Relocation Assistance to Take Up a Job (RATTUAJ) is an Australian Government program that assists eligible participants to relocate to take up an offer of full time, ongoing employment. Relocation assistance helps participants accept work outside of their area by removing the financial barriers that can prevent people relocating.
A participant can receive assistance of up to:
$6000 (GST exclusive) if relocating to a regional area
$3000 (GST exclusive) if relocating to a capital city
an extra $3000 (GST exclusive) if relocating with a dependent.
Funding can be used for a range of relocation costs. For example, up to two month’s rent, rental bond, removalist costs, travel costs, food during relocation and some employment-related expenses. Pre-approved assistance is made by reimbursement, paid directly to a service provider or in advance where necessary.
The Victorian Government is offering teachers a one-off incentive payment of up to $50,000 (pre-tax) to encourage them to apply for hard-to-staff positions.
The average incentive offered will be approximately $25,000. This includes additional retention payments of up to $9,000 for three years, plus relocation support.
National Ride 2 Work Day is Australia’s largest celebration of commuter riding. It is an event that encourages commuters to bicycle to and from work.
It helps those who never tried commuting by bike to give it a go. It allows regular riders to motivate others, especially their workmates to get involved.
Riding to work improves your health, save money, care for the environment, increase productivity and make commuting safer. It is also the most time-efficient way to fit exercise into a daily routine. Instead of taking your car, you can get your recommended daily exercise without having to spend extra time or money at the gym.
Celebrate and enjoy the benefit of riding to work!
The purpose of World Homeless Day is to give attention to homeless people’s needs locally and provide opportunities for the community to get involved in responding to homelessness.
Causes of Homelessness were lack of affordable housing due to rising property values, limited housing, poverty, loss of employment, under-employment, family breakdown, etc.
It is something you can point to on the calendar each year and use to make a significant difference in your local community.
Let us celebrate this day by helping to raise awareness for the homeless in our own community, educate the people about the homeless and help them how the existing infrastructure can be improved.
The science is now unequivocal, 97% of climate scientists say climate change is occurring and is human-induced. Already Australia is feeling the impact, with 123 weather records broken last summer and the hottest 12 months on record.
At Environmental Action, we know that no one action will solve the climate crisis. But we also believe that, working together, we can speak loudly enough and often enough to turn the country toward a cleaner, greener path.
We must oppose the opening of more coal mines. We must not let our land be bought and opening spoiled by billionaire mining giants who lack any environmental responsibility. We must enact a plan to switch to renewables with a realistic goal of 50-100% by 2030
Let us all respect the will of the people and embrace climate action.
Save us from a climate crisis, before it’s too late. Check out this link and sign this petition today.
This is not Business as Usual – the Climate Emergency – it’s Head and Heart Now
We are creating new norms for business and have been for over 20 years now. Please join us Friday September 20 for the Strike and then take actions every week to address our climate change emergency. The phrase ‘business as usual’ gets thrown around a lot in corporate settings.
But there is nothing ‘usual’ about climate change and the alarming rate at which we are and have been damaging our planet. And it is certainly not business as usual for Australia’s students and young people to be asking adults to participate in action against climate change.
So, for the Global Climate Strike this September 20th, Eco Real Estate won’t be doing business as usual. Instead, we are closing our offices, paying all our staff, and encouraging all to attend the action in their town or city.
What is the Global Climate Strike? Over the past year, millions of young people participated in school climate strikes to send a clear message that the climate crisis needs immediate attention.
This Friday September 20, those same school students are calling on adults to join them on the streets to demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Millions of adults will walk out of their workplaces and homes to support solutions to the most important crisis facing our world.
Find out more at: https://globalclimatestrike.net
Why we support and are ourselves hitting the streets for climate Our climate is too important for our families and our workplaces to ignore. And we know that the number one reason that people won’t strike is because of work.
You should not have to choose between a pay day and the planet. All of us benefit from living in a healthy, stable climate. It’s what has allowed us to build inspiring businesses in the first place.
My message to everyone at Eco Real Estate and all my fellow business leaders is: take action now, both yourself and to support others.
Are other businesses are getting involved? The reality is that while it’s not up to the private sector to lead climate action, we can do our part in this unique moment. Every business in Australia can do something.
A number of Australian businesses are making a pledge to their employees that they will support their participation in the climate strike, through different means. So, you can close for the day, you can use your special leave arrangements to join the strike, or you can hold a “no meetings” day” so that at least everyone can organise their schedule to join the #Climatestrike in some way.
Why is it an emergency? Just this week we have learned that each person on the planet consumes the equivalent of a business card amount of microplastics, some so small they can cross cell boundaries – every year. So, imagine how much every breathing creature is consuming!
The reality is that once scientists developed plastics they should have only ever had very, very limited use. Instead we have polluted our planet with these virtually indestructible but very destructive substances now polluting our soils, our oceans, and all living creatures.
How many young people do you know who have died of bowel cancer at 32; who have serious reproductive problems (both men and women) in their 20s and 30s; who have endless rounds of antibiotics year in year out for infections (and often only viruses).
Such a great day held each year for people to showcase the fabulous homes they have created and share their knowledge and experiences.
Check out your location on their website to see where to visit. Learn about how to reduce energy and water use. See properties built of hemp or earth. Be inspired, get ideas, appreciate and find the keys to sustainable living.
Such a great day held each year for people to showcase the fabulous homes they have created and share their knowledge and experiences.
Check out your location on their website to see where to visit. Learn about how to reduce energy and water use. See properties built of hemp or earth. Be inspired, get ideas, appreciate and find the keys to sustainable living.
We are creating new norms for business and have been for over 20 years now. So join us Friday September 20 for the Strike and then take actions every week to address climate change emergency. The phrase ‘business as usual’ gets thrown around a lot in corporate settings.
But there is nothing ‘usual’ about climate change and the alarming rate at which we are and have been damaging our planet. And it is certainly not business as usual for Australia’s students and young people to be asking adults to participate in action against climate change.
So for the Global Climate Strike this September 20th, Eco Real Estate won’t be doing business as usual. Instead, we are closing our offices, paying all our staff, and encouraging all to attend the action in their town or city.
What is the Global Climate Strike? Over the past year, millions of young people participated in school climate strikes to send a clear message that the climate crisis needs immediate attention.
This Friday September 20, those same school students are calling on adults to join them on the streets to demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Millions of adults will walk out of their workplaces and homes to support solutions to the most important crisis facing our world.
Find out more at: https://globalclimatestrike.net
Why we support and are ourselves hitting the streets for climate Our climate is too important for our families and our workplaces to ignore. And we know that the number one reason that people won’t strike is because of work.
You should not have to choose between a payday and the planet. All of us benefit from living in a healthy, stable climate. It’s what has allowed us to build inspiring businesses in the first place.
So, my message to everyone at Eco Real Estate and all my fellow business leaders is: take action now, both yourself and to support others.
Are other businesses are getting involved? The reality is that while it’s not up to the private sector to lead climate action, we can do our part in this unique moment. Every business in Australia can do something.
A number of Australian businesses are making a pledge to their employees that they will support their participation in the climate strike, through different means. So, you can close for the day, you can use your special leave arrangements to join the strike, or you can hold a “no meetings” day” so that at least everyone can organise their schedule to join the #Climatestrike in some way.
Why is it an emergency? Just this week we have learned that each person on the planet consumes the equivalent of a business card amount of microplastics – every year. So, imagine how much every breathing creature is consuming!
The reality is that once scientists developed plastics they should have only ever had very, very limited use. Instead we have polluted our planet with these virtually indestructible but very destructive substances now polluting our soils, our oceans, and all living creatures.
We have created alternative sources of power to coal but still our governments refuse to implement serious climate emergency actions for our people and businesses to implement.
How many young people do you know who have died of bowel cancer at 32; who have serious reproductive problems (both men and women); who have endless rounds of antibiotics year in year out for infections (and often only viruses).
Celebrating Community Action – Landcare Week Sept 1-8 2019
This week we are celebrating Landcare as one of our best national oganisations of the last 30 years, when farmers and conservationists came together to help protect the landscape for future generations.
Now with over 6,000 groups and hundreds of thousands of volunteers across rural and urban Australia, they play an important role in enhancing sustainable farming and conservation activities, all within building local community.
There are many ways you can become involved as a local community or as a landholder. What improves farming outcomes, values of assets and healthier lifestyles, also protects our environment.
Plant native trees, shrubs and grasses to create habitat for native animals to improve biodiversity and excellent windbreaks. Restoring native habitat also assists threatened species like the koala, platypus and native birds, from the impact of urban development and climate change. Care for the soils helps prevent salinity and erosion as well as increases biodiversity. Your local community can be involved in planting days, weed and rubbish removal, installing bird nesting boxes.
Manage invasive pests like feral pigs, foxes, deer and other animals that destroy the landscape and kill native animals
Use energy and water-usage efficiencies, such as farming effluent recycling, sediment control and solar panel installation.
Innovative farmers are now consulting with traditional owners about local land management and decision making- see Bruce Pascoe’s work on aboriginal agriculture that has increased Australia’s awareness of the original landcarers work managing our resources.
Homelessness
Week is an annual week coordinated by Homelessness Australia to raise awareness
of people experiencing homelessness, the issues they face and the action needed
to achieve enduring solutions.
This year we are advocating that the Federal Government commence an annual plan to create 20,000 public and community housing homes from existing and new property. This will be an innovative and enterprising program generating an instant and longlasting fantastic multiplier effect throughout the economy. It will also addressing the shameful homelessness we have in Australia. One in every 200 of us Australians experiences homelessness every night. Do the maths.
There are some initiatives that hopefully will inspire others throughout Australia.
In early 2019, six tenants with a chronic experience of
homelessness moved into the first six homes of the life-changing Harris
Transportable Housing Project in Melbourne’s inner west.
The
project is a partnership between Launch Housing and philanthropists Geoff and
Brad Harris, using nine parcels of vacant government land in to create 57 tiny
homes for people with a chronic experience of homelessness.
At a time when 116,000 people experience homelessness on any given night (up 14% from 2011 to 2016), this project demonstrates how unused government land can be repurposed to create safe, stable homes for people who urgently need them.
There
is much discussion and evidence about changes in Australian agriculture as
family farms are sold off – either to other families who need bigger operations
or to corporations into mega agriculture.
There
is another dimension of this story in Australian farming that receives little attention
but is increasingly important to Australians and our way of life for the coming
centuries.
A
remaining issue is the challenge of succession; namely that the adult children of
farmers often want different lives and careers outside of agriculture and so
are not interested to continue a farming enterprise. For some families, the
current farm is too small for the split of assets between children.
Such
is the case for Ron and Sue Watkins in south-western WA. They would have loved to pass their certified
organic farm on to at least one of their children.
Instead,
they are now looking for a young family to take over what has become one of the
finest examples of regenerative farming in Australia today.
As
a young couple, Ron and Sue moved back to what was his traditional family farm
in the 1970s. It was only then Ron was confronted with his mother’s
difficulties growing her veggies and fruit trees. What began as a water and salinity issue to
be solved, led Ron on a wonderful journey over the last 40 years towards
sustainability – the health and wellbeing of his land, his animals, the food he
produces – for Australians every week.
You
can now witness his integrated systems of water, soil, climate, human energy,
to the production of grains, beef, wool, lamb, eggs, poultry, vegetables. The
organic produce coming from the farm is held in high esteem and demand is high.
Ron
and Sue’s farm sits in complete contrast to the mono-cultures of massive wheat,
beef or cotton farms of industrial agriculture.
A
certified organic farm means no industrialised chemical regime; careful
assessment of anything brought on to the farm.
What
it also means is a way of life that echoes the agriculture of old – a love of
the land, a love of the way of life, a place to grow family and foster
community.
This
is not some pie-in-the-sky-dream or uneconomic way to live. Ron and Sue have demonstrated that small is
indeed beautiful, you can make a living on a farm that works with its natural
systems. A small landholding (552ha) can
provide a family with all it needs.
In
spite of our mass-industrialised food systems, the market demand for organic
food and natural, unprocessed products has increased exponentially. The
Australian organics market has grown by almost 88 per cent since 2012. So too,
consumers are seeking to know where their food comes from, how it is grown and
processed, and the environmental impact. Key figures from the 2018 Australian
Organic Market Report show two thirds of Australian shoppers said they started
buying organics for personal health reasons, while 12 per cent consider
themselves to be ‘highly-committed’ organic purchasers, usually outlaying 40
per cent or more of their food budget on organic food or household products.
Ron
and Sue are deeply committed to preserving the legacy of the land and passing
on their passion. They won’t simply walk away. As true custodians of the land,
Ron and Sue’s greatest gift to the next generation is to mentor and guide them
through a transition period. The next family will benefit from Ron and Sue’s priceless
wisdom and knowledge. Their knowledge of
what works (and what doesn’t), how to pursue new organic crops or the interests
of the new owners based on the market demand, as well as what the land can offer.
The
gates are open for vegetables, more poultry and eggs, aquaculture, experiential
tourism, training and research. For the
enterprising and innovative farmer, Ron’s farm provides the legacy and
potential that cannot be bought elsewhere.
Regenerative
agriculture on small farms and gardens is often based on practical ideologies
like permaculture, agroecology, agroforestry, restoration ecology, keyline
design and holistic management. This is rapidly gaining momentum among the
farming community as it is the integration of many approaches that have arisen
through the environmental movement in the last 50 years – speaking to all the
people worldwide who have wanted a different world, a different way of life to
the ever-increasing industrialising of farming through chemical regimes,
corporate seed ownership, ever bigger machinery. The values of working with natural systems,
not imposing human will on the land or water systems, but working with the
earth’s natural ecosystem to harness what the environment will provide in any
one location.
So,
whether it is permaculture emphasising natural systems and location; organic
certification which focuses on inputs and outputs in land; water systems; soil
improvement; natural habitat and biodiversity; all the benefits of these
features are now available on Ron’s farm.
Of
course, Ron’s farm at Frankland River could easily be sold on the open market,
where these opportunities and legacy may be lost. There has been ample interest from parties wanting
to expand their current farm; corporations wanting to exploit all the systems
and land; or perhaps those wanting to move into wine or olives. There are now three award-winning wines in James
Halliday’s Top 100 wine list; the region is now being looked at for its
community as Margaret River becomes increasingly upmarket and corporatised.
Ron’s
main priority is to preserve the eco
capital of the property and pass his farm on as if to his family; to share his knowledge, to pass
it on knowing the young family as committed to maintaining the organic status
even if they want to change the mix of production or enterprises to suit their
own preferences.
In
choosing his buyer Ron has selected The Eco Real Estate Network as the agency
to do this work. This real estate
innovator works nationwide only on what it calls environmental properties –
property that contributes to sustainability in some way. Organic farms of course but also suburban and
lifestyle homes, conservation and eco-tourism.
Through its partnership programs it works with the property owner to
find the next owner.
Extra
benefits are available. For this
property there are 4 titles which means innovation financing can come into
play. Eco Real Estate works with
investors and consultants who can structure innovative financing for any young
family who may need help in obtaining farming finance. The investors and consultants share the
commitment to retaining organic farms in Australia, for them not to be lost to
the open market.
Here
is an opportunity for you to be the farmer and ecoprenueur you always dreamed
of being. An outstanding economic and
environmental choice awaits you, with an amazing 12 month mentoring and training
package.
