Media Release – QCWT – Friday 6 December 2024
The future of the QCWT has been saved
The Stanthorpe and Granite Belt Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) thanks James Lister MP for representing the pleas of the Chamber to have a reversal of decisions to close the Queensland College of Wine Tourism (QCWT). Fast action by James Lister has seen representations to the Queensland Premier and Minister Ros Bates to find a solution and have the QCWT remain operational into 2025.
The QCWT is a significant institution for the Granite Belt region and Queensland, and its services for hospitality training, wine tourism, function centre, grape and wine production, and grape growing research are all important for many industries in this region.
Following the Roundtable discussions facilitated by Department of Trade, Employment and Training (DTET and formerly known as DESBT) held in late September 2024, the future of the QCWT was to be determined by an Expression of Interest Process in early 2025, however the decision to close the QCWT before a new direction was determined came as a complete shock. The Chamber thanks the long-term advocacy by James Lister MP, and the more recent interventions by him, the Premier David Crisafulli and Minister Ros Bates MP, working together quickly to enable the continuity of the operations.
“Maintaining the staff is of paramount concern as they hold the corporate knowledge of everything the QCWT has been offering for many years. Their continued involvement is not just about keeping the services of the Varias restaurant and function centre going but to be incredible assets as the QCWT transitions to its future direction once that is developed” President of the Chamber, Michelle Feenan said.
The Chamber has partnered with the Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) and representatives from a range of relevant industry bodies and today (Friday 6 December 2024) discussed other immediate next steps to enable ALL functions of the QCWT to continue into 2025. The collective includes Granite Belt Wine & Tourism (GBWT), QCWT, Queensland Wine Industry Association (QWIA), Granite Belt Growers Association (GBGA), Stanthorpe State High School (SSHS), Queensland Country Tourism (QCT) and SDRC. The Chamber wants to see all functions of the QCWT maintained until a new direction and business model is determined.
The collective has identified a Steering Committee to help shape a range of scenarios to be considered for the immediate operations. These will be shared with DTET early next week, together with a proposal to have the Steering Committee work in partnership with the two state agencies DTET and Department of Education (landowner) to determine the terms of the Expression of Interest process being run in January 2025.
“The Chamber thanks James Lister and the Queensland Government for listening to the voice of the community. We also want to thank our local group of industry representatives who have come together with a unified voice of to see the QCWT have security in continuity of service in this region. But there is more work to be done in the coming days and weeks to plan the stakeholder and industry engagement for the future business model of the QCWT. The future of the QCWT needs to meet the growing needs of a number of industries in the region, not just wine tourism”
For further information contact Michelle Feenan, President of the Stanthorpe and Granite Belt Chamber of Commerce, on 0400 188 373 or [email protected]
