Established in 1981 as the
proudly serving Sunbury and Macedon Ranges
26 APRIL, 2022
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Rainbow voices soar There’s an exciting opportunity for local LGBTIQA+ people and allies to raise their voices and sing their hearts out in Kyneton: say hello to the Rainbow Voices Community Choir (RVCC). The RVCC is about as welcoming as it gets too, calling for all crooners, from shower singers to professionals, to get involved with renowned musician and Kyneton resident Adam Przewlocki’s grassroots initiative. “It’s never been in my interest to be involved in university level choirs, it’s been much more my interest to be involved in un-auditioned, all-inclusive spaces, to aim for something that is truly excellent,” Mr Przewlocki said. It’s the first LGBTIQA+ choir in the Macedon Ranges, and Mr Przewlocki said he wanted to create a space where queer young people could come to feel safe. RVCC is open to people aged 13 and older, from 4-6pm on Sundays at the Kyneton Community House. Details: admin@kynetoncommunityhouse.org.au. Adam Przewlocki, Dawn Whittall and Pete Muntz from the Rainbow Voices Community Choir. (Damjan Janevski) 277256_01
Employers feel the pinch By Elsie Lange While Australia’s unemployment rate remained at four per cent in March, some say the figure isn’t all cause for celebration – especially in light of workforce shortages across Victoria. And it’s being felt close to home, throughout Sunbury and the Macedon Ranges. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figure was described by the agency’s head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis as “the lowest the unemployment rate has been in the monthly survey”. However, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said businesses are facing “acute pressures”. “The stabilising of the unemployment rate at four per cent has coincided with the most severe
workforce shortages in 48 years alongside the highest job vacancy rates since records began,” Mr McKellar said. Sunbury Business Association president Michael Osborne said he’d seen business owners were having to fill the gap in their workforce because it was so hard to find staff. “A local fruit and veggie owner … has to do the deliveries himself because he cannot find anyone to deliver fruit and veggies,” Mr Osborne said. “Not only is he having to go and source the produce, with an early morning start, he then has to come back, pack it and deliver it, as well because he just cannot get someone to perform that role.” He said a lack of workers in the country, either as international students or migrants, meant employees had more bargaining power
when it came to looking for a job. “We don’t have those extra students doing those front of house or hospitality-type jobs,” Mr Osborne said. Simon Fenwick, owner of Monsieur Pierre in Kyneton, said so far, 2022 had been “the hardest start to a year yet”. “There’s not the 18-to-25 year olds that are looking for work in the [hospitality] industry, and they’re the sort of bread and butter as far as we’re concerned,” Mr Fenwick said. Mr Fenwick put a lack of hospitality workers in the Macedon Ranges not down to immigration, but to the housing crisis in the region. “A young family couldn’t afford to come up here and work, given there’s not the availability or the supply of rentals,” he said.
He said the worker shortages weren’t specific to hospitality either. “There’s a real blight on the regional element of employment, I’ve been in hospitality for 35 years and I just don’t have the answer to it,” Mr Fenwick said. Mr McKellar said the Australian economy was operating at “full capacity”, and an ambitious plan was needed to resolve the labour and skills shortages faced by businesses. “Without a comprehensive strategy to address workforce shortages, businesses who are already stretched with an ultra-tight labour market will be pushed to breaking point,” Mr McKellar said. “The next federal government must pull all the levers it can to address chronic skills shortages.”
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