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‘Give local musicians a platform’: Australian businesses urged to shake up on-hold playlists The Guardian
COMMUNITY sport is returning as Canberra emerges from lockdown, and local organisations can now apply for a slice of $2.6 million in funding to get back in the game.
The fund is encouraging Canberrans to get back into sport and embrace a more active lifestyle, as well as develop and deliver quality physical activity programs and services for the Canberra community.
Last year the program was used for lighting upgrades at the Kambah Tennis Club, shade sails at the Hawker International Softball Centre, additional mountain bike trails at the Cotter, the development of youth programs at Table Tennis ACT, Disability Awareness Training for Capital Football, and an electric scoring system for Boxing ACT.
It aims to provide further support to Canberrans by providing economic stimulus and supporting local jobs.
Grants can be applied for here.
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A McGowan Government initiative aimed at recognising local councils that actively support small business has reached an important milestone.
More than 50 local governments have signed up to the Small Business Friendly Local Governments program, which now reaches 80 percent of the small business community.
The initiative was one of the first small business friendly council programs in Australia.
Local governments are encouraged to sign a charter to show they have committed to work with, and support, their local small business by:
Fifty-one Western Australian towns, cities and shires have now committed to the program, which is run by the Small Business Development Corporation.
Comments attributed to Small Business Minister Reece Whitby:
"The State Government is committed to helping small businesses start, grow and thrive in Western Australia.
"Small businesses are at the heart of many local government areas, and their experience in seeking approvals or accessing economic support can make a real difference to their success.
"More than 180,000 small businesses are now based in a Small Business Friendly Local Government area. I applaud the 51 local governments that have signed up - and hope to see even more joining up and supporting small business."
Comments attributed to Local Government Minister John Carey:
"It's absolutely fantastic to see so many local governments engaging in this program and recognising the real positive impact they can have on small business in their community.
"Local governments need to be facilitators, not just regulators - and seeing so many local governments doing what they can to support and promote small business is brilliant.
"As the Minister for Local Government, one of my focuses is on delivering reforms to improve the functioning of the local government sector. This includes looking at how we can cut red tape within local government, which will benefit a wide range of areas, including small business."
Small Business Minister's office - 6552 6300
Local Government Minister's office - 6552 5300
A person who has escaped from a domestic violence situation and vowed to leave no man or woman behind has been announced as NT Australian of the Year 2022 Local Hero.
Palmerston Citizen of the Year Rebecca Forrest is a campaigner for social justice, anti-violence, youth affairs and the vulnerable.
She has also spent time in the Healthy Harold giraffe costume.
"I am quite short. So I don't know that being a giraffe is an aspiration for me," she told ABC Radio Darwin Saturday morning.
The former Palmerston alderman was a victim of domestic and family violence while working for the NT Police media unit.
She is also a men's advocate and organises events for International Men's Day.
"It takes around seven times for a woman to leave a violent situation, I [took] two or three times," she said.
"And it was due to police intervention. And so I'm just so grateful to my colleagues who really didn't even know that I was in this situation, but also the officers that responded on site and got me out of that.
"I don't know where I'd be now, if I'd still be here.
Her superpower is organising fundraisers, and it has been estimated her efforts have earned more than $1 million for charity.
Ms Forrest, 40, wears many hats, but founded No-One Left Behind, which organises events and conferences to raise money and awareness.
"One thing I can do is connect people," she said in her acceptance speech.
"By starting conversations, by coordinating events, by getting people to share their story, we build courage and we inspire others.
The field of four contenders was strong in the local hero category.
Wuthathi and Ngarrindjeri man Shaun Tatipata, 43, founded the first Aboriginal-owned optical and eye care provider, Deadly Vision Centre.
Before that he led the Fred Hollows Foundation's Indigenous Australia Program, and implemented outreach programs.
He is well-known on the ground for organising the rugby league Deadly Cup Carnival in Darwin.
"It's just an amazing day that allows us to celebrate NAIDOC Week and to really promote health and wellbeing," he told Territory Grandstand.
"We put the deadly Expo down there where all of our health promotion and education occurs."
His mission is to close the gap in eye health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders by providing affordable, fashionable, culturally safe, and socially responsive eye care.
Therapy dog provider and trainer Kristy Teunissen, 38, brings her therapy dogs Harlow, Scout, and Chip to schools and hospitals to comfort anxious, sick or troubled kids and older people.
"I really have a love of working with kids and seeing how the dogs can help the kids learn, improve their learning at school," she told ABC Radio Darwin Breakfast.
"We walk through the hospital wards and people can just walk past and smile in that particular moment.
Ms Teunissen, from Zuccoli, also helps with fundraising at Royal Darwin Hospital and works with Headspace to raise awareness during Mental Health Week.
Unfortunately, the dogs were unable to make it to the awards ceremony.
Waanyi man Paul Walker, 46, was a homeless teen with substance abuse issues. He attended seven high schools but made it through year 12.
"Regardless of where I went, from one home to the next, I always had a goal of finishing school," he told ABC Radio Darwin Drive.
He got his life on track and was accepted into the Army.
He served in Bougainville and Timor Leste.
But just before Christmas 2000, the then-24-year-old came under fire by the East Timor militia.
He saved a fellow soldier shot in the leg, and was later honourably discharged on medical grounds in 2003.
"I do carry the internal injuries of PTSD, depression, and anxiety, some of the things that come along with experiencing trauma, especially when it's of a military nature, such as decisions under duress," he said.
"It's just one of those things that will stay with me forever."
Mr Walker has since made a name for himself in the Katherine region as a talented community photographer, public speaker, mental health advocate, financial counselor, and community worker.
Victoria has recorded 989 new local COVID-19 cases and nine deaths, the first time daily case numbers have been below 1,000 since September 28.
There are now 19,409 active cases of the virus in Victoria, and 318 people have died during the state's current Delta outbreak.
The new cases were identified from 48,002 test results reported yesterday.
There were 16,158 doses of vaccine administered at state-run sites yesterday, as well as more vaccinations at GP clinics and other venues.
There are now 667 people in hospital with COVID-19, of whom 127 are in intensive care and 76 are on a ventilator.
Health authorities have added new tier 1 venues to Victoria's public list of COVID-19 exposure sites.
The new tier 1 venues are:
Anyone who has been to a tier 1 exposure site at the specified time must get tested and isolate for 14 days if unvaccinated, or for seven days if fully vaccinated.
Check the list below for all of the exposure sites and times.
You can find information on testing site hours and your nearest site on the Department of Health website.
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Local tradies are invited to take part in the NSW Nationals in the state government’s LED Lighting Upgrade Program which will see eight schools across Monaro benefit from new lighting in classrooms.
Nationals Member for Monaro John Barilaro said the third tranche of the program will see local students at Adaminaby, Berridale, Bombala, Bredbo, Captains Flat, Delegate, Nimmitabel, and Cooma Public Schools benefit from the $157.8 million state wide initiative.
“As a former chippy I appreciate the impacts COVID has had on local businesses, and the NSW Government is committed to supporting jobs and providing opportunities for our local tradespeople as we move forward with our recovery,” Mr Barilaro said.
“This program is about improving facilities at our local schools and ensuring our students get the best possible start in life, while supporting local tradies.
“It is fantastic to see these local schools receive much-needed upgrades that build on the longstanding commitment I have made to ensure our students have the very best education facilities.”
Nationals Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the NSW Government is committed to improving the learning spaces for students as well as supporting communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The lighting upgrade is a great way for schools to improve teaching spaces, reduce power and maintenance bills while stimulating local economic growth,” Ms Mitchell said.
Local tradies will be able to tender for lighting upgrade opportunities via the Local Trades Scheme, an online platform where small businesses can engage directly with the Department of Education to bid for work at public schools in their local communities.
For more information please visit: https://www.schoolinfrastructure.nsw.gov.au/what-we-do/we-look-after-our-schools/led-lighting-upgrade-program.html
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JOHANNESBURG, Nov 1 (Reuters) - South Africans voted in municipal elections on Monday, with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) hoping to avert its worst result since the end of white minority rule.
There has been little reliable political polling, but based on the climate of discontent and the few surveys that have been conducted some pundits predict the ANC's vote share could fall below 50% for the first time since the end of apartheid.
President Cyril Ramaphosa remains popular after mobilising government grants that prevented COVID-19 from becoming a hunger crisis. But lasting poverty, crumbling infrastructure and nearly a third of workers unemployed mean some voters have lost patience with the party that has ruled for 27 years.
"I'm here to vote for change," said 67-year old pensioner Xinyenyani Mthembu at a polling station in Soweto township.
"I have been very much loyal (to the ANC) for so many years because there were improvements but it's not enough," he said, adding he was changing his party of choice for the first time, for a new party led by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that many voters were not happy, but called on them to support the party so it could improve.
"This is the one election where we are clearly saying to our people we are going to do better," he said while voting in Soweto. "We’ve realised that we’ve not always met the aspirations of our people."
The ANC hopes to win back metropolitan areas it lost to opposition-led coalitions in 2016, including in Johannesburg and Pretoria, when its 54% vote share was its worst since coming to power. read more
Locals wait to cast their votes during the local government elections, at an informal settlement in Lawley township, near Johannesburg, South Africa November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
Polls opened at 0500 GMT and close at 1900 GMT.
ANC defenders say reversing decades of apartheid-era neglect in Black neighbourhoods was never going to be a quick fix. But it has also been dogged by corruption scandals.
"UNFINISHED BUSINESS"
Getting less than half the vote would be a psychological blow, and would raise the previously unthinkable possibility that the ANC could one day be in opposition.
That still seems a way off. Its main rival, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has struggled to shed its image as a party of white privilege, and suffered a backlash in October from a divisive poster campaign addressing racial tensions between ethnic Indian and Black communities.
And despite widespread dissatisfaction, the ANC's emotional hold on poor, Black townships remains strong, even among young voters with no living memory of apartheid.
"There is so much unfinished business, like the road, a hospital," said Jonathan Mathebula, 20, queuing to vote in Diepsloot township north of Johannesburg. A main road promised by ANC councillors for years had never materialised, yet he said he said he would vote ANC.
Other parties include the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - a Marxist group of former ANC youth leader Julius Malema - and ActionSA, Mashaba's party. Mashaba has been branded a xenophobe because of his populist rhetoric against illegal immigrants, which he says has been misunderstood but refuses to tone down.
($1 = 14.8 rand)
Writing by Tim Cocks Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo
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