Solutions Newsletter - Edition 12

IN THIS ISSUE

 

Front Offices —the Gateway to Excellence in Service Delivery

Front office consultants of Rural Solutions SA provide a valuable and appreciated service to our customers.

That role ranges from being the first point of contact in service delivery to providing business, administrative and project support services for RuralSolutions SA, and administrative and finance services to other PIRSA divisions co-located with Rural Solutions SA.

As Rural Solutions SA marks 10 years in business in 2008 our Business Support Consultants Customer Charter reflects the organisation’s commitment to our customers, values and service delivery standards.

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Limestone Coast— Excellence and Diversity

Limestone Coast region Business Support team leader Erica Kay is based at Struan, with the region’s offices being located at Kingscote (Gail Capon and Faye Stephenson), Victor Harbor (Sue Cooper), Keith (Tarnya Brooksby and Laticia Dick), Struan (Mary Staude, Bev Hebberman, Sophie Coote, Bettina Palma), Mt Gambier (Cathy Kent, Kerrilee Alfakir), plus some excellent support casual consultants.

Mt Gambier office consultants efficiently service Rural Solutions SA’s Agreement with Fisheries in regard to issuing licenses to both recreational and professional fisher people in the South East. This service is also provided at Struan and Kingscote.

The South East Field Days held in March are successfully coordinated through Tarnya Brooksby and Cathy Kent, with really positive feedback this year. Gail and Faye from Kingscote are also involved in the Kangaroo Island Field Days.

“The Struan Business Support team have kept all consultants ‘sane’ during the recent Struan House renovations,” said Erica. “The renovations have been an arduous task and we look forward to the completion so we can all settle back into operational offices!

“Mary Staude is especially to be commended for her fantastic support during these renovations, not only to the local consultants but also to all the multitude of contractors that have been on site for the last six months.

“This has also included giving them extra blankets so they haven’t frozen in the local caravan park!”

Bev Hebberman at Struan provides administration support to the SE Natural Resources Management Board, and Mary Staude provides support to the animal health group with SA Dairy website.

Kangaroo Island has the highest number of OJD infected properties and “at risk” properties within the state. The Business Support consultants are instrumental in assisting the OJD program by distributing Gudair Vaccine, distributing an average of 200 000 doses per year. Consultants are also involved in assisting the land management team in the Healthy Soils Project.

At Victor Harbor Sue Cooper is part of the Forestry Team which supports the commercial forestry project for growing Tasmanian blue gums in the Fleurieu Peninsula and Mt Lofty Ranges for Adelaide Blue Gum (a consortium made up of Japanese companies). Sue’s tasks range from property management issues to coordinating visits for Japanese VIPs.

Sue is currently assisting Rural Solutions SA Finance by electronically transferring current contracts to PIRSA Objective, the electronic document and records management system (EDRMS) which provides a single point of access to information.

Business Support consultants in the Limestone Coast are trained and ready to assist in Emergency Management situations and Faye and Gail were involved in assisting the PIRSA response/recovery teams during the recent Kangaroo Island bushfires.

At Keith Tarnya Brooksby assists the Business Development & Marketing team in media monitoring and website maintenance and development, and enjoys the challenge of compiling the regular Agritalk article for local newspapers. She also assists with the Planning for Recovery Workshops in the region.

Seed Services Australia in October 2007 commenced providing improved services for our Upper South East seed industry clients by establishing a customer service contact point within the Keith Office of Rural Solutions SA. In addition to providing information on products and services and processing crop applications and account payments, business representatives Tarnya and Laticia Dick give hands on advice and guidance on using our exciting Internet services— Seeds Online & Payments Online.

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Plenty of ground to cover for Eyre/Rangelands

The diversified Business Support Eyre/Rangelands team has responsibility for a land area of 75% of South Australia.

Port Augusta based Team Leader Aileen Stone has Business Support consultants at Rural Solutions SA’s four sites. They are Issy Pearce (Cleve), Brooke Mundy, Toni Arbon (Port Augusta), Ann Staunton, Rachael Dowson (Port Lincoln) and Sue Rumbelow (Streaky Bay).

In delivering these unique services the team requires a broad range of skills, expertise and intellectual knowledge.

Services to both internal and external clients include Service Level Agreements with Fisheries, Information Service Obligations and Services SA, while support and services are provided to the Eyre Peninsula Drought Coordinator, Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources Management Board, the Rural Solutions SA livestock team and the Desert Knowledge Co-op Research Centre, Project Leader.

“Trained and ready to assist in any Emergency Management situation this team are diverse, experienced, highly skilled in what they do, and a fantastic support for Rural Solutions SA’s customers,” said Aileen.

Every member of the Business Support team in Eyre/Rangelands is actively involved in the Rural Solutions SA Implementation Plan to reduce the impact on the environment by being the key drivers in their offices to recycle materials including plastics, paper, toner cartridges, saving energy by switching off electrical equipment and encouraging other Rural Solutions SA Consultants to use double sided black and white printing if possible.

The Business Support team encourages consultants to travel together for meetings. A key initiative in the Port Augusta office is networking with other government agencies like Outback Areas Community Development Trust to share equipment such as utilising Rural Solutions SA’s pooled vehicles for their travel.

Travelling arrangements with other Rural Solutions SA Consultants are coordinated when attending Field Days in the Far North, West Coast and middle of Eyre Peninsula.

“Field day sites for both PIRSA and Rural Solutions SA consultants can be coordinated by us, and particularly our Streaky Bay, Cleve and Port Augusta offices sell publications at these events. Our Port Lincoln office increased publication sales by nearly 80% compared to 2005/06, a great outcome, “ said Aileen.

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90,000 customer enquiries handled

Business Support consultants handled over 90,000 customer enquiries in the 12 months to September 2007.

Landowners/Agribus made up 22,806 of the total, PIRSA and State agencies 48,406 and the Community 18,877.

Included in the overall numbers were 23,318 customer enquiries at field days and special events during the year.

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Mighty Murray carves its way through the Mallee

South Australia’s Murraylands region is just one hour’s drive from Adelaide, being home to the mighty Murray River which carves its way through the centre of the region. The lush river environment contrasts with the haunting landscapes of the Mallee.

Riverland
The Riverland is located on the Murray River and extends from Renmark to Waikerie. The Murray River is central to the success of the region providing a natural resource for irrigation and a natural environment for the native flora and fauna The Riverland is one of Australia’s major horticultural regions, and wine producers. The Riverland grows 50 per cent of the State’s wine grapes, thus making it Australia’s largest wine-producing region. The region also grows and processes citrus, stone fruit, almonds, vegetables, apples, cherries and olives.

Business Services activities within this region are many and varied given the broad range of horticultural and agricultural crops grown in this area. The majority of customers include primary producers, agribusiness groups, agricultural bureaux, Natural Resources Management Boards and other government departments.

The Business Support team at Loxton and Renmark are responsible for:

  • Liaison with consultants and growers
  • Working with Rural Financial Counsellors
  • Completing Drought response discs
  • Laminating Drought booklets
  • Rock Lobster licences
  • National Livestock Identification System
  • Visitor Quarters booking
  • Government Radio Network

Murray Bridge
Murray Bridge is located less than an hour’s drive from Adelaide on the Murray River north of Lake Alexandrina, and sits approx 26 metres above sea level. With a population of 17,000 people it has a sprawling rural centre, grain silos,vegetable gardens, hothouses and light industry.
The city is the centre of a major agricultural district which is driven by dairying, chicken raising, pig breeding, tomato and snow pea growing.

Just out of Murray Bridge there is a new open range zoo and breeding ground for arid and grassland animals at the Monarto Zoological Park.

The Business Support team in Murray Bridge is responsible for:

  • Fisheries
  • OJD
  • Planning for Recovery
  • Rural Counsellors
  • Branch Broomrape
  • Land condition monitoring

Lenswood
Lenswood is a semi-rural village situated in the Adelaide Hills at the seat of the Onkaparinga Valley and is an area of rolling vineyards, blocks of apple and cherry orchards and lush farms. Local industries include apple, pear and cherry growers (Pome Fruit) and several wineries.
Business Support consultants:

  • Assist in preparation for Orchard Walks held periodically at Lenswood.
  • Compile statistics and figures into report form.
  • Organise catering for local industry groups that use the conference room.
  • Keep a range of brochures on local industries and local happenings. eg. local Cellar Door location maps, Cherry Trail maps, information on the Adelaide Hills Wine Region.
  • Provide administrative support to other offices.

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Fisheries and Minerals,a feature of Central Region

Lyn Chapman is the Team Leader for Business Support, Central Region that encompasses the Mid North, Yorke Peninsula, Barossa Valley and Adelaide areas.

Offices are located at Jamestown, Clare (Liz Hollitt, Nicola McMurray), Kadina (Penny Stevens), Nuriootpa (Dee Joss and Sue Weaver), Adelaide (Pamela Cresshull and Emma Holman) and Glenside (Roslyn Toynton & Daniel Guadagnin).

The region delivers a varied range of skills and expertise across a variety of Primary Industries.

The services provided by the Central Business Support team include services to internal and external clients.

Some of the many services provided are included in SLA’s with Fisheries, Information Service Obligations and Minerals.

Other projects the team work on are providing support and services to the Planning for Recovery Co-ordinator, Emergency Management Project Leader, support to the Rural Solutions SA Livestock team, Environmental Design and Management team, Resource Protection and Development team and the Business Development and Marketing team.

The Kadina office is responsible for providing a whole of PIRSA display at the bi-annual Yorke Peninsula Field Days.

The support the Central Region Business Support team provides does not stop with the projects mentioned but includes a broad range of services too numerous to mention!

Lyn Chapman is Project Leader for PIRSA’s Emergency Management Response and recently led the Kangaroo Island bushfires team, not only supporting local PIRSA employees, but attending local community meetings and debriefs at the Incident Control Centre.

“Choosing to attend at least two of five de-briefing meetings held daily we collated information from farmers and landholders, ascertaining how much they had lost by way of fencing, fodder, crops and stock,” said Lyn.

“This information was then used to help out others affected by the bushfires.”

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