The small town lifestyle works something like this; grow up in a small town, go to a small school with all your best mates, finish school, find a job in town, work hard, settle down, create a community.
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That system falls apart if you can’t get a job in town, and in Cootamundra at the moment jobs are under threat.
The largest employer in town, Manildra Meat will stop processing meat for Woolworths in December and has been offering staff voluntary redundancies as the meat processing industries takes a turn.
The second largest employer in town, the Cootamundra Nursing Home, which employs more than 100 people, is facing an uncertain future as funding to the sector is slashed, forcing the home to consider cost-saving measures that may affect staff hours. Southern Cross Care Retirement Village, which employs 50 people, is also feeling the sting of the funding cuts that have hit the nursing home and is under the pump.
There’s a trend here and it’s worrying.
Something needs to be done to secure jobs in Cootamundra to make sure there’s a future for young people and the responsibility falls on government, federal, state or local.
Unfortunately, these three tiers of bureaucracy have been mindbogglingly ineffective at securing regional jobs, often making decisions that directly push jobs out of needy, regional areas.
The Turnbull government’s suggested increase to the backpacker tax would have decimated farmers, primary producers, publicans and other rural business owners not only in our region but across the country.
Thankfully, that plan was scrapped but many fear the damage has already been done and the impact in regional areas will still be felt. On top of the federal government’s rural rampage, the state government has paralysed our sense of community, forcing unwanted council amalgamations upon us with no consultation or thought of consequence.
This needs to stop.
It falls to you, Mr McCormack, or you, Ms Hodgkinson to stand up for the people you represent and do something to secure our future.
Lock in local jobs so the small town lifestyle can continue.
We’re teetering on the edge of a cliff and the ground beneath our feet is crumbling. We need a lifeline and we need it soon.
