We have all seen, lived with and talked about the issues…

The continual outbound migration of young people,
Our ageing population,
Local unemployment,
Globalisation and
The traditional challenges nature can throw our way…

It’s little wonder that a cynicism develop in our minds. But stop for a moment and look into the crystal ball.

It seems that, right now, the most important thing we as a focussed and committed community can be doing is preparing for that which is now promised and planned for delivery.

We must ensure is  that what we saw with the unveiling earlier this year  of a 30 year plan for the State, The Queensland Plan, arrives here in Our Town. We must now begin to ensure that we have the smarts to ensure that as this plan delivers  to regional areas, we are ready and able to receive and capitalise and benefit fully.

That means that we must ensure we have in place the  infrastructure, technology and ability to have the welcome mat out.

What we saw in that plan is a real commitment to regional development and with a follow up State budget that reaches into key areas outlined we’re seeing money put to the political mouth for a change.

Couple this to the private enterprise opportunities that are beginning to take hold and the message becomes clear for our community-Let’s ensure we can capitalise.

Failure on our part as a community to do so will result in those opportunities for us today and our kids tomororw flying out of town faster than an errant e-mail to a politician.

The Queensland Plan includes 20 targets across nine categories on issues such as the economy, the regions, education and health, with a key aim to double the population of regions outside the south-east by the year 2044.
Premier Newman said part of that would come from gradually moving government departments to the regions, attracting immigrants to regional Queensland and encouraging business migrants, encouraging professionals, people with ideas for economic opportunity to come to the regions.

This on top of a devoted push for key industry growth- Mining agriculture, tourism and construction.

Money to the mouth? Well let’s see.

And a quick look at just a couple of areas indicates we are seeing some wheels being placed under the plan.

The Department of State Development will spend $101.5 million in the 2014-15 under the Budget for Royalties for the Regions projects, covering the construction and upgrade of essential community infrastructure. This is on top of increased Department spending across the state.

We’re seeing key organisations such as the Ethnic Communities Council being funded to engage with regional communities to ensure a diversity of population base can be sustained.
And so it goes…The Department of Science and Technology has it Go Digital Queensland plan in place and the regional focus to education, transport, and tourism are all now evident and real.

So the message for us here on the ground is now clear. To capitalise on what will begin to trickle though to use over the next 12 months to two years means ensuring that we can create and innovate locally.

There is no doubt that one of the biggest challenges for regions like this is to ensure that what can be spent local, gets spent locally and stays local.

It’s important to ensure that community engagement is at the forefront of our communities at every level. That opportunity for development and retail growth, for community development at every level is fostered.

It is what we have done well for years, but it is also what has become more challenging as technology has gobbled up and taken away from us.

So Our Town Plus More becomes the community vehicle to ensure we grow now and develop for the future.

It’s been half a decade in creation. With it comes what has been a missing link for this community- being able to harness 21 st century technologies for whole of community engagement.
It can take a moment to get your head around it. Because it is different to what you might have been used to.

Our Town Plus More is the community’s news, information source, its community notice board, its jobs creator and identifier, its tender spotter and gatherer, its retail offering, its tourism offering to the globe, our wealth generator.
Our Town Plus More, exists to work with this community to bring us into the frame and to 21 st century and enables our community to all of sudden compete and engage.
The need to bring regional Queensland, areas like ours, into the digital age has been a challenge for us at TouchPoint Media.
It’s been a challenge because we have wanted to do it without making the same mistakes of the past, which saw many communities like this more isolated than ever as the expense, complications and man power required to engage in on line and digital environments meant that some key sectors of the community were left out, forgotten, while others such as our retail sectors, saw technology drag business away from town.

That stops today.
Our Town Plus More returns local real time media, it harnesses shopping on line, it brings tender and business opportunities into your hands, it eases tourism confusion, improves delivery, enhances business services, broaden markets, improve access to public services, community planning, education, healthcare, and so on. And brings a new channel of social glue to our lives.

Our Town Plus More takes back technology and gives it to us to use, instead of letting technology take us to where it thinks we need to go.

In planning our model we constantly heard talk of the digital divide, the disadvantages that regional areas of the state face compared to their south- eastern counterparts.
We heard of  fine and vast and expensive plans to  bring alive a digital revolution in  regional areas like this…But, what we found was simple- The intelligence and digital know how already exists and is largely in place.

Our Town Plus More simply harnesses all of that and puts you in control.

What Our Town Plus More does is brings it alive and puts it in your hands.

Plus More is about our towns in this region becoming the master of their own domain. Rather than letting external global influences set the pattern we’re taking back the opportunities.

Bringing those opportunities home to Our Town, Plus More…and more and more.

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Plug-in to our events calendar and let residents and visitors know what happening in your town.

Sports events, dances, theatre, shows, school events can be posted, just to name a few.

It easy  – Just go to the Events portal and to enter your event, complete with photos and information about the event.

Then our trained formatters will professionally check and publish your event.

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We offer fortnightly deals, but you can renew as often as you like or put up new deals every fortnight.

To claim a deal, your customers can either print your voucher from the deals page to bring it in, or download to their smart phone and show it to you.

To add value to this service we also post the fortnightly deals on the Our Town Plus More Facebook page (We set one up just for your town).

We will also send a fortnightly deals email to subscribers.

It easy to add a deal – Just go to the Deals Hub and load your deal, complete with images under the relevant category. Then our trained formatters will professionally check and publish the information.

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Help keep your local talent in town by posting all local jobs here. It’s also a good way to attract potential new residents looking for work in or near your town.

Being able to find out about the town and it’s about the attractions through the Info Hub will help job seekers see that it’s a great place to live in and work in.

Local Job Seekers can also post jobs wanted ads here too, so businesses can see who is looking for a job in your town.

It easy  – Just go to the Jobs portal and list your information under the relevant category. Then our trained formatters will professionally check and publish the information.

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This is where you tell the world about the attractions and unique aspects that make your town and its surrounding areas a great place to visit and live in.

You can also add general information such as a town map with local services, churches, parks, tourist information centres, caravan parks, hospital, police station etc.

It easy  – Just go to the Info portal and list your information under the relevant category. Then our trained formatters will professionally check and publish the information.

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We can help your town reclaim its local news content by posting video, audio and text based news stories of local interest.

Your local council, police, and other authorities can also post news and alerts to keep the community up to date on news about road closures, accidents, electricity outages, fire warnings and weather updates.

Our trained and experienced news journalists, editors, A/V professionals and formatters will edit, format and publish regular local news in your Local News Hub.

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When we put the Our Town Plus More system into your town, it becomes the best place for all local businesses to list.

This is because it’s the ‘’go to” place with news, events, jobs, deals, information and a comprehensive local business directory.

It’s the complete Business and Community Hub your town needs.

Being listed on Our Town Plus More gives you the following:

• We set it up as a standalone system, named exclusively for your town eg [Your town name]Plus More.
• Only local business can list on your business hub.
• It immediately gives increased visibility for the local community and businesses looking for services and products.
• It provides a one stop shop for all local purchasing searches.
• It allows you to promote your capability and capacity to large resource and energy companies.
• It provides a local search engine optimsed website and business directory for your business.
• It’s a one stop ‘request for quote’ system, for customers to get quotes directly through the business hub.
• It gives you fully accountable and measurable results on traffic and requests.
• It’s a mobile device friendly for quick and easy access
• It gives you access to a Fortnightly Deals e- marketing service.
• It gives you access to a Social Media marketing service.
• It’s extremely cost effective and accountable.
• It’s easy to use for everyone.
• It’s fully supported by our team of professionals, nothing for you to do except use it.

Here’s some more ‘plusse’s Our Town Plus More gives to you and your town.

1. We set up a ‘Give Back to Your Community’ service with a percentage of our proceeds going back to your town through donations.
2. We invite you to be a Business Members and become a part of a unique and cost effective online marketing system.
3. We showcase the best about your town to tourists, visitors, new residents and investors.
4. We manage it all for you with a team of highly experienced marketing and business specialists.

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