Stronger Together

[00:00:02] Speaker A: It is an honour and privilege to welcome you to country. My name is Bre Morgan. I'm from this land and place. I'm from a deep bloodline of people who have walked, fought and cared for this land for over thousands of years. I pay my respect to our mother, mountain gulagar and the cultural significance she holds. We take pride in country. We feel and embrace it. It is our identity, it is who we are and where we come from. I want to start by recognizing that we are the oldest living culture there is, the first and continuous custodians of this land. I am on my great grandmothers country, Yuin country. My great grandmother was born at Tilbar and raised in Wallagar. She was a Thomas who met my great grandfather amorgan. He was from Kamara Gunga, which is down near the victorian border where he grew up there on the reserve. They married and five kids later were living in Cobargo as the first aboriginal family to move off the woligulaic mission into white society. With that being said, I go forward with respect by acknowledging the Juranganj people of the Yuan nation as the original inhabitants of this land, waterways and airspace on which we gather upon. [00:01:12] Speaker B: Welcome to Stepping up, a four part podcast series about community leadership in the face of disruption. This is episode one. Stronger together. [00:01:27] Speaker C: It was a life changing experience for me. It really was. It changed my views on leadership. It changed my views on what I could contribute to my community. [00:01:40] Speaker B: I'm Leah Santo. I've lived in the Beaker Valley for 15 years and have been working in community development at Beaker Valley Shire Council for the last 20 months. The Beaker Valley on the far south coast of New South Wales is a stunning region spanning 6279 square kilometres, made up of forests, farmland, coastal towns and villages. Some of the most inspirational community leaders I've met live here. People who are powerful and passionate about caring for our community, economy and environment, keeping the Beaker valley strong and striving to make it even stronger. But living in a rural area comes with constraints. There's often not enough people, resources or time. There's a worry that people will burn out or move on. The question of how best to support community leaders came to the fore following the devastating bushfires of 2019 and 2020. [00:02:39] Speaker D: When can we go back home? I'm a diabetic and I left all run out and I left all my medicines and everything and you can see the flames coming. It wiped a 15,000 acre. [00:02:49] Speaker B: Following these disasters, the not for profit or NFP sector expressed what was needed to strengthen and better prepare for the future. Supported by a unique partnership between council and the foundation for Rural and regional Renewal, I've been able to do meaningful work with my community, delivering the investing in rural community Futures program. The impact of the bushfires was immense, emotionally, physically, environmentally and economically. People here were deeply grateful for all the support received from across Australia. But in navigating the aftermath of the fires, we also knew no one would be as invested in rebuilding our communities and keeping them strong as the people who live here. In many ways, the chaos of the black summer highlighted the broader risks of taking community leadership for granted. The risk of wasting scant resources by duplication, of working in isolation across a wide rural area with a small population of money squandered on programs that never reached their full potential because they didn't adjust to meet the uniqueness of local place. And biggest of all, a failure to invest in the most important infrastructure we have our people. Bridges will fall down if you don't have the right supports in place. People are the same. In this episode, you'll hear three locals reflect on leadership, what that means to them and what leadership looks like in rural and regional areas. You'll meet Clare Medallia from Eden visitor Information Centre, Ian Campbell who works with palliative Care Australia and Nigel ailing from Beaker Valley business forum. To start, Claire and Ian talk about the specific nature of community leadership in the Beaker Valley. This gives a taste of what we'll explore throughout this podcast series of what community leadership in places like the Beaker Valley can teach us about leadership as a whole. [00:05:09] Speaker C: I'm Claire Medalia, I'm the manager of the Eden Visitor Information Centre, which is run by Eden Tourism Incorporated, a not for profit, community run organisation. I've lived on and off in Eden pretty much my whole life. I've been back this time around for 13 years. When I was younger I was off travelling the world and exploring and doing all sorts of things, but I always knew I would come back when I had my kids because I honestly can't think of a better place to bring up your children than this. Beautiful. Began early Shire I think that leadership in regional areas like this is very different to living in a city where I think leadership is seen as a very corporate thing. Living in regional communities like this, leadership becomes more about people that are doing things in the community, that are involved in community organisations, that are volunteering, that are out there working for what the community needs to make it a better place for everyone. [00:06:10] Speaker E: My name's Ian Campbell. I'm national communications director at Palliative Care Australia. I have a long history of working in local media in the Bega valley. Raised my family here. So what drew me to the Bega valley in the first instance was work in the late nineties. What keeps me coming back here is the environment. It's a unique, beautiful place. Just something that stirs, that makes me feel like this is my place. And on top of that, it's the mix of people. There are interesting people here doing interesting things, wanting to do good in the world and see this place thrive. [00:06:53] Speaker C: I actually come from one of Eden's old generational fishing families. My brother and cousin are fifth generation Eden Fishermen. My great grandfather's hand built timber boat hangs in the killer whale museum here in Eden. So I've got really strong links to the town, which I'm really proud of. It makes being here and living here something that's really close to my heart. I actually feel pretty strongly about the fact that when you live in regional and remote communities, you feel like you have a voice that's not being heard. There's a lot of people that are making a lot of decisions that are really relevant to everyday lives of the people that live in regional communities, but they don't live in regional communities. To me, that leads the kind of leadership that we have in regional and remote communities. I think it becomes more about having to make our voice heard, having to fight for sometimes simple things like decent phone connection, decent mobile phone connection, and things that people that live in metropolitan areas take for granted that we don't have availability of health services. If you want to see a specialist provider, opportunities for our children, my eldest daughter, who's very interested in space, and if you live in the city, you can do after school extracurricular things that are really specific to certain subjects. And we don't have anything like that in regional areas. So I do think that the people that find themselves leading a charge about anything in regional areas, I think it all is based around that, or a lot of it comes from that need. [00:08:27] Speaker E: We need leaders who are leading for the greater good, not their own interest. So democratic backsliding isn't a phrase I came up with. Swedish academics came up with the phrase, and it just seems to sum up neatly and nicely that sense that the things that make our democracy strong are at risk, are being undermined by disinformation, donations, self interest and a general disengagement from the wider community in those democratic processes. And that all comes at a time when I think we really need to pull together. We need to be engaged as a community. [00:09:15] Speaker C: I used to be one of those people that was guilty of thinking that leadership was someone in a managerial role, someone that was running a department, a centre, like what I do. Those sort of positions were what I saw as leadership. But through this program and doing things like the regenerate camp has made me realise that leadership actually isn't at all about that. Leadership is about people that are inspiring others to get out and do what they can to make the community a better place. Leadership is everybody leads in one way or another. You know, someone can be leading in their household, with their children, in their workplace, in their volunteer organization. I think there's a lot of people out there leading that don't even realise that they're leaders. This program has definitely made me realise that and become more aware of that. So in volunteer organisations, I think in one way or another, everybody that volunteers, whatever it be for, is leading. [00:10:15] Speaker E: I guess I worry that this sense of democratic backsliding could impact the Bega valley in just that sense of those outside influences bleeding in. I don't necessarily think it's at play in the Bega valley at the moment. And our isolation, the fact that we fly under the radar, perhaps protects us from that a little bit. But just the fact that we are part of a bigger planet, a bigger country. You know, we go to the polls as a country in the first half of next year, in a climate where America is upside down, is in the heart of this sense of democratic backsliding. And I just worry that the example we're seeing further afield influences what happens here. [00:11:13] Speaker B: Key to understanding why leadership is so important in our community is getting a picture of the economic, social and political fabric of rural and regional life. Not for profit organisations play an absolutely vital role in this fabric, and throughout the program, I've been struck by the innovative thinking behind not for profits in the Beaker Valley. Faced with an array of limitations as well as unique opportunities, they push the bounds of what we ordinarily imagine a not for profit to be. It's a solutions led process that breaks the mould. Next we'll hear from Nigel ailing, who gives us insight into the business perspective. [00:11:54] Speaker F: My name is Nigel Ailing. I'm the president of the Beega Valley Business Forum. It originally started as a combined chamber of commerce. So there's seven chambers of commerce in the Beaker Valley and it was a forum for those chambers to come together. The forum is made up of a committee. Each of those people on the committee represent a local chamber. So they're playing a dual role at a local level. They're trying to support local businesses, but then they. When they come to the forum, they're looking at it from a regional perspective as well, because obviously every town within the shire has got a different focus. We've got coastal towns like Marimbula and Tathra and Pambela, and then you go to Bega or Cobargo. They're totally different economies, they've got different drivers. A couple of the key industry sectors, we've got agriculture, obviously, with beaker cheese being a major component of that. There's been, you know, forestry and other major industries around for a period of time, but they've gone through some pretty significant changes from a business point of view. A lot of retail, hospitality and tourism, they make up a pretty big part of, especially in the coastal towns. So obviously here in Marimbula, Tathra, Pambula, Vermagui, those sort of retail and hospitality type and accommodation are big players. Maybe in areas like Biga, you have more services there, and then obviously in the outerlying areas, probably a different dynamic. But then when we come together as a forum, we're looking at what do we need to do to elevate the Bega valley. If you come to the Bega valley, whether it's to live or to visit, you don't go to one town and stay. So one of the biggest roles for forums and chambers is to advocate and advocating, to have the voices heard of local businesses and advocating for them at a wider level, whether that's a regional level or a state level or a federal level. [00:14:04] Speaker C: I'm an ex small business owner, so I'm actually really proud of what I've done here at the centre when it comes to the business piece. Like, we've taken a non profit, community run visitor centre and we've created a visitor centre that's one of the busiest and most successful in New South Wales. We've become a real leader in that piece where we've sort of shown to the tourism industry that visitor centres are needed, that visitor centres can be a sustainable business and can create their own revenue to keep their doors open. And that's been something that I've been really proud of. And last year I even got invited to the local government tourism conference to talk about our centre as a case study. And that's been not just, you know, me leading it, but the amazing volunteers on our board that oversee the whole operation and the 25 volunteers that man my information counter every day. It's a real team effort. But then on the flip side of that, I'm really, really happy and it makes my. It's the. It gives me the warm and fuzzies that we've also taken what is something that's in the tourism space and aligned it with community as well. We're not just about making sure those visitors come to Eden and spend money in the shops, you know, it is about that, but it's also about what we've been able to achieve, leveraging our position and what we've had available to us to also benefit the community as well. You know, we had a community resilience day down here after the fires. We had all the fires, the ses all down here with their gear and families came down and the kids, and we had a sausage sizzle. And that's really nothing to do with the visitor space. But we were in a position where there was grant funding available. We were in a great position to organise an event like that. So we did it. And so things like that and the community projects, all the projects that we do that are not just about the visitor, but the community as well. They're the ones that give me the warm and fuzzies and that's something that I'm really proud of, that we've been able to do that even though we are an NFP in the tourism sector. [00:16:01] Speaker F: Leadership's always challenging and there's different styles of leadership for me. I see the opportunity and I want to try and enable people to get there. There's other people that lead by just doing a fantastic job at what they're doing. We've just held the Beagle Valley business awards. We had over 1600 businesses nominated, 54 finalists. We had retail and hospitality. They were the two biggest ones. But we had agriculture, we had innovation, we had sustainability. And so, you know, we've got everything from the likes of Bega Cheese to tiny little flower growers in the middle of nowhere. And all of those businesses make up the local economy. In the Beega Valley. Leadership's different for different people, it's different for different businesses, whether you see what needs to be done or just getting out there and doing it and not waiting for somebody else to do it for you. [00:17:02] Speaker C: When it comes to community, awareness is a big thing. I think there's a lot of people in our community who aren't even aware of the not for profit organisations that we have. The community groups to start with. They don't even know they exist. And then the next level of that is they have no idea what they do. Or the contributions that they're making to our community. It felt like as a not for profit, there was zero there for years until this recent program came along. I always get all the abbreviations wrong. The IRCF, investing in rural community futures. Yes, I got it right. This has been a game changer. Like, it's been amazing. It's even just at a base level, to show the nonprofits in our community and the community groups that council does care, that council has an interest to the point where they've gone and partnered with FRR to make this program happen. Even at a base level, that's a. That's a big thing. I love talking about the regenerate program. Ten days of full immersion with the most incredible group of people selected from Eden up to Bermagui, across the whole shire. I love raving about it because it was a life changing experience for me. It really was. It changed my views on leadership, it changed my views on what I could contribute to my community. And I think a lot of people on the regenerate program felt the same. And then holding events like the volunteer Expo, that in itself creates more awareness amongst our community and amongst other nfps of what the other nfps in the shire are doing. And then the partnership with FRRR and the funding piece that's been there. Everything that this program has done and what council is doing through this program is exactly what the nfps in the shire need. It was exactly what we needed. Backup, support, investigating different avenues of how council can better support the nfps, whether that be through utilising their grant writers to give us advice, or the investigations of an alliance where nfps can help each other. All of those things, as far as I'm concerned, they tick all the boxes of exactly what we need in the shire. And the improvements that I've seen in my organization over the last year and a half, that the program's been running. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. [00:19:18] Speaker F: We're a not for profit. We don't make any money out of what we do. We do it because we want to support these businesses. Every committee is struggling to get enough people to sit on the committee, to be able to just do the work that needs to be done, the governance things and all that sort of stuff. That's why the stuff FRr are doing to support not for profits has been fantastic, because they're nearly always volunteers. They don't have the time, they might not have the resources. And so by bringing in that extra help to show them what they can do, that's a great place to start, and that's where we all should be doing, is collaborating and going, you know, we're trying to do this, and you're trying to do that together. We'll probably do a better job of it than trying to do it by ourself with the very limited resources that we have. [00:20:18] Speaker B: Lastly, we hear reflections about connection and sustainability, about the power of community leaders connecting informally or formally together across the Beaker Valley, and why this simple act is so vital to how we think about long term sustainability and supporting community overall. [00:20:44] Speaker C: In the past, a lot of nonprofits haven't had any support. I mean, we quite often feel like silos, and it's spot on. Like, if you're involved in any sort of nonprofit, you feel like you're just on your own. You have no support, you have no backup. And it can be sometimes simple things, like trying to write a grant when you've never written a grant before in your life. And that can be the fundamental thing that means what you're doing, proceeds or not. And it's so important because in communities like ours, the nonprofit groups and the community groups are the ones that are making everything happen. You know, like, you look around at Eden, for example, and we've had this amazing fitness trail be built, be constructed, and every Thursday morning, 30 or 40 people, most of them retirees who are older, are down there at the fitness park using it. Getting exercise like that's an immeasurable thing to their I wellbeing of these people. And that was a community run project. [00:21:47] Speaker F: There's so many not for profits doing great work around here, whether it's rotary or, you know, lions club or whatever. And often what we will do is we do partnerships with them. So, you know, I don't know whether you've seen out the back there in the toilet building, in the car park out the back. But that was a project that started with the chamber saying, well, these toilets could use a coat of paint. And we go to council and say, well, what can you do about it? And then council came back and said, we've got some funding to do something, but it's art based. And then we went to a community organization and said, we'd really like to do something. Can you come up with something? And then they got an artist to come in, and it was basically like a Chamber of Commerce, a disability support group, and the council with funding, doing a community project that ended up in a beautifully painted toilet block. There's ways to make it work with not for profits, but at the end of the day, our goal is to support business, and business is a profit centre as a not for profit, you're always working for somebody else. So. [00:22:52] Speaker C: There'S so much that non profits and community groups need. I think the biggest one is just more professional support. Like if nonprofits had people to lean on for support when setting up their structure or the governance things, which are just, you know, for a lot of people that are involved in community groups, they're things that they don't have experience at and can be very daunting. So having assistance in finding that path, walking down that path and helping with those sort of things is a big one. Funding is also a big one because there's so many, there's so much difficulty in just even aligning grants with what you need. It's been amazing recently to see organizations like F RR come out and not necessarily make a grant set on one thing, but just open up a pocket of funding and you be able to go to them and say, I need this. And they say, you know what? Yeah, we can do that. It doesn't have to fit in this box. You don't have to tick all these boxes. It doesn't have to be for this specific purpose. Just give us a good cause and we'll fund it. So there needs to be more flexibility around that kind of thing, too, to make sure that community groups and nfps have the funding that they need to do what they need to do. [00:24:06] Speaker E: I think strengthening the not for profit sector is a real step towards strengthening our democratic processes. And I think too often the not for profit sector finds themselves every three years or at the end of a particular funding cycle, having to fight for their own survival. And so they're not in a position to take part in those democratic processes as fully as perhaps they would like and as fully as I would like them to be able to take part. I think not. For profits have great wisdom, great knowledge, great insight to feed into the political process. And when you're fighting for your own survival all the time, you don't necessarily have the resources or the capacity to do that. Or when you're delivering a really grassroots service to people in need, our most vulnerable people, when you're providing that service day in, day out, you don't necessarily have the capacity to take part in those democratic processes and inform policymakers and bring change makers into the discussion. And so a stronger not for profit sector that can juggle both grassroots work, meeting the needs of vulnerable people, but also playing a leadership role in those democratic processes, in those processes that form policy and procedures. We need those voices there. And for that to happen, we need a strong not for profit sector. The work the not for profit sector does is really important, really valuable, and it perhaps doesn't realize that sometimes because they're busy doing it. But I think if the not for profit sector realized the strength that they have, the value in their voice to our political representatives, then they'd be able to flex their muscle a bit more. Those grassroots perspectives, those systems, policies and procedures that are tested on the ground, that experience needs to be fed to our changemakers, fed to our representatives. And often the not for profit sector doesn't have the time, the capacity or the resources to do that. But I think if the not for profit sector was to come together to realise the power that they do have to influence change, it would be a powerful force for good. [00:26:35] Speaker B: Thank you so much for listening to stepping up a Beaker Valley Shire Council podcast production stay tuned for our next episode filling the gaps. You can find all our episodes wherever you find your podcasts. A huge thanks to Claire Medallia, Ian Campbell and Nigel ailing. [00:27:02] Speaker G: This podcast is part of the Bega Valley investing in Rural Community Futures program, a partnership between Bega Valley Shire Council, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and the Australian Rural Leadership foundation. The partnership highlights the importance of networking and collaboration and it supports the capability of not for profits in the Bega Valley to recover and thrive in the face of disruption. A full list of links and resources can be found in our show notes. The music you heard was as we make we mend by Dean Gray and Anna Martin Scrais from the Wollumla School of Music. We'd also like to thank Bregan for her beautiful welcome to country project lead Leo Santo scripting Shona Hawks, principal recording, audio production and editing and sound design by Craig Garrett. The IRCF is a place based capacity building initiative for charitable, not for profit organisations in rural, regional and remote Australia. It's delivered by the FRRR with the support of trust based donor partnerships. The IRCF program provides flexible, longer term support, funding and investment in people to build more confident, collaborative, resilient and sustainable communities. This project received grant funding from the australian federal government.