Australian Rural Leadership program

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Thirty-five people from across rural, regional and remote Australia have been selected to partake in Course 26 of the iconic Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP) announced Matt Linnegar, Chief Executive of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF).

The ARLP is a 15-month leadership program which takes place across Australia and Vietnam, immersing participants in a series of unique experiences to develop their leadership capabilities.

The two cotton industry people included in the latest program are Chantal Corish and Rod Gordon, both from Goondiwindi.

“Our generous partners provide a $55,000 scholarship for each participant to undertake the program. Our partners believe that investing in people is crucial for the greater good of rural, regional and remote Australia,” said Matt.

“Throughout the program participants will engage in challenging and lifechanging experiences. We’ll provide time and space to reflect on their abilities as a leader. They’ll be given the tools and capacity to influence change and make an impact in regional Australia.”

The ARLP is Australia’s longest and most in-depth experiential leadership program. The program gives participants valuable opportunities to nurture, challenge and build upon their leadership skills with people from diverse communities and industries.

“They will form lifelong friendships, mentoring relationships, and a network that extends beyond their course to the wider 1,400 plus alumni of the Foundation.”

The participants started their first session of the program in Darwin in July, before travelling to the Kimberley region in WA for an outdoor experiential component of the program.

The aims of the program are to develop: • Communication in a range of spher es and approaches; • Strategic thinking and behavioural intelligence • Capability to lead in dif ferent contexts and in complexity; • Respectful influence and impact on others; and, • Building and maintaining meaningful industry and community relationships.

The participants have opportunities to engage with different levels of government, industries, communities and various regional areas.

These leaders broaden their perspectives and connect with the ARLP’s extensive and supportive alumni network.

Together they will make an impact by working for the greater good of regional Australia.

The participants in the previous ARLP course, including two from the cotton industry, had their graduation earlier this year.

Fleur Anderson is a farmer, entrepreneur and communications consultant based in Theodore. She lives on an irrigated cotton farm with her family and is from a farming family in Dalby. Fleur is a Director of Cotton Australia, Chair of the 2018 Cotton Conference and Chair of the Australian Cotton Industry Forum. She is dedicated to her start-up, the Rural Business Collective, and is involved in local community organisations

John Durham from Coleambally manages an irrigated cropping business. He has always had a passion for agriculture and completed his studies at Marcus Oldham College. He is the Chair of the Southern Valleys Cotton Growers Association and is a grower representative at the Cotton Australia and Cotton Research and Development Corporation general meetings.

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