September: Mayor’s message to the business community
Footy fever
Work continues at pace on Springfield Central Stadium, soon to be home to the Brisbane Lions and featuring a range of new community facilities.
While Ipswich has been synonymous with rugby league, I very much welcome the Lions our city, and look forward to cheering on the reigning AFLW Premiers, and their male colleagues, when training and games commence later in 2022.
The NRL is also considering the Brisbane Jets bid for the 17th franchise license, with the bids entering final presentations in the last few weeks.
Imagine what a boon for the city it would be to host a new NRL team as well as hosting the state’s leading AFL team.
Ipswich is Queensland’s sporting heartland and the potential for our city to host an NRL team is incredibly exciting.
The arrival of the AFL, and the potential new NRL franchise, also present opportunities for local business to get involved directly with some of the nation’s leading elite sports teams, and access to the two leading national sporting codes.
It’s an incredibly exciting time for small businesses in Ipswich: as the region’s fastest growing community, and the arrival of a leading elite sports team, with another potentially on the way.
Our community deserves its own sporting representatives – hopefully there will also be the opportunity for an A-League team in the future as well.
Games success
We’ve seen an extraordinary month of Olympic and Paralympic action in Tokyo, and we’ve seen some locals featuring in the medals and proudly representing our community, and our nation, on the global stage.
St Peters Lutheran College Springfield student Mollie O’Callaghan received a hero’s welcome when she returned to school last month after her amazing medal haul from the pool.
Seventeen-year-old Mollie led the charge, winning gold as a heat swimmer in both the 4×100 metre freestyle and medley relays.
Brookwater resident and Wimbledon champion Ash Barty placed third in the mixed doubles tennis.
Springfield Lakes resident Taymon Kenton-Smith competed in his first Paralympics in the men’s recurve open Para-archery, and joined forces with teammate Imalia Oktrininda for the mixed teams event.
Mr Kenton-Smith revealed that true Ipswich spirit when he said: “To come home with a medal or not I will hold this moment close for the rest of my life. I love living in Springfield Lakes.”
Caring and compassionate
A group of about 30 walkers finished a lengthy trek at Springfield Central’s Orion Lagoon last weekend in what was the final Ipswich Cares annual 50km walk.
What an amazing journey it has been after starting out as just a small idea way back in 2007.
The charity organisation, guided by the likes of former local councillor David Morrison, former mayor John Nugent, current president Tracy Bold and former president Steve Hodgson, has raised more than $300,000 over those 14 years on their Rosewood-Springfield Central walk.
From helping install sustainable food and water projects in some of the world’s poorest regions to supporting local schools, churches and groups to make a difference in our community.
The success of Ipswich Cares could not have been made possible without the strong and unwavering support of many people, partners, charities, schools, churches and businesses across the Greater Springfield and Ipswich region.
I thank everyone who has helped make this such a special and impactful event, and helped make such a big contribution to our community.
Local Business Education
During August, Ipswich City Council in partnership GSCC, hosted two face-to-face training sessions at the Springfield Central Library. Sessions covered business marketing using Facebook and Making Sense of Council Procurement.
We also ran three online workshops to help local businesses get ready for the current State Government Business Support Grants. More information is available at Council’s website – ipswich.qld.gov.au/business
There are several business training sessions available to you and your staff. We aim to provide sessions at least twice per month. All the workshops are free and hosted locally and designed based on local business needs.