Happy 2019 – Hoping for a healthy and prosperous one for all.
Now that the Christmas shopping season is over it's never been so important to Live Local. Love Local. Buy Local ALL YEAR ROUND.
The important of buying local
There are many benefits of buying local, not just a Christmas time, but all year round. To put it simply - the money stays within the community which strengthens our local economy, creating jobs. Our local businesses are the backbone of a community and support charity groups with donations and sporting sponsorships, so the community should show their support by shopping with them.
How can retailers combat or compete with online shopping?
Yes there’s convenience of online shopping, but retailers can do their part by offering great customer service and local advice, appealing visual displays, reward loyal customers, offer an easy return policy, even place their local business online. Many consumers research their intended purchase before they buy, if you have an online presence that’s beneficial. There are still people who need to touch, see and feel a product before buying it. Online shopping can have it’s disadvantages too…..high cost of postage, returns policy can be difficult, foreign exchange rates on your credit card, your expectations can be disappointing when you actually receive your product. The list goes on.
How does buying local impact the community?
If every person in our region spent an extra $5 a week in the local community instead of online or elsewhere, it would add an extra 24 million dollars per year to our local economy.
That’s a huge positive impact! That could create 218 jobs, pay for new facilities, increase new development…making our area a better place to live and work right?
Survey
Each year we ask for member feedback to ensure we are heading in the direction you want. We are your avenue and want to represent you in the best possible way. Please take the time to give honest feedback and if there's any area we are missing, please let us know. All information provided is anonymous.
TAKE THE SHORT SURVEY HERE
We also realise our 10 Point Plan can be a little complicated, so each month we will focus on one point and clearly show how it affects your business. Alternatively you can skip ahead and read how they impact your business here.
Decentralisation of MDBA
GBC strongly support The MBDA head office to be decentralised from Canberra to Griffith. The MDBA head office employs 321 staff with a $280 million budget. Griffith is ideal as MDBA head office, the former MTN 9 vacant building is ideal with over 50 offices and potential for many more could be converted. An injection of high earning white collar residents is what our community needs to diversify our economy and create real resilience.
Reduction of Gross Regional Product
Our economy has been severely affected by Basin Plan a -3.8% Gross Regional Product this last year alone and when we look across data since The Murray Darling Basin Plan our economy has simply stagnated.
Source: https://economy.id.com.au/griffith/gross-product
Some in our community have purposely mislead us on the state of our economy purely for political reasons. Proven to be false statements like “booming economy” “the envy of the State” “ cusp of golden period for growth and development” “1100 jobs” etc. These statements are a real risk to us business people who often have everything invested into this community alone and make real commercial decisions daily that can impact 1000’s of families jobs.
In 2006 our economy Gross Regional Product = $1,714 Billion and now in Nov 2018 it has slipped to $1,709 Billion. Our State position from 2001 .42% is NOW .31%. A drop of over 10% against the state growth.
Real solutions to repair economy
It’s now time we face facts and look for real solutions to repair our damaged economy.
Diversified Executive positions like Murray Darling Basin Authority Head office are the stimulus our economy is desperately in need of.
In November 2018 Austin Evans, Assistant Minister for Skills- Adam Marshall and Mayor John Dal Broi were discussing Griffith being in the running to be selected as the location in which the state government will build its next shared services centre for TAFE.
If the centre is built in Griffith, 60 new jobs would be created in the city with the positions to be filled by both local and interstate employees.
This is another huge opportunity for our State Government and local Member Austin Evans to meaningfully assist in repairing the damage created by The Murray Darling Basin Plan on our economy.
We would love to see a co-operative visionary approach where TAFE would build a new facility for the 60 new staff attached to the current TAFE buildings around Benerembah Street .
This central position was designed by Walter Burley Griffin as the Circle centre for education and with Councils support appropriate curbing, guttering, carparking, street lighting etc. what is now an embarrassing eye sore in the Centre of our City could become something that we could be truly proud of and a real permanent Economic generator.
Water News
Many would have seen the appalling photo’s of dead fish in Menindee, it must be understood that under the disastrous Murray Darling Basin Plan The Menindee Lakes were drained to pour water down to the unnatural once estuarine Lower Lakes.
Blaming the Cotton Growers in the North Darling and the Drought is a fallacy. We must find a way to get water back into productive farming.
It is time South Australia was made responsible for diverting the South East Drainage system from the Lower Lakes and addresses their own self made problems and stopped blaming us.
South Australia is currently on 100% allocation for water while we in Murrumbidgee Valley are on 7% and Murray ZERO allocation.
It is for this reason Sun Rice sacked 100 employees which is devastating to our regional economy as the multiplying graph below indicates..
Impact Summary
Griffith City – Modelling the effect of removing 100 jobs in the Food Product Manufacturing – inflation adjusted
| Summary | Output ($m) | Value-added ($m) | Local jobs | Residents jobs |
| Starting position Griffith City (year ended June 2017) | ||||
| Food Product Manufacturing | 413.48 | 103.45 | 1,062 | 1,039 |
| All industries | 3,508.18 | 1,405.47 | 13,460 | 13,237 |
| Impacts on Griffith City economy | ||||
| Direct impact on Food Product Manufacturing sector | -38.95 | -9.75 | -100 | |
| Industrial impact | -19.83 | -8.08 | -70 | |
| Consumption impact | -6.46 | -3.07 | -43 | |
| Total impact on Griffith City economy | -65.24 | -20.90 | -213 | -95 |
| Type 1 multiplier (direct & industrial) | 1.51 | 1.83 | 2 | |
| Type 2 multiplier (direct, industrial & consumption) | 1.67 | 2.14 | 2 | |
| Impact on New South Wales economy | ||||
| Total impact - New South Wales outside Griffith City | -28.59 | -12.43 | -108 | -222 |
| Total impact New South Wales economy | -93.83 | -33.33 | -320 | -317 |
| Impact on Australian economy | ||||
| Total impact outside New South Wales economy | -35.31 | -15.40 | -126 | -125 |
| Total impact on Australian economy | -129.14 | -48.73 | -446 | -442 |
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT GET CAUGHT GAMING (STEALING) 798 GIGS OF WATER FOR BOATING THAT WAS FALSLY CLAIMED FOR ENVIRONMENT
In 2015-16 the South Australia government requested environmental water from CEWH, while at the same time deferring other water it was entitled to buy.
Lake water levels were kept high but sufficient water was not delivered to the Coorong. South Australia could have paid for the entitlement water it had deferred to maintain recreation and tourism in the lakes but, in Ernst & Young’s words, “it could be perceived that environmental water was being substituted for SA’s entitlement flow”.
The Ernst & Young report and other documents have been analysed by the Australia Institute in a report, Coorongs Don’t Make a Right. The Australia Institute says the South Australian government saved itself an estimated $175m, which is the cost of the entitlement water it would have bought on the open market.
“Taxpayers have spent billions buying water for the environment but it is totally reliant on the state agencies to get the water where it needs to go,” said Maryanne Slattery, a senior water researcher at the Australia Institute.
“Worse still, the commonwealth has no legal clout to force states to deliver the water in the way the commonwealth wants.”
As well as the risks of state agencies intentionally misusing CEWH resources to achieve their own objectives, the Ernst & Young report warns the lack of governance in the use of environmental water opens the door for individual water officers to misuse the CEWH water resources. This could include taking water for commercial gain for themselves and/or their family or associates.