REGIONAL ECONOMICS

‘Simply walking away’: Banks face branch closure crackdown as Senate probe exposes failures

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Original article by Matthew Elmas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 28-May-24

The Senate committee on regional affairs has released a report into bank closures in regional Australia, with the committee making a number of recommendations aimed at protecting regional communities from further branch closures. They include that access to cash should be considered an essential service and that the federal government should consider a new publicly owned bank that could service regional communities indefinitely, with Council of the Ageing chief executive Patricia Sparrow urging the government to "immediately action" the essential services call

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COUNCIL ON THE AGEING

ALP razor gang eyeing veterans, bushfire funds

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 4 : 18-Oct-22

Labor’s ‘razor gang’ is looking to make savings from the Community Development Grants Program, with one grant under scrutiny being one of $15 million to establish veteran wellbeing centres in three regional cities. Another grant potentially under scrutiny is one of almost $6 million to repair fire recovery centres in the Victorian towns of Ensay and Sarsfield, which were hit by the Black Summer bushfires. However, despite Labor’s review of the Community Development Grants Program, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says regional Australia will not get left behind in its upcoming budget.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Nats upset by watchdog threat to grants fund

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 7 : 4-Oct-22

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has suggested that the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission could be given the power to investigate the targeting of seats through grant programs. However, Nationals leader David Littleproud says such programs are a mechanism for seeing that regional areas get their fair share of funding, and that they should not come under the remit of the NACC. Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce says it does not view ‘pork barrelling’ as corruption but as a way of taking care of regional towns. Meanwhile, the Coalition has called for a high-ranking judge to make the final decision on whether NACC hearings are held in public.

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AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Can the Federal Government’s $50 million regional media bailout package save community newspapers?

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Original article by Ainsleigh Sheridan, Peta Doherty
abc.net au – Page: Online : 3-Jul-20

Launched in April, the federal government’s $50 million Public Interest News Gathering fund aims to support high quality news in rural Australia. The fund has announced that it is offering financial assistance to five television stations, 13 radio stations and 92 newspapers, with major media companies Australian Community Media and Seven West Media among those to receive assistance. Country Press Australia president Bruce Ellen claims small regional publishers did not get overly much in the way of money from the fund. Noting the federal government gave regional airlines $300 million, he questions whether the government values independent and local journalism

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AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, COUNTRY PRESS AUSTRALIA