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DON WOULD BE PROUD Falcons 2000 Soccer Club celebrates after securing the Latrobe Valley Soccer League championship.The win continued Falcons' recent domination of the LVSL, making it four titles in six seasons. FULL STORY - PAGE 42
Closure not so kind
A MORWELL social enterprise cafe, which was established to service 200 employees at the GovHub, is closing after only operating for less than a year due to working from home arrangements. A Kinder Cafe is closing on Thursday, and will be re-assessing its options in three months due to low turnover in the Church Street building. The $30 million Morwell GovHub was officially opened last year to house relocated government agencies including SolarVic, Parks Vic and Earth Resources Regulation.
It was going to provide a $15 million annual boost to the local economy and help revitalise Morwell. But cafe manager Tracy Lund said she estimated only about 10 per cent of staff were working at the GovHub. “On any given day there are about 20 or less people there, we know this as we are there every day. We’ve been running at a loss or close to breaking even, but it wasn’t viable,” Ms Lund said. “We hung out for as long as could, but there was no end in sight.” A Kinder Cup was set up by the Morwell Neighbourhood House as a
social enterprise to help train people with barriers to employment into entering the hospitality industry. Ms Lund said they were hoping to find alternative jobs for the three staff working at the cafe, but the committee would still use the kitchen for community projects while it re-evaluates its options. “I’d like to see people working in offices, we have our vaccinations and we are now living and working with COVID, but flexible working arrangements is something we have to work through,” she said. “I don’t want to compromise people’s
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health and safety in any way.” The state government stated that the Morwell GovHub has been an important source of local employment for the region, providing 500 construction jobs and 80 per cent local procurement. A state government spokesperson said the Victorian Public Service has a flexible work policy. “Under current public health settings, employers have been asked to consider work from home arrangements most suitable for their workplace and employees,” the spokesperson said.
MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE DROPS BY TRARALGON - PAGE 10
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