It is fitting that we started the month with the Labour Day Holiday as I am currently in the town of Barcaldine in Western Queensland. In 1891 the Shearers went on strike and met under a ghost gum, famously named the tree of knowledge. The tree is an icon of the Labor Party and Trade Unions which symbolizes the foundation of the organised representation of labour in Queensland. Sadly the 200-year-old tree was poisoned in 2006 and a memorial and the remains of the tree now stand in its place.

Congratulations to the Labor Party on their recent election win.  It was interesting that the regional and bush areas of Queensland were largely held by the Liberal and National Parties and the city area seats were taken by the Labor Party, how thing have changed. Let us now count on the Labor Party to do a great job while in office and to look after the workers, economic development and infrastructure investment in the regions.

It is this time of year that Precruitment has our annual strategic business planning meeting with all of the team. Our business and professional goals were met for the previous year, and we are excited with our plans for the coming Financial Year. Our team is highly skilled and dedicated to providing our clients and candidates the best service and career opportunities available in our regions. This is our particular focus for the upcoming year in this challenging time of critical skills shortages and with new employment markets and growth industry opportunities.

We have welcomed Cameron Westneat-Smith to our team. Cameron has excellent marketing and customer service skills from within IT, Retail, Hospitality and FMCG. Cam has several years working in the development and marketing of ground-breaking Employment and Recruitment App technology.

Colin and I are enjoying our annual trip to visit our clients across regional Queensland. We have thus far travelled down the coast from Cairns to Rockhampton and across to Roma, Charleville, Quilpie and every town and region in between. We are currently in Barcaldine as we make our way further West and Northwest on the 10,000 Km trip. The country is looking amazing after unseasonal recent rains, so green and so much water in the rivers and creeks. Sadly, we could not travel to Barcoo Shire as planned as the roads were closed. As always, the people in the regions and the bush are most welcoming and we love to be out seeing them and exploring our beautiful state. I always love to see the emus, ‘roos and amazing diverse birdlife in the West. We were lucky to be in Charleville for the Queensland Opera regional tour of the Sopranos – ‘Celebrating Bold & Rebellious Women’. It was an amazing performance, and they are to be congratulated for this initiative to bring opera to the bush. I loved that the attire for the evening was jeans and boots. Please see our Facebook page for some photos of our travels and I will give a full report next month on our return.