Cunnamulla Bakery owners Nick and Kate Land receive Welcoming Cities Award for Change

The owners of Cunnamulla Bakery have been honoured for making their town feel like home for their migrant staffers. Now they are fighting to help more families settle in regional Australia to help keep rural businesses booming.

Business owners Nick and Kate Land have fought to make their rural town feel like home for their migrant staffers, but now they’re eager to help more families secure visas and breathe new life into Cunnamulla.

The Cunnamulla Bakery owners have found it difficult to attract and retain staff in the past, but soon found a few small changes made a huge difference.

They dived into buying and furnishing accommodation, ordering in traditional and cultural foods, and paving the way for their staff to connect socially with the community.

“Recruiting staff has been our biggest program, that’s why we’ve gone the way of helping people with visas and immigration,” Mr Land said.

“Our current baker Fida is from Malaysia and is a huge asset to our business, as well as her husband Eddie who jumps in to help.

“Different nationalities bring different ideas and different types of food. We enjoy having a multicultural team, we can sit down and talk about what products we’re going to make and what we can do to improve variety.”

Cunnamulla business owners Nick and Kate Land.

The Lands’ efforts have not gone unnoticed with the proud business owners receiving the Individual Award in the inaugural Welcoming Cities Awards for Change for their efforts.

The prestigious awards are held in Canberra and celebrate leading practice and innovation in advancing welcoming and inclusive communities.

Mr Land said what rural Australia needed was more support and incentive from state and federal governments for businesses wanting to recruit migrant workers, such as more flexible visa options.

“These rural towns are dying off slowly and people from other countries are wanting to come to Australia with their families,” he said.

“They’ll bring more children to the schools. A lot of the little schools are gradually dying by a thousand cuts because people are moving back to metropolitan areas.

“There are plenty of jobs available and businesses waiting to welcome them with open arms.”