Councillor Nicole Jonic, Deputy Mayor and Chair of Ipswich City Council’s Economic and Industry Development Committee, has been nominated to represent council as an Ipswich and West Moreton committee member with Regional Development Australia (RDA).
Division 2’s Cr Jonic was selected by councillors and the nomination adopted by full council last week.
“I am honoured to have been nominated as our region’s representative on RDA,” Deputy Mayor Jonic said.
“RDA plays an important role in supporting economic development in our region and the future is exciting for the Ipswich business community.”
The Ipswich and West Moreton committee is chaired by Lockyer Valley Councillor Janice Holstein and also includes Ipswich Hospital Foundation CEO James Sturges.
What is Regional Development Australia?
RDA is a national network of committees made up of local leaders who work with all levels of government, business and community groups to support and broker economic development opportunities for their regions.
RDA committees have an active and facilitative role in their regions and a clear focus on growing strong and confident regional economies that harness their competitive advantages, seize on economic opportunity and attract investment.
RDA committees are incorporated, not-for-profit community-based organisations. RDA committee members are volunteers drawn from the region and who bring leadership, skills and experience from the community, business, local government and not-for-profit organisations.
Each RDA committee has a broad and diverse skills base, with demonstrated networks and alliances.
The Deputy Mayor recently provided highlights for 2021 in her second year as chair of the Economic and Industry Development (EID) committee.
“As council’s economic development update outlined, there is a lot of activity, and growth, in the region,” she said.
They included:
- Upgraded our licensing and registration systems to be food truck friendly.
- We have been taking our commitment to ‘buy local’ further, by educating local businesses of how to do business with us and publishing our forward procurement calendar.
- Operation Scale-Up supported 24 businesses to improve their ability to enter the defence supply chain.
- Small Business Month in May saw over 500 local small businesses attend events across the city, from the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce pop-up businesses at Orion to the launch event in partnership with Ipswich Chamber of Commerce at the Ipswich Turf Club, and more than 23 smaller education and networking events in between.
- Small Business Month closed with the inaugural Business Expo Ipswich.
- Small Business Funding: council distributed $264,000 to 195 businesses in COVID support funding.
“The new Business Ipswich site was launched; proving a one-stop shop for all things business owners need to start and grow their business,” Deputy Mayor Jonic said.
It also showcases the investment opportunities in Ipswich, showcasing some of our great local businesses and how Ipswich really is the friendliest city in which to start your business.
“We renewed our partnerships with the region’s Chambers of Commerce, Greater Springfield and Ipswich Region Chamber of Commerce; partnerships that continue to support and nurture our local businesses.
“This was evidenced in the respective Chambers business awards where we saw, once again, the depth and breadth of talent, resilience and innovation in our small business community.
“We’re looking forward to moving from recovery to growth with this year’s Small Business Growth program.
“And the work done to revitalise Ipswich Central is reaping rewards in terms of investor and business confidence in the commercial heart of our city, not to mention the return on investment of the façade improvement program.”
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