Orbost and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ODCCI) has had a busy 12 months with plenty of progress in and around the town.

ODCCI president, Susan Hooper, reported at the group’s annual general meeting last week that chamber members had been actively providing input to many projects, particular in the Orbost township, through various committees, including the Nicholson Street streetscape stage two; management committee of the Orbost Visitor Information Centre; APA/Coopers Community Advisory Committee; Orbost District Community Development Group; and the Save the Snowy Rail Bridge Committee.

The chamber continued to lobby with relevant authorities for issues such as improved signage at entrances to the town and to toilets in Wolesley
Street; maintenance of public toilets around the district in peak periods; deer warning signs on the Princes Highway; various aspects of the Nicholson Street streetscape, especially access for prams and walkers; large vehicle parking signs; and lighting at various locations.

It also responded to various correspondence to external organisations and gave input to various planning processes and support to other organisations.

“The chamber continues to be part of the joint committee organising the Christmas Eve Festival and is a key player in the administration and accounting for the event,” Susan said.

“This is a key event in Orbost and is rather unique in rural Victoria. This year saw the addition of a number of attractions including street stalls, which enhanced the event. It was also great to see new members put their hands up to improve the decorations in Nicholson Street.

“A substantial financial donation saw improvements to the lights on the Christmas tree in Tara Street, which was the best ever. There were many favourable comments from the community. We again conducted the best lights in town and best decorated window as part of the festival.”

Susan said a lack of employment, particularly for the younger generation, is still an ongoing issue around the district.

“The chamber was active in encouraging APA, and their contractor, Downer, to employ locals and buy locally where possible, and we have been pleased with the actions of those companies,” she said.

“The additional personnel employed on the Corringle gas plant extension has also been a welcome boost to the local economy.”

The chamber continued with the administrative tasks associated with the management of the Orbost Visitor Information Centre, which had just under 14,000 visitors during the 2018 calendar year. The centre produced a number of self-guided touring brochures to help visitors enjoy all the attractions that the district has to offer. The Marlo map pad was reprinted while a new brochure for the McKillops loop is planned.

“One of the key issues for our community is to look after ourselves as far as possible and maintain local resilience,” Susan said.

“One way to do this is to encourage the community to shop locally and thereby maintain and create local jobs. The chamber continues to promote the sale of goods and services vouchers, which are redeemable in most businesses in Orbost.”

The extended period of drought in the district has put financial pressure on the farming community and a flow-on impact into the general business community. Orbost Regional Health convened a drought committee and some of the funds available to that committee have been used to purchase chamber vouchers to the value of $31,000, which have been distributed to farmers to spend back in the community.

“There is also increasing interest from community in giving vouchers as presents and a number of businesses have purchased the vouchers for prizes or for Christmas bonuses for their staff. We need to build on this interest. The lucky shopper raffle is another chamber initiative to try to encourage locals to shop locally and keep jobs local,” Susan said.

Two delegates regularly attended the monthly meetings of the Business and Tourism East Gippsland (BTEG) committee, ensuring ODCCI views are represented.

“While there are lots of new projects that the chamber needs to focus on into the future, there are also many things that have been completed over the past 12 months or are in progress,” Susan said.

The Nicholson Street streetscape is an ongoing project, many paths and kerbs around town have been improved and natural gas is now available in the town.

“One of the highlights of the year was to see local businesses successful in the East Gippsland Business Awards. 442 Travel, Sailors Grave Brewery and Sammi Reynolds (Snowy River Mail) were all finalists in their respective categories. The latter two were also category winners,” Susan said.

Some challenges identified for the chamber and the district include:

• Ongoing maintenance and improvement of the chamber website (orbost.org) and the town website (orbostregion.com.au).
• Maintaining the jobs that are in the district – particularly in the timber industry.
• Filling empty shops.

“Our membership numbers have held fairly steady over the year with a number of new faces as businesses change hands etc.” Susan said.

“On the negative side there were a number of businesses that closed during the year, including Bensi Electrical and the Commonwealth Hotel.”

Susan thanked ODCCI members for their ongoing financial support of the work of the chamber, particularly those attending each of the monthly meetings.

“We again have some challenges ahead in 2019/20, particularly as the demographics of the town change towards a more aged population,” she said.

“The effects of this are being felt in many community and sporting organisations and it is important that the community is proactive in responding to the changes.

“It would be great to get more members to our meetings as ‘more hands on deck’ means we could achieve more into the future.”

The chamber’s current Lucky Fiver promotion has this week jackpotted. Check the ad below then your wallet to see if you hold the lucky five-dollar note that could see you the winner of $400 worth of vouchers.