Did you know?
Healthy soil & irrigation scheduling to take account of soil water holding capacity & evaporative demand are key approaches to managing plant moisture status.

Back

New page

SiteWideSearch

Keep our Communities Alive and Kicking

05/04/2010

In recent years, rural communities have been faced with significant challenges including severe ongoing drought, significant changes in government policy especially those relating to water and carbon and the mineral resource boom.

To address these topics, the "Sustaining Rural Communities National Conference" is being held at the Crossing Theatre, Narrabri, NSW on the 19th, 20th and 21st April 2010.

Topics include

Leadership in rural Australia
Challenges of drought policies
Retaining people in your community
Work force challenges and future opportunities for indigenous workforces

Dr Paula Jones, Community Programme Leader with the Cotton CRC said the Sustaining Rural Communities National Conference is a key event which provides participants with the opportunity to meet, discuss and act upon the broad range of social research currently being undertaken in regards to rural communities.

"The conference focuses on many important topics and will attract delegates from around Australia, including representatives from all agricultural industries, along with a number of delegates from government and industries such as mining, manufacturing, finance, tourism, transport, science, education and health" said Dr Paula Jones.

Speakers include:

Jenny Brockie, SBS Insight will be talking on "How to make rural communities sustainable". Jenny is one of Australia's most gifted and sought after facilitators. Jenny's experience on INSIGHT and as a journalist, documentary film maker and interviewer, gives her a unique set of skills which she uses to elicit information in an informative and entertaining way. Her exceptional ability to draw out people's ideas, get them talking to one another and encourage audience participation is a hallmark of her work as a facilitator.

John Buchanan, Workplace Research Centre - "Understanding workforce participation". John has worked on issues as diverse as public sector job creation and local employment initiatives, the employment impact of cuts in barrier protection and labour dimensions of microeconomic reform. Currently his major research interests are the demise of the classical wage earner model of employment and the role of the state in nurturing new forms of multi-employer co-ordination to promote both efficiency and fairness in the labour market.
Professor Peter Shergold, Centre for Social Impact will be talking on "Community Leadership in Rural Australia". Professor Peter Shergold has directly served three Prime Ministers and eight Ministers in both Coalition and Labor governments. His other roles in the public service include establishing the Office of Multicultural Affairs, heading the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

Principal sponsors include CRDC and Cotton CRC, other major sponsors include Namoi CMA, Agrifood Skills Australia, Westpac Bank, Santos, University of New England, Narrabri Shire Council, Australian Government and Murray Darling Basin Authority.

With the generosity of these sponsors we have been able to bring the conference to you for free although you must register at the following website www.cottoncrc.org.au for catering purposes or for further details contact Kate Schwager, Community Officer P: (02) 6799 2477 M: 0408 486 667 kate.schwager@cottoncrc.org.au