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January 2025 Edition of the Alpine Business Newsletter

8 January 2025

Alpine Business Newsletter
 Information for business 27 March 2024
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Alpine Business Newsletter

Welcome to the January 2025 edition of the Alpine Business Newsletter!

Welcome to the January issue of our business newsletter where you can find exciting news about upcoming events, grants and other valuable resources for your business!

  • We are running two free First 72 Hour workshops (emergency planning) for farming enterprises. 
  • Explore grant funding opportunities such as the Energy Resilience Community Fund grants.
  • Tourism brochures available - reach out to the tourism team for brochures at your business.
  • The Short Stay Levy - what you need to know.
  • Take a Lodger Program.
  • Beyond Blue have developed NewAccess, a program to provide small business owners with free and confidential mental health coaching.


Thank you for being part of the Alpine Shire business community. Stay tuned to Alpine Shire Business Hub for more updates and resources to help your business thrive. 

Alpine Shire Business Hub is your one-stop shop for up-to-date information on events and news 
The Business Hub has been curated as a one stop shop for business owners and operators in the Alpine Shire to access support resources and stay up to date with the latest grant opportunities, workshops and events. 
 
We highly encourage all businesses to sign up to Engage Alpine and follow the Business Hub to stay in the loop for information and opportunities related to businesses in the Alpine Shire.
Sign up here
Take a Lodger Program
Alpine Shire Council is partnering with local real estate agents to introduce the Take a Lodger Program, a creative solution to help address the region’s housing shortages. This initiative encourages homeowners with spare rooms to open their doors to lodgers, providing affordable housing options and strengthening community connections. For more information, visit https://www.alpineshire.vic.gov.au/takealodger
Upcoming events
The First 72 Hours - Free Workshops for the Farming Sector
Wednesday 12 February 2025
Mount Beauty Community Centre 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Work with experts and your peers to develop a 'first 72 hour' plan for your farm.  The workshop will help you identify potential impacts to your farm during emergency (fire, flood, biosecurity, etc).  You will leave the workshop with a plan customised for your farm for what you would do to protect your business if you had no power, water, phone, internet or road access for 72 hours.

Participants should only attend one session.

Register here: The First 72 Hours: FREE workshop to help farmers prepare - Mount Beauty

Please note that additional workshops will be announced for other key sectors. 
The First 72 Hours - Free Workshops for the Farming Sector
Tuesday 18 February 2025
Myrtleford Senior Citizens Centre 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Work with experts and your peers to develop a 'first 72 hour' plan for your farm.  The workshop will help you identify potential impacts to your farm during emergency (fire, flood, biosecurity, etc).  You will leave the workshop with a plan customised for your farm for what you would do to protect your business if you had no power, water, phone, internet or road access for 72 hours.

Participants should only attend one session.

Register here: The First 72 Hours: FREE workshop to help farmers prepare - Myrtleford

Please note additional workshops will be announced for other key sectors. 
Do you have a bushfire plan for your tourism business?

CFA has created a Tourism Business Bushfire Plan that enables you to tailor it to your business situation. 

https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/before-and-during-a-fire/fire-ready-kit/preparing-your-tourism-business
Grant funding opportunities
Energy Resilience Community Fund
The Energy Resilience Community Fund (ERCF) provides grants to community and not-for-profit organisations, local councils and small businesses to help build and strengthen community energy resilience in the face of extreme weather events and other electricity reliability challenges.

Funding is available via Energy Resilience Grants and Energy Education and Literacy Grants. 

Applications close 5pm Friday 7 February 2025.

For more information, visit: https://www.ausnetservices.com.au/ercf

To find more information about these grants and more, visit the Alpine Shire Grant Finder at: 
https://grantguru.com/au/alpine
Employment news
The Pay Equality Toolkit
Equal pay matters for all Victorian workers. Progress toward an equitable workplace creates benefits for employees and business performance. Generally speaking, contributing to a more satisfied and productive workforce. The Pay Equality Toolkit is comprised of 8 different tools created to help business make progress on pay equality. 

For more information, visit the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission website.
Changes to the Fair Work Act
There are new workplace laws as part of the Closing Loopholes Act 2023 which will take effect at different times from December 2023 to 2025. Some of the changes include changes to the definition of casual employees and functions relating to the right to disconnect.

Stay up to date with the latest news on legislation changes and award change, and download a copy of the timeline of changes by visiting the Fair Work Commission website. 
Other news
Short Stay Levy 

If you accept accommodation bookings in Victoria, you may need to pay the Short Stay Levy.

The Short Stay Levy is a new and additional tax on short stay accommodation, applied at a rate of 7.5% of the total booking amount.

The Short Stay Levy will come into effect on the 1st of January 2025 and applies to short stay accommodation bookings (less than 28 consecutive days) in Victoria.

Tourism North East has compiled a useful summary which can be found here: Short Stay Levy - Tourism North East

You can also read more about it on the State Revenue Office's website: Short Stay Levy - frequently asked questions

Environmental weeds impact on native vegetation and agricultural productivity. Under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994, landholders have a legal responsibility to manage noxious weeds on their property. There are many ways that you can prevent and manage noxious weeds. Read more about this on our Sustainability Hub:
https://engage.alpineshire.vic.gov.au/community-hubs/sustainability-hub/weed-management
In an effort to support businesses to reduce waste, we have developed a Circular Economy tool which aims to support businesses to connect and reuse materials. This helps to keep products in use, keeping them out of landfill and reducing the need for new materials. Read more about this tool on our Sustainability Hub:
https://engage.alpineshire.vic.gov.au/circular-economy

Tourism Brochures available
If you are a tourism business looking to provide more information to visitors consider the following;
  • Suggest to your visitors they download Victoria's High Country app.
  • Visit our websites:
    • visitbrightandsurrounds.com.au
    • visitmountbeauty.com.au
    • visitmyrtlefordvic.com.au
    • visitharrietville.com.au 
  • Offer our brochures (email tourism@alpineshire.vic.gov.au to request brochures that can be picked up from council offices). 
    • Bright and Surrounds Official Visitor Guide
    • Bright and Surrounds Walks and Trails Guide
    • Bright and Surrounds Cycle Guide
    • Tear off map of each of our tourism regions.
    • Dinner Plain walking and cycle guides
Business support services
NewAccess for Small Business Owners
Beyond Blue have developed this program to give small business owners free and confidential mental health coaching. 

Delivered over 6 sessions, a NewAccess coach will work with business owners to provide support and practical skills to manage stress during difficult times. 

To find out more about the support available, visit: 
https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/newaccess-for-small-business-owners


 
Visit Bright Visit Bright
Visit Myrtleford Visit Myrtleford
Visit Mount Beauty Visit Mount Beauty






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Alpine Shire Council · Great Alpine Road · Bright, VIC 3741 · Australia