Victoria Minister for Agriculture & Food Security Peter Walsh

Walsh Announces Rural Women’s Award Finalists

Victor P Taffa

Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh today announced five finalists for the prestigious Victorian 2011 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women’s Award.

Mr. Walsh said the award was a fantastic initiative which recognised and honoured the contribution women made to primary industries and the communities dependent on those industries.

“The Rural Women’s Award is all about paying tribute to the hard work and dedication of these women to Agriculture and Rural Victoria.” Mr. Walsh said.

“The competition was strong but it has been narrowed down to five finalists who best demonstrated a commitment to the future sustainability of primary industries, a potential to achieve and deliver benefits to their industry, and a strategy to share their skills and knowledge with the wider communities.”

The five Victorian women selected as finalists for the 2011 Rural Women’s Award are:

• Ms. Jennifer Savage, an aquaculturist from St. Germains;
• Ms. Kerry Anderson, a Community Leadership project manager from Castlemaine;
• Ms. Angela Betheras, an alpaca grower and agri-tourism business operator from Darnum;
• Ms. Kim Chalmers, a viticulturalist from Mildura;
• Ms. Helen Chambers, an organic lamb grower from Marong.

Mr. Walsh personally congratulated all the finalists for their achievements so far and wished them well in the final interviews.

The Victorian winner will awarded a $10,000 bursary to help support their leadership development and both the winner and the runner-up will be offered the opportunity to participate in the Australian Institute of Company Director Course in Canberra.

The Victorian winner will be announced by the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security on Thursday March 3, 2011, at Parliament House in Melbourne.

The Victorian winner will then join winners from other States and Territories as finalists for the national award, to be announced in Canberra in May.