There is change at the top of BeyondHousing with the appointments of a new chair and deputy chair.
Ben Ruscoe, an executive manager of the Commonwealth Bank with more than 15 years of experience in agribusiness and finance, has assumed the chair’s position from Ann Telford.
“I am honoured to take on the chair role at BeyondHousing, an organisation that does truly meaningful work in addressing homelessness,” Mr Ruscoe said.
Meanwhile, Skye Roberts, head of legal at Zepto, a financial infrastructure payments business, has been appointed deputy chair.
These appointments follow Ann Telford’s decision to step down as chair at the board’s June meeting, although she will continue to serve as a board director.
BeyondHousing is the largest community housing organisation within the Goulburn and Ovens Murray regions and owns or manages more than 700 properties, including long-term community housing and transitional housing.
Skilled migration pay rise
Some industries in rural and regional areas have made use of skilled migration to ease worker shortages, including in the Goulburn Valley, but they’ll now have to factor in an increase to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold when considering whether to pursue that course of action.
On July 1, the minimum income threshold for the scheme rose from $53,900 to $70,000.
The Albanese Government said the threshold had been frozen since 2013 and the new threshold is about where it would have been if it had been indexed during that time.
“The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold was frozen for a decade by the former Liberal Government, including the six years where Peter Dutton was minister. This is not fair for migrant workers and it is not fair for Australian workers,” Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles said.
But Liberal Senator for Victoria Sarah Henderson said the changes would be “like a wrecking ball through our community”.
“Most businesses in regional Victoria can’t afford to give workers a $16,100 pay rise, so that means letting workers go who have put down roots in our community,” she said.
Rural medical student boost
It’s a problem the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners describes as a “magnetic bind”, the hold cities have over medical professionals, leaving regional areas short on vital staff.
It’s a problem the Goulburn Valley knows well, but an increase in Commonwealth-supported places for rural-trained medical students, as well as capital funding for new regional training facilities, could see more medical professionals taking up roles in regional areas.
The government will provide $114.2 million over four years to deliver 80 new medical CSPs a year from 2024.
The RACGP says if students gain regional experience while training they can be up to seven times more likely to take up places outside the cities when they qualify.
“So, we know what works, and I hope these new Commonwealth supported places enhance the number of future doctors taking up a career outside of a major city,” RACGP Rural Chair Associate Professor Michael Clements said.
Volunteers needed by Rural Aid
No strangers to floods themselves, Goulburn Valley residents are being asked if they could spare some time to help farmers in East Gippsland recover from their own disaster.
Rural Aid says a lack of volunteers is threatening a farm flood recovery event in east Gippsland, and is appealing to Victorians to step up to help out.
The charity is planning the event in Orbost from July 30 to August 5, but low numbers of volunteers means it may not go ahead.
Interested volunteers are urged to apply at: https://www.ruralaid.org.au/volunteers/