She Makes News is a podcast proudly produced by OAK Magazine

Welcome to your weekly news wrap up for regional women in Australia. It's Friday 4 October 2024.

Making news this week:

• Rural entrepreneurs Jo Palmer and Julia Spicer have teamed up together to launch 'The Connection Table' to ensure rural Australia has a voice at decision-making tables across the country. 
• The Conron Store in Grenfell, NSW, has a new owner and a fresh location in the heart of main street.
• Plus more news snippets

Takeaways:

• The Connection Table is a platform designed to elevate rural leaders into decision-making roles.
• Women in rural Australia face significant barriers to leadership roles, despite equal workforce representation.
• The Connection Table's monthly lunch events foster networking and professional development among regional leaders across Australia.
• Representation of rural Australians on national boards is crucial for inclusive decision-making.
• Retail businesses in rural areas thrive on community support and initiatives like Buy from the Bush.
• The Conron Store's new location highlights the blend of historical significance and modern retail opportunities.

LINKS

The Connection Table - https://theconnectiontable.com/

The Conron Store - https://www.theconronstore.com.au/

Motherland - https://motherlandaustralia.com.au/

Antola Trading - https://www.antolatrading.com/

NTEX - https://www.ntex.com.au/

Rhythm First Aid - https://rhythmfirstaid.com.au/

Australia Women in Agriculture - https://www.awia.org.au/

AgriFutures Rural Women's Award - https://agrifutures.com.au/opportunities/rural-womens-award/

NSW Rural Women’s Gathering - https://www.nsw.gov.au/women-nsw/rural-womens-network/rural-womens-gathering

Birth & Baby Expo - https://www.matrescenceco.com.au/

LET'S MAKE NEWS TOGETHER

That’s your weekly wrap up for regional women. Stay informed. Stay Connected. Follow us on social media @shemakesnews or email shemakesnews@gmail.com

ABOUT OAK MAGAZINE

This episode was hosted by Kimberley Furness, founder + editor of OAK Magazine. We are a proudly independent media publisher dedicated to sharing stories and amplifying voices of female change makers and women in business in regional and rural Australia. OAK is an award winning community ecosystem of print, digital, audio and events. We have demonstrated outstanding quality, innovation and impact through our print magazine, podcasts and audio version of OAK Magazine. OAK is where you will find in-depth chats and courageous conversations with women in business from regional and rural Australia.

Stay social and connect with OAK Magazine on Facebook and Instagram.

For more inspiring stories, visit OAK Magazine website. Hosted by Kimberley Furness, Founder + Editor, OAK Magazine.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Kimberly Finesse: 00:00:01

Hello and welcome to she makes news.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:00:03

It's Friday, October 4.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:00:05

I'm your host, Kimberly Finesse, and this is your weekly wrap up for regional women in Australia.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:00:10

Rural entrepreneurs Jo Palmer and Julia Spicer have teamed up together to launch the connection table to ensure rural Australia has a voice at decision making tables across the country.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:00:20

Julia, an experienced business leader based in Kundawindi, Queensland, says the connection Table connects rural, regional and remote leaders with opportunities on boards, advisory committees and beyond.

Julia Spicer: 00:00:31

Basically what it is is a platform that brings together leaders from across rural, regional and remote Australia.

Julia Spicer: 00:00:39

So sector agnostic for men and women who are interested in being able to leverage work that they've been doing to look at how they want to position themselves on boards advisory committees.

Julia Spicer: 00:00:55

But really, I guess selfishly is to make sure that we can support the impact that we know regional, rural and remote Australia can have on a national level.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:01:08

The Connection Table is a membership based subscription model designed for those already on a leadership path.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:01:13

The platform offers resources to help members find roles on boards, become keynote speakers, and continue their advocacy work.

Julia Spicer: 00:01:19

So the connection table is suitable for anybody who is already on their leadership pathway.

Julia Spicer: 00:01:25

So you might have done a leadership program already, you might be an alumni of a rural woman's award, a nuffield, a ARLP kind of a program.

Julia Spicer: 00:01:37

So you've done a level of professional development already and you are looking for what's next.

Julia Spicer: 00:01:43

You're looking for how do you use that professional development to get onto boards, to become a keynote speaker at conferences, to look at what your next step is around your leadership or advocacy role that you might want to take.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:02:00

Julia highlighted the unique features of the platform, such as monthly lunch with friends sessions which bring together influential voices from across Australia for insightful conversations.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:02:11

The first event, scheduled for October 25, will feature leaders like Catherine Marriott and Fleur Anderson, both involved in the platform's inception.

Julia Spicer: 00:02:20

So we have monthly lunch with friends where it is very much the opportunity to hear from leaders, key people from across Australia who will join us literally for lunch to have some conversations.

Julia Spicer: 00:02:33

But we also will be running professional development through the platform.

Julia Spicer: 00:02:37

Anything from how to prepare an online keynote speech through to cross cultural leadership, how we manage remotely, you know, these topics that we're having and these challenges that we're having, regardless of whether we're in agriculture, local government or philanthropy across regional Australia.

Julia Spicer: 00:02:55

These are some of the areas that we really want to be able to help people focus on Kimberley and give them some skills, confidence and importantly, some networks to be able to cross fertilize, let's say and do some work with different people and start to get some of these regional voices and regional leaders into some other decision making spaces and also onto some other stages around Australia.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:03:21

Julia also touched on the persistent gap between women in rural workforces and leadership roles.

Julia Spicer: 00:03:27

What we find is often the statistics of women in organisations or women in business is roughly 50 50.

Julia Spicer: 00:03:37

The challenge we find, though, is when we look at leadership roles within industry or within business, that drops to about 1%.

Julia Spicer: 00:03:44

And so, you know, some of that is women in particular leave the workforce to not only have the babies, but then raise the families.

Julia Spicer: 00:03:52

And that still happens, you know, more regularly than it does the men leaving the workplace to do that.

Julia Spicer: 00:03:58

And so then to come back in at that leadership level is more challenging for people.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:02

So there was some work done years ago with some of the corporate ag businesses across northern Australia and that was certainly the statistic that, you know, 50% of their workforce was women, but only 1% in leadership roles.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:15

And so there's that element to it.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:18

And then the other really interesting thing, Kimberly, from what's seen both anecdotally and also through some of the research, is the amount of.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:25

Of time that women spend on volunteer boards before they think they have the experience or skills to move onto a paid board role.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:33

And that is in some cases, you know, decades or certainly at least five or six years.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:39

And so we're potentially missing women joining bigger board roles, paid board roles, you know, we're missing five or ten years of their experience around that table because they don't think they're ready yet.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:50

And in some circumstances that might be the case.

Julia Spicer: 00:04:52

But I would doubt that that's the case for most of the ladies.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:04:56

With a third of Australians living in rural areas.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:04:58

Julia and Jo believe that representation on state and national boards should reflect this.

Julia Spicer: 00:05:04

A third of Australians live in the region.

Julia Spicer: 00:05:06

So if we follow that through to state health boards, national advisory councils, et cetera, et cetera, you would assume that a third of the boards and councils at state and national level should also be filled by regional people.

Julia Spicer: 00:05:22

We know that's not the case and we see the connection table as a way to be able to bring regional Australia across sectors into an area where we can then be accessed while we're all in our silos of industries or states or whatever, it's really hard for people to be able to find us and engage with us.

Julia Spicer: 00:05:42

And so, you know, there's the pulling together of all of the regional people and helping promote.

Julia Spicer: 00:05:48

There's also the flip side of where we're far more easy then for a federal or state government department to come and find the clever leaders who are doing a level of professional development and have found their way to the connection table.

Julia Spicer: 00:06:01

So we're really looking at it as that two way opportunity for the regions to better engage and also bring our skills and experience to the table.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:06:11

The connection table is certainly set to play a key role in making rural Australia more visible, accessible and engaged in shaping the future of the nation.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:06:23

Big changes at the Conron store in Grenfell, New South Wales.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:06:26

It has a new owner and a fresh location in the heart of Main street.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:06:30

ourney since it was opened in: 2023

Sophie Hancock: 00:06:39

New owner Hayden Rhodes, the founder of the Conran store.

Sophie Hancock: 00:06:42

Rachel Conran, she flagged the idea of opening a rural lifestyle store that would operate in conjunction with Conran Stock Creek.

Sophie Hancock: 00:06:49

So Hayden was already involved in that business, so he got to see the store come to life, which was so exciting.

Sophie Hancock: 00:06:57

He was already in love with the idea of the store and how great it had been going, so he jumped at the opportunity.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:03

It's nice to be able to still work with him in this capacity because we were working in the same location before, but, you know, he was involved with Conran stock Crete and I was involved with the store.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:14

So it's really exciting to continue that partnership with him and, yeah, in a new location which we've just only opened in.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:21

So it's been a really great time.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:07:23

Sophie says the retail scene is thriving in the small town of Grenfell.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:27

Grenfell has got such a range of retail stores.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:31

It's really exciting what's happening here in the moment, especially up the main street, and you can start at one end and you can just, you know, visit a series of shops the whole way up the street, which is really great.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:40

And everyone is so supportive of one another, especially because we all offer something so different.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:46

So our store predominantly is rural lifestyle.

Sophie Hancock: 00:07:50

We have a mixture of country clothing and work clothing and a few outdoor pieces where there's other stores that have homewares or, like a more fashion style.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:00

So something that we don't have, we'll let them know about another store up the main street and vice versa.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:06

So there's a really exciting range of shops that are happening in Grenville at the moment.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:11

And to have the local community support, that is so exciting.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:15

But also to bring other people into the town has been really great to see.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:08:19

Speaking about the difficulties facing retail businesses in rural areas.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:08:23

Sophie says initiatives like buy from the Bush have spotlighted rural talent and why shopping local makes a meaningful impact on communities like hers.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:32

The retail sector, like any industry, definitely has its ups and downs.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:36

And, you know, the downs can be pretty low and the highs are very high.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:39

And I think just to ride that wave is really tricky.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:42

But I think when you say to shop local, I think to bring it back.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:46

A few years ago, that buy from the bush really lifted the lid on what was happening in rural and regional Australia.

Sophie Hancock: 00:08:52

Like, there are so many wonderful businesses doing incredible things, and I just think there is so much talent out there, especially in, you know, the rural and regional sectors.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:02

And I think because already being in those types of communities, there's already that resilience, you know, whether it be through drought or, you know, the other challenges that we do face out here, which vary a lot.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:15

So I do think there is a lot of resilience for people in the country, but I just also think that there is so much to see.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:22

We just have so much to offer to shop local.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:25

It means so much to not only the community, but, yeah, just to so many wonderful women who are doing great things.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:31

And I think buy from the bush really just showcased what there is out there.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:09:35

The Conron store recently moved into a historic building at 38 Main street, formerly a hardware store and co working space.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:43

So the new store has a really lovely history.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:46

It's a beautiful building.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:48

We're at 38 Main street, and it was originally a hardware store.

Sophie Hancock: 00:09:52

When I was a little girl, I used to come in here with my dad, and, you know, later down the track, it developed into a beautiful co working space called the Collective, which was owned by Belinda Marwini.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:02

And, yeah, we've returned back to the retail roots.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:05

And to open the store up into this space again has been so lovely just to have so much history here, and it's been really lovely to have different generations come into the store and, you know, see how it's transformed over the years and, you know, just to bring new life into it, to keep it going.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:21

It's in a beautiful part of the street, and I think to have something with so much history and just to keep it going and to add to its story is really lovely.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:10:30

The Conron store is a go to destination for wow factor retail experiences, but it shouldn't be your only stop.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:37

We actually have got a beautiful instagram account called Retail Road Trip to Grenfell, which showcases all of the beautiful shops to come and see why you're here I would definitely go and visit the natural home.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:49

They've got such beautiful homewares and furniture, farm and fable.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:52

They have got a nursery and a coffee shop as well as some other beautiful gifts.

Sophie Hancock: 00:10:57

The tin cupboard have got beautiful kitchen wares and other lovely things.

Sophie Hancock: 00:11:01

Chrome boutique there's scope clothing, there is a beautiful bound pages.

Sophie Hancock: 00:11:06

Bookshop there is.

Sophie Hancock: 00:11:07

Yeah, there's so many lovely shops to see but definitely follow retail road trip to Grenfell and yeah, you'll see what's on there and come and spend the day in Grenfell.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:11:19

Now for some news headlines.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:11:21

Steph Trethewey, founder of national charity Motherland, has launched Motherland Connect, Australia's first digital resource hub for rural mothers, a one stop shop connecting them to the services they need to support their mental and physical health and their families.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:11:35

rnalist, set up Motherland in: 2021

Kimberly Finesse: 00:11:45

Still on motherland and Tola trading, who design work shirts with unique print detail, have partnered up with the national charity to donate $5 from every holly shirt sold.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:11:55

Rhythm First Aid has launched its first food tracker fridge magnet.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:11:59

Designed by founder Nicole Gleeson, a paediatric emergency nurse and first aid expert, the comprehensive food trackers make the journey of introducing solids to your baby easier and less overwhelming.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:11

Georgie Somerset, a rural industry leader and strategist, has been named a joint recipient of the Peter Kenny Medal as part of the Queensland Agriculture Awards.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:20

The award recognises her commitment to innovation that leads to profitability and sustainability and receives a $3,000 bursary to go towards supporting her studies or work.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:31

Eileen Breen has received the Northern Territory Telstra Best of business award for promoting sustainability for her business, Entex.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:39

Entex is a resource recovery company that transforms potential environmental liabilities into valuable resources.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:46

Its flagship project converts waste, concrete and tires into reusable materials.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:52

Eileen is on a winning streak, having earlier this year been named Northern Territorys Rural Woman of the year.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:12:58

Australian women in Agriculture held its national conference in Aubrey Wodonga last week.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:02

Three days of inspiration, networking and lots of seeds for success shared amongst 200 women from across the country.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:10

t in your application for the: 2025

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:16

Your business program or project could be the next to receive over $35,000 in funding thanks to Platinum sponsor Westpac.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:24

Applications close on Wednesday, October 9 and a few events coming up.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:29

Rural Women's Day is Tuesday, October 15.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:32

There are many fabulous events held across the nation to celebrate and connect with like minded women.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:38

You'll find me at the New South Wales Rural Women's gathering in Hardin Murrumburra on October 19.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:44

The gathering is full of wonderful activities, including twelve unique workshops, networking opportunities, arts, craft and cultural experiences.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:13:53

I'll be joining two incredible guest speakers, Yana Pitman, former Australian Olympian and two time athletics world champion, and Ruby Reith Muller, founder of Womankind.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:14:03

Tickets for Saturday are $65, which includes three workshops, catering and access to keynote speakers.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:14:10

The Matresen's collective are bringing a pregnancy, birth and postpartum expo to Bendigo on October 27.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:14:16

Attendees will have access to a number of service providers who are experts in supporting new mothers through pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:14:29

That's your weekly wrap up for regional women.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:14:31

You'll find links in our show notes for anything that's been mentioned.

Kimberly Finesse: 00:14:34

If you'd like to hear your news, share it with us on Instagram at shemakesNews or via email shemakesnewsmail.com.