can be made and approved as seamlessly as possible.
In terms of his long-term strategic goals for Glen Innes, first up is the changing the regulations around minimal lot sizes in rural zoned areas, allowing landowners to apply for a dwelling entitlement. This will foster conversation and will allow council to assess the merits of the site - council don’t want to take away prime agricultural land causing fragmentation. Instead, they want to create unique lifestyle blocks of land that are not productive or suitable farmland. In the past, we have seen many people pass on Glen Innes and choose places like Tenterfield where these lifestyle blocks are easier to come by.
These changes mean we can attract new people to the area, especially those that bring businesses, bring their family and want that attractive rural lifestyle that we are currently lacking. These changes are already in motion, and Andrew has engaged with the necessary state government agencies and is going through the planning proposal process.
Another aim is delivering a land use strategy plan with a long-term holistic view of what Glen Innes is going to look like 20 years time. This document works alongside other strategic planning document and includes the action plan and time frames for achieving these goals. It’s a work in progress with community consultation to come. Some highlights of the plan include the size and location of industrial and commercial land, residential areas, long term servicing and rural lots sizes.
Andrew was candid, noting he will not promise to fix everything in the next 6 months. It is a complex process but there is a lot of important work happening to produce these critical documents to help Glen Innes grow, leveraging the natural benefits of Glen Innes to attract people which is really what it is all about.
In the past 7 months, Andrew has had an intense focus on the statutory planning times which were not good. Before reviewing the DA process, staffing and systems wait times exceeded 100 days. For DA’s submitted after March 2024, processing times are sitting at an average 40 days. This has a huge impact for the local community. This is something council wants to main and strive towards and again attract people who want to build here.
Andrew gave a shout out to Ronnie, who is the Coordinator of Economic Development, Tourism and Events and for her work with the Celtic Festival and now that Andrew is here on a permanent basis is excited to get some really good economic and tourism strategies in place. There are unique ways we can get people to visit Glen Innes, and once they are here, provide them with the opportunity to live and work here.
At the conclusion of Andrews presentation, Mayor Rob Banham invited Kieth Howe, the Managing Director of Rangers Valley to the stage. With extensive experience in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, specialising in the meat and seafood industry, working for almost 30 years for Coles Myer and now 8 years for Rangers Valley, Keith gave the audience a detailed insight into the history, logistics and marketing of the global premium beef brand. Previously known as Rangers Vallely Feedlot, Kieth has worked to create a collaborative supply chain, of which the feedlot is only one element of the business.
In 1988 Rangers Valley was purchased by Japanese trading company Marubeni Corporation, with the aim to provide an alternative to Japanese domestic beef. Now the Japanese market is only a small portion of the Ranger Valley exports. With a focus on consistency and quality over price, the company has secured their global market share.
Keith then shared some stats and facts about Rangers Valley showcasing the growth of the company. From 40 to 75 team members, the majority of which live in Glen Innes and surrounding areas there are also team members in Warrick Brisbane and on the road talking to suppliers of feeder cattle.
The team work very closely with these 200 produces to ensure the DNA, breeding and weaning processes are optimised to ensure optimum performance in the feedlot environment. Also working with distributors to determine market demand, Ranger Valley works backwards through the supply chain to ensure the quantity and quality, meets customer requirements. At any time there are around 10,000 cattle across the feedlot and grazing paddocks in Rangers Valley and outside of Canberra.
Over the last few years, the newest extension of the feedlot has been completed including the installation of a shade shelter structure across the lots, This give the cattle the opportunity to shelter themselves especially in the harsher winter months. A lot of research into bovine dynamics has occurred with Rangers Valley are already starting to see the dividends of this project and are looking to build more in future.
Keith gave an overview of the different feed times to produce the consistent product and marble scores for each of the premium beef ranges and touched on the importance of marketing in the growth of the businesses. Ending with the mantra “luxury assured” it was a timely reminder to know your markets and again, not compromising on the consistency and quality of your product or service.
It is clear from each of the presentations that there is a lot of business potential in our region. By working collaboratively between local and state governments, we can really create something special in Glen Innes. GIBC would like to thank all of the guest speakers, members and guests for attending and we look forward to bringing you more motivational guest speakers in our Spring Business After Hours event.