Sponsorship a ‘two-way street’

Horsham mayor Pam Clarke has used the issue of regional sponsorship as one of the many reasons Wimmera shoppers should support home-town businesses.

Cr Clarke said people running community social and sporting clubs or major events relied heavily on business support and it was essential they paid them back with patronage.

“We have a healthy cultural formula where organisations ask their local businesses for financial support for all sorts of pursuits or events,” she said.

“It’s important to remember that the expectation is that people in these organisations promote and support the businesses in return.

“Unfortunately, that’s not the way some people are thinking at the moment.

“For some reason, many people enjoying the benefits or advantages that come from sponsorship think it’s okay to win support from a trader and then shop online for the same products the sponsor sells.

“It’s just not on and has to be a twoway street.”

Cr Clarke she said refused to accept a general argument that people could not get what they needed through businesses operating in the region.

“It might be the case in a few circumstances,” she said.

“The truth is that sometimes if a product is unavailable immediately, a local retailer can get it in just as quickly and at a similar competitive rate as someone else from goodness knows where.

“Add to that is the bonus that in getting the product locally, you’re dealing face-to-face with the vendor who, from being part of the community, has little choice but to be highly accountable as well as helpful.

“We have a brilliant shopping centre in Horsham that offers so much choice – shops that meet the needs for a broad variety of people.

“With online offering all sorts of deals and opportunities, we often get lost and can’t see the forest for the trees.

“There are many people from outside Horsham, for example, who tell us we provide some of the best shopping available.”

Cr Clarke said people needed to consider who was supporting them and their organisations and events.

“Is it the Googles of the world who are giving money or services to the local footy or service club for a raffle or our local businesses?,” she said.

“Which of these is aware about the health of Horsham, our kids, our cancer centre, our services, our culture and so on?

“It’s pretty obvious and we need to think about this when we go shopping.”