As Minister Catherine King said on 25 June at the ALGA conference, Growing Regions round two will be open shortly. Many councils may consider if it is worth applying for round two when only six per cent of applications were successful with round one.
Section51 advice is to undertake an assessment of the cost and time in applying for this and related grant programs with knowledge that the process has fundamentally changed under the Albanese government to be fair and equitable and in the ‘spirit of integrity and transparency’ as Minister King said.
Every council has equal opportunity regardless of which electorate you are in and that has significantly increased the competition. The positive is that you know that your application will be treated fairly and on merit. As the ANAO Audit report concluded ‘The design of the Growing Regions Program was largely effective’ p9.
The ANAO reinforced the long advocated Section51 message that if you want to improve your chance of success you must convert your project to be able to achieve Australian Government policy outcomes. Your project is not important, nor is your council or your problems with lack of money. What is important is how you can prove that you deliver policy. A grants process run properly is a wonderful thing. A thought though, you have to be in it to win it.
For round one Section51 wrote applications for three councils and were successful with two from three, a 66 per cent success rate, achieving $11,851,218, close to six per cent of the successful funding for our two councils. Section51 has four separate services to help. They can
• Review if a council is ready to reply or
• Write a round two application for the council or
• Review their draft application against the guidelines and/or
• Teach how to prepare an application with their training workshops
Have a look at their website at section51.com.au or send an email to admin@section51.com.au or call Colin on 0423337563 and we can chat.
