A Little About Ursula

Ursula Stephens is a NSW Labor Senator-  actively involved in the third sector in Australia. Ursula is a strong advocate for social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social inclusion. She mentors social entrepreneurs and supports social enterprises across Australia.

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Media Releases

Grant Funding in Hume to Boost Tourism

Valuable tourism attractions including Four Winds Vineyard near Murrumbateman will be making an even greater contribution to the local community with the help of a TQUAL Grant of $110,000 towards the construction of a sustainable building to operate its cellar door enterprise.

The funding from the Australian Government will enable Four Winds Vineyard to refresh and renew their product which will help to bring visitors back time and again. This project is one of 117 to receive a total of $8.5 million in Australian Government funding in the latest round of TQUAL Grants. With dollar-for-dollar matching investment from tourism operators this funding round represents at least $17 million in new tourism investment nationwide.

“By providing matching funding to help local tourism businesses grow and renew their businesses, the Australian Government is supporting the $34 billion industry which employs almost a million Australians directly and indirectly,” Senator Ursula Stephens said today.

“Four Winds Vineyards is investing in quality tourism experiences to help attract and retain visitors in the local region. The challenge for regional tourism destinations such as Four Winds Vineyard is in attracting increasingly time poor visitors from the larger cities. These grants will help better position those businesses and organisations who are looking to expand, modify or diversify their product or service to be even more appealing for city dwellers and international visitors.

“As a part of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy, the TQUAL Grants help address the lack of investment in tourism, which is more pronounced in regional Australia, and the grants create greater incentive for tourism operators to invest and that’s especially important in regional economies.

“New investment in just one tourism project can generate flow-on benefits to many small businesses, whether they’re directly involved in the industry or part of the wider business community.”

Details of grant recipients and the competitive selection process is available at http://www.ret.gov.au/tqual