Business Support

​Commercial Enterprises
The Queensland and Federal Governments periodically release funding programs to promote business growth, improved productivity and innovation in emerging industries.
To find out more, and assess your eligibility for individual grant schemes, visit the Federal Government’s Business Grant Finder page.

Not-For-Profit Entities
If your community group or not-for-profit organisation requires funding for an upcoming project, you may be eligible for the Maranoa Regional Council Community Grants Program. Community grants are released biannually for financial support between $500 and $20,000.

To find out more, or to assess your eligibility for the Community Grants program, visit Maranoa Regional Council’s Community Grants Page.

​​The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (SESR) Visa provides employers in regional, remote or low population growth areas of Australia with the option of permanently employing overseas skilled workers. These schemes provide an alternative for employers who face difficulties in attracting and retaining skilled employees. 

Maranoa Regional Council is an authorised Regional Certifying Body (RCB) for the RSMS and SESR process. The RCB's role is to use local area knowledge to advise on whether the nomineee for the position will be paid at least the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) for the occupation. 

To fulfil this obligation, Council is required to assess whether the nominating employing entity is lawfully engaged in buisness, and the state of the local labour market. Council subsequently provides this information to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), allowing their representatives to assess each Visa application. 

Please click here to view the Required Documentation for Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (SESR) Visa Applications guide. 

Questions regarding the RSMS or SESR process can be directed to the Department Outreach Officer at qld.outreach.team@immi.gov.au. Council can not give advice on the application process for these schemes.

An initiative of Roma Commerce and Tourism (RCAT) and Santos GLNG, the Shop Local Inveset Local Campaign, encourage the Roma and greater Maranoa region community, to reconsidering their purchasing habits for the benefit of the local economy and community. Shopping locally has many proven benefits, inlcuding increased employment, product diversity, and community wellbeing, not to mention keeping our money in our economy.

To find out more about the campaign and the benefits of shopping locally, please visit the Shop Local Invest Local pafe on the RCAT Website. 

​​​​Business Support Guides

• ​Roma Revealed Operator Toolkit
• Queensland Government Business and Industry Portal
• Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS)
• Australian Government Grant Finder
• Conferences & Events in the Maranoa - A planner's guide​

Business Advocacy/ Representative Groups

• Roma Commerce and Tourism
• Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise
• Outback Queensland Tourism Association
• Agforce Queensland
• South West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (SWQROC)

Economic Research & Statistics

• Maranoa Economic Profile​
• Queensland Government Regional Profiles
• Surat Basin Population Report
• Australian Bureau of Statistics – Census Quickstats​

​Register your interest to supply goods/services to Council:

Maranoa Regional Council has implemented a new procurement system that provide a mechanism for businesses to register their interest to supply goods or services to Council.

This registration process will allow Council to capture relevant business information (e.g. capabilities and willingness to provide certain goods and/or services to Council) in central databases, thereby allowing Council to notify businesses of relevant supply opportunities.

Depending on the contract value and service or supply category, Council officers will initiate one of four procurement processes (as referenced below). 

For more information on how to register your interest to receive notification of quote/tender requests, please click here.​

Local Purchasing Opportunities - Update 21 May 2020

Local Buy is a procurement partner for local governments and provides panels of pre-qualified suppliers for councils to use without the need to go to public tender. Click here for further information.

Local Buy are providing an opportunity for local suppliers to join their pre-qualified panels of suppliers for the supply of a range of goods and services, with the opportunity to respond to tenders from councils through Local Buy.

Over the next few months, panels will be released fortnightly via tender on LG Tender Box and will provide further instructions on how suppliers can apply.

Businesses can register with Local Buy through LG Tender Box​ to ensure they receive these notices.

For more information please call the hotline available to all interested suppliers - 1800 LB HELP (1800 524 357) or visit the Local Buy website. 

​

Online Induction:

As a person conducting a business or undertaking under Work Health and Safety law, Maranoa Regional Council has several duties in relation to ensuring the health and safety of workers and others. To assist in meeting these duties, Council requires all contractors to be registered through our Contractor Management System (Beakon) before they can commence work.

Council will use the Beakon platform to provide efficiencies in its induction and compliance management processes with the goal of minimising duplication of contractor information requests.

In the initial implementation of the system, businesses will not be required to upload compliance information (e.g. licences, insurance details etc.). The first implementation phase will focus on the delivery of the online induction.

To find out how to register you can either read the Beakon Overview​  or Online Induction – Contractor User Guide, or view the quick tutorial video by clicking below.

Online Induction Video

Ready to go?

Click on the ‘Register Now’ button to start the registration process.

Please note - once the self-registration form is submitted you will receive a confirmation email from Beakon. If you did not receive the email, please check your Junk Email folder. Your submission will be reviewed for approval by Council’s Procurement Team during normal business hours. Please allow up to 2 Business days for review and approval. Once approved, you will be able to proceed with the induction process.

Register Now

The question asked of local governments everywhere is…. What are Councils doing to assist local business?   

From the perspective of Maranoa Regional Council, we have developed a list of actions where Council can contribute to the economic development of the region, and also provide practical assistance to individual local businesses where there is a public benefit in doing so – in this way doing what we can to remove impediments and giving businesses the best chance of success.

Through the My Maranoa Business initiative, our priorities are to provide:

• greater insight into Council's purchasing processes, and why we need to do some things in certain ways;
• opening up Council's purchasing so that businesses have the opportunity to bid for the supply of goods and/or services;
• marketing and promotion opportunities for the region's businesses;
• new ways of keeping the business community up to date with Council's decisions and directions;
• reduced administration for businesses where possible, while still meeting Council's legislative obligations;
• practical support to the business community where it counts the most.

For more information, please click here to view the Commitment Statement​.

My Maranoa Business Registration & Local Star Rating

Council introduced the My Maranoa Business program in 2015 as part of a suite of initiatives related to local business and Council's procurement processes. One component of the program is the Local Business Star Rating System.

Suppliers are assigned a Local Business Star Rating, either as a result of the My Maranoa Business registration process or responding to Council's requests for quotation or tender.

Council is currently distributing decals (based on the below logo) for display on shopfronts, or vehicles, allowing businesses to promote their local status and the economic benefit that is obtained through the circulation of company profits and wages locally. ​

 

Council considers a business's local presence, ownership/directorship, and employment when assigning Local Business Star Ratings: 

Benefit of Registration

When evaluating its quote and tender responses, Council will provide a 5 star local business with a scoring benefit to help them compete with out of town businesses or those with less local content (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 stars). The 'helping hand' will be a maximum of:

​Tenders or Quotations for Complex Projects / Acquisitions – 15 point scoring premium for a 5 star local business

​Quotations for Standardised Goods / Services - 10% price premium for a 5 star local business

Registration is not restricted to Council suppliers, all regional businesses can register for a Local Business Star Rating in order to advertise their local status to potential clients.

Registered businesses will also be promoted via the business directory on Council's website and My Maranoa mobile application.

How to Register

Please click here to complete the registration process.

Maranoa's Economic Profile is available online. 

The information in this resource is freely available to the public. 

Click here to vist the regions Economic Profile