DANIEL GARLAND: My name is Daniel Garland, and I'm part of the ECEC comms team here at the department, and I'm joining you from beautiful Darkinjung country. I'm going to run you through some housekeeping, this initial Menti, and then pass you onto our speakers who will begin by formally acknowledging country. Firstly, I'd like to let you know that we are recording today's session and we will be making it available on our website in the coming weeks. The microphone, camera, and chat functions have been disabled, but we do encourage you to ask questions using the Q and A function. We'll also be pausing for questions in the middle of the session, and we'll also leave plenty of time for question and answers at the end of the session as well. But do, as I say, use that Q and A function as we'll also use that to guide the questions that we ask to our presenters during those Q and A sessions. We'll also put any questions we don't get to in the FAQ section on the department's website. Okay, so let's look to our presenters for today. Firstly, I'll be passing you to Director Commissioned programs at the Department of Education, Peter Harvey. Peter Harvey will be introducing the session formally and doing our Acknowledgement of Country. We also have members of our FIT Team, Program Manager, Caitlin Anear, and Program Officers, Raj Kulkarni and Irene Vela. We also have our Graduate Officer, Denisse Schweinsberg, behind the scenes answering your questions. So without further ado, I'll pass you over to Peter.

PETER HARVEY: Thanks, Dan, and welcome everybody. Great to see so many people joining us from lots of different services and different service types. Today, I would like to begin just by starting with an Acknowledgement of Country. And for me, I'm joining you today from the lands of the Dharug people and recognise the ongoing custodians of lands and waterways where I live and work and extend that to all of you. We pay respect to elders past, present, as ongoing teachers of knowledge, songlines, and stories, and strive to ensure that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learner in New South Wales, in all the different services and different service types, achieves their potential through education. As Dan mentioned, we're here today to talk all things Flexible Initiatives Trial or FIT for short, because we talk about it so much that it just kind of needs a bit of a snappy acronym. For those that haven't been involved previously, round 2 follows a successful round 1 of the program and we're opening again for applications from services to support children, families, and ECEC services, to make early education and care both more flexible and more accessible. The FIT program is the first grant program that was launched from the New South Wales Government's Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund and has been designed to support services to test and trial new ways of providing ECEC. We're really looking forward to working with you today and over the life of the program to continue to unearth new ways to overcome the barriers that you face as services to providing more accessible ECEC for families wherever you are in New South Wales. We do have that statewide look, from the coast to the borders in the west with South Australia and others. It's really about capturing opportunities for all the different learners in New South Wales. Today, we're going to talk a little bit about key features of the FIT. We'll walk through some example scenarios to showcase some of the things that you can do with funding over the program, just to kind of get some of the ideas flowing, and certainly encourage you to think about, kind of think broader things that are on your mind as well because it really is trying to foster that new ideas and we certainly don't have them all. We'll also explain the nuts and the bolts of how the program works, outline what you need to think about before you start pulling that application together, and give you some guidance as well just around how you tackle the application process. I'll now pass you over to Caitlin who manages our program and is very much excited, I think, to get into the detail with you. Caitlin.

CAITLIN ANEAR: Excellent. Thank you, Peter, and to Dan and to all of our attendees and the responses that we've received so far through the Menti. I'm also joining you all today from the Lands of the Dharug people as well. I'm going to start today with an overview of the program about why and how it was designed and who it's for. And I just want to mention that if you attended an information session last year for round 1, welcome back, there is new information in this session, so please stick around. Alright, so what's the problem we're trying to solve? Evidence shows there's a lack of flexible early education and care and that it's a significant barrier to work and study for New South Wales families, particularly for parents and carers who are in part-time, casual or shift work or maybe those who are looking to enter the workforce. We also know that ECEC services face a range of barriers to be able to offer more flexibility. We are going to contribute to this problem by designing a program that provides grants to ECEC services to test and trial new or adapted flexible operating models. The objectives of the trial are to enhance accessibility for families, increase workforce participation, improve understanding of local needs and services capacity to meet those, provide support for educators who are delivering the initiative, and develop a really strong evidence base to be able to inform future program development. The FIT is a test and trial program with successful applicants funded to deliver their flexible proposal for 12 months. And there's $20 million available over the 2-year program. There are 2 streams of funding available. Stream 1 is all about flexible service delivery, which contains 2 arms of funding. So the first one, Stream 1A, is for trial and delivery of smaller scale operating model changes within a service. Stream 1B is about establishing family day care services at a regional remote and very remote areas in New South Wales, and that's according to the ARIA classification. Stream 2 is a blended service delivery model where there's trials to deliver a larger scale innovative operating model through partnership with 2 different service types. So we'll go into much more detail about that in our scenarios for you. This is the first time that all ECEC service providers are eligible, so we're really excited about this. This includes family day cares, occasional care, and before and after school care providers. To be eligible, providers must have a rating of at least meeting the National Quality Standards and provide or be planning to provide education and care to zero to 6-year-old children. We know that services know their families and communities best, and the FIT trial offers an opportunity for services to trial solutions to see what works best in their unique context. round 1 of the Flexible Initiatives program resulted in 16 services receiving more than 2.8 million for 17 different proposals. You can see from our map that round 1 saw successful proposals from across New South Wales. Some of the ECEC flexible initiatives that will be provided through round 1 include extended hours past traditional community preschool hours, providing flexible pick up and drop off times and half day sessions, giving families the ability to make casualised care arrangements through an online booking platform, establishment of a new family day care in remote New South Wales, and a partnership between a community preschool and a before and afterschool care provider to provide extended care for preschool children outside of the regular preschool hours. We've dropped a link in the chat if you'd like to read some more about the successful applicants from round 1. There have been some changes to the program guideline based on learnings from round 1. So these include some really clear rules on minor capital work funding and when that can and cannot be requested. If you think your proposal is going to need some minor capital work for your flexible initiative to get off the ground, make sure that you read through the inclusions and the cap very carefully in the guideline. We've also added additional selection criteria to ensure that both value for money and innovative models are prioritised. During assessment, additional weightage for all Stream 2 applications will also be applied to encourage more services to test and trial a partnership model. There is more comprehensive advice and examples of what can and cannot be funded. And finally, we've simplified the language throughout the guidelines, and we've added some more help and support including a glossary, an application checklist, and we've really streamlined the application form as well. The key takeaway for you here is to read through the round 2 guidelines to understand the current requirements. Again, we will pop the link into the chat for you. I'll now hand you over to Irene and Raj who are going to run through some example scenarios.

IRENE VELA: Thanks, Caitlin. Hi, everyone. I'm coming to you today from the beautiful Dharug lands. Raj and I are going to run through some example scenarios with you to demonstrate the process behind developing your idea and preparing a budget and implementing your proposal. You need to look at your proposed initiative through the lens of your own service type and the needs of your individual community, which may be totally different to the examples we will be showcasing. All of the scenarios we go through today and more are up on our website for you to have a closer look at. The first 2 scenarios that I'll run through are for Stream 1A, which is trialling delivery of a smaller scale operating model changes within one provider and service type. So in this scenario, a long day care service is located close to a hospital with many parents and carers who use the service, working irregular shifts with early starts and late finishes. The service has sent out surveys to existing families and found that more than 10 families would be interested in extended hours of care for 3 days of the week. So the service develops a proposal to stay open until 8 pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday nights. They put together an action plan on the steps they'll need to take to set up their proposal. This includes a recruitment plan, director upskilling and negotiating with the landlord. They identified their budget items and check these against the what can and cannot be funded section in the guidelines. On the slide are some of the budget items that will be included. So funding to recruit 2 full-time diploma trained educators to work the additional evening hours. They also request funding for director backfill of 0.25 FTE to support the implementation of the new initiative training to upskill staff on the rostering system so they can book children in for the additional hours and the additional rent to cover the increased operating hours. You can see these links between the action plan and the budget items. Also successful applicants will need to sign a funding agreement before they can begin to implement their proposal. The service promotes its extended hours service in the local community newsletter and at the hospital to attract new families who need out of hours care. Throughout the trial, the service collects utilisation data to ensure that the extended hours are being used and help the service to plan how they will continue the initiative beyond the funding period. In this next example scenario, a long day care service has surveyed its current families and local community. 15% of families were unable to access a dedicated preschool program for the 3-year-old children. The local community preschools are required to prioritise children in the year before school and the 2 family day cares in the community have focused on a zero to 2-year-old age group. The families also indicated a need for half-day sessions on some days. Glowing Early Childcare developed a proposal to open a dedicated preschool program for 3-year-old children by using existing storage space. The service will seek to increase its approved licenced places by 10, and will also offer half-days to meet the needs of the families in their community. They start by testing whether with some design changes that will have enough unencumbered space indoors to meet the regulatory requirements for the additional licenced places that they will seek approval for. They read through the guidelines to ensure they understand the rules for seeking minor capital works funding, and map out how they will be able to offer the dedicated 3-year-old preschool program and the proposed sessional care offerings, thinking through staff requirements and rostering changes needed. Their budget includes design fees to help them make the best use of the indoor space and ensure they meet the floor space requirements to increase their licenced places. The minor capital works funding of $73,600 to undertake the renovations to the storage room is below the cap and clearly linked to their proposal. They gather the quotes to attach to their application. Funding for educators to operate the 3-year-old preschool program and software costs to support the service to offer half-day care sessions. The service knows that if they are successful, they are responsible for applying to the Regulatory Authority to increase their licenced places. And during the trial, they collect data to evaluate the initiative and seek feedback from families to make sure they're still meeting the flexibility needs. I am now going to hand over to Raj to run you through the next examples.

RAJ KULKARNI: Thanks, Irene. I'm also joining today from the beautiful Dharug land. Our next scenario is for Stream 1B, establishment of a new family day care service. In a small rural remote town, there's not enough demand to sustain a long day care or a community preschool service. An approved provider operating a successful ECEC service in the closest rural hub surveys local families to determine whether there is a demand for family day care service to cater for children preschool age and under. They ask for preferences on days, hours, and ages of children requiring care. Through this survey, they also find there is a desperate need for local community health workers who are ready to return to the workforce but cannot do so without adequate ECEC. The approved provider has identified a local person who has completed their diploma in education and care and is interested in establishing a family day care. The approved provider puts together an action plan to seek approval from the council to run an FDC at the residential property, to take permission to make changes to the house, get codes on the minor capital works required, and maps out a timeframe for regulatory approvals for establishing the service. Some of the budget requested that you can see on the slide include regulatory and council fees associated with establishing the new FDC coordination unit costs for supporting the educator, costs for the minor capital works to be undertaken, and educational resources. On signing the funding agreement, the provider will be able to implement the proposal. They will undertake minor capital works to equip the proposed educator's home to meet regulatory and safety requirements. Seek regulatory approvals to open the new FDC. They then onboard the new diploma educator and train them in the FDC schemes policies and procedures. Happy Bugs Family Day Care is now open, allowing children to engage in small group education and care, and the local health workers are also supported to return into employment. Moving on now to a blended service delivery example from Stream 2. Dunbar ECEC is an approved provider in New South Wales who runs both community preschool and before and after school care services. The before and after school care service and the preschool have identified a growing demand for extended hours of care for preschool aged children through surveys and feedback. An innovative proposal to provide extended hours of care at the before and after preschool service is formed. The proposal includes a plan to transport the children to and from the nearby preschool via a walking bus. In this scenario, the before and after school care service will be the primary applicant as they will be assuming responsibility for education and care of the children outside of their core ECEC hours. This scenario could also be implemented by 2 different approved providers signing up for a partnership to deliver a similar wraparound care model. The action plan. The provider knows that the community preschool staff are seeking additional hours which will enable them to support continuity of care for children as they move between the 2 services. The provider collaborates with local authorities to ensure adherence to safety and transportation regulations and maps out the walking bus route. They undertake research into communication tools to facilitate effective communication between the 2 services and their families. The budget includes staff wages for the additional hours to transport the children and provide effective supervision and handover focused on the needs of children and continuity of care. Effective communication and collaboration between the 2 services requires new software that will seamlessly link the 2 services and their families. Resources included in the budget to ensure the facilities are fit for purpose and inclusive of the focus age group for the before and after school care service. The before and after school care service, for the implementation, purchases age-appropriate resources and furniture to ready the services for the preschool children. The selected communication system is rolled out across the 2 services, and the families are supported to use the system. There is a strong focus on children's wellbeing. This is monitored through children's progress, gathering feedback from families, and assessing the outcomes of the blended service model. That is the end of our 4 scenarios. These and more are available online. As Irene mentioned earlier, keep in mind that FIT is not a one-size-fits-all grant. It is important to imagine what you could do at your service within your local community, so don't be limited by the examples we have provided. We have some time now to answer your questions about what you have heard so far. And over to Dan for that. Thanks, Dan.

DANIEL GARLAND: Thanks, Raj. Everyone's being a little bit shy in the Q and A today. So please do feel free to ask any questions in the Q and A. But I have been jotting down some questions that I thought might be useful for some services. So Caitlin, I might throw those at you. So can a service apply for funding to expand a flexible activity that the service is already offering?

CAITLIN ANEAR: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So you can apply for funding to extend or expand a flexible activity that you're already offering as long as it's an activity beyond your service's normal core or existing activity. So if you had some additional opening hours on a couple of days a week, for example, and you wanted to pop a proposal to extend that and offer those additional hours for the full 5 days, then we would cover the gap. So if you had 3 days, you were already offering it, you could put a proposal in to cover the cost for the other 2 days.

DANIEL GARLAND: Fantastic. Next one I've jotted down was, "Can a service submit multiple applications?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: Yes. Yes, absolutely. So if you've got... Either as a service, if you have a number of different proposals that you would like to seek to run, you'll need to put in a different application for each of your proposals. The other instance may be where you are an approved provider and you have multiple services where you would like to trial the same proposal. Again, you'd need to pop in a different application for each of the services.

DANIEL GARLAND: Fantastic. Thanks for clarifying. We've had a question come through about a recording of this session, and yes, we will be making a recording of this session available once it's completed. We'll endeavour to do that as soon as possible. Next question for you, Caitlin, "Can anyone apply for the minor capital works funding?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: Yes. Yes, all service types and across all streams. So the 3 different streams that we have all have access to minor capital works funding. There are some different caps and some different rules, depending on which stream you are in and also what type of service you are. The other key thing is your minor capital works needs to be really closely linked to your flexible proposal. So it needs to be something that absolutely is clearly linked to the proposal for us to be able to consider it.

DANIEL GARLAND: That's good clarification. Another one from the Q and A, "Can the funding be used to provide weekend care?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: Yeah, absolutely. If that's something that your service is not currently providing, if it's not part of your core activities or your operation, then you could absolutely put an application in to provide weekend care hours.

DANIEL GARLAND: Fantastic. Another one, "If my application is successful, does that mean my service amendment or approval or local council approval is also approved?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: No. No, definitely not. So being successful in your FIT application does not guarantee any outcome from the Regulatory Authority if you need to make some changes there or if you need to seek some permissions from your local council. So if you were successful, approved providers are absolutely responsible for making sure that you can seek those approvals. You can include the cost of seeking those approvals into your application though. So if you know you're going to need to put in a developmental application to your local council, then make sure that you include the cost of that in your budget when you're having a look at it.

DANIEL GARLAND: Awesome. Thanks so much, Caitlin. So hopefully that's helped out clarifying a few things. So let's jump into the rest of our presentation and more Q and As at the end.

CAITLIN ANEAR: Excellent. That's me again. Thanks for your questions. Again, if you have any more, keep popping them in the chat. We've got the more time at the end that we can go through any new ones that come in. I'm going to go through some bits and pieces about what you need to think about as you move into considering your application. So first things first, read the guidelines. Everything you need to know about the trial is covered in that document. That document really is the rules and the way that the trial needs to work. So have a really close look at the guidelines and it should answer all of your questions. Remember that to be eligible, your service must be assessed and rated with at least meeting the National Quality Standard, your proposal must be for children age between zero and 6. And if you're looking to establish a family day care, you need to be in outer regional, remote or very remote New South Wales. FIT is a competitive assessment process and it's important to take the time to understand the assessment criteria, which we're going to get into now. So the first assessment criteria is how your proposed initiative aligns with one or more of the key objectives. Ensure that you keep the objectives front and centre when you're thinking about your proposal. The more objectives your proposal aligns with, the higher your score can be. I'm going to read through these objectives again. I read through them at the beginning, but that's how important they are that I am going to read them again for you. So the objectives that your trial needs to align with at least one, is increasing access, including increasing the number of available places, increasing women's participation in work or study, increasing knowledge of the local needs of flexibility and capacity to meet those needs, providing appropriate support and working conditions for educators delivering the initiative, and developing an evidence base of successful flexible models to inform future program development. The next criteria is local need. So you'll need to start by assessing the need in your local community and think about how your proposal will meet that need. You were required to submit evidence of the local need in your application. So we had some really successful approaches used in round 1 that included things like surveying local families, providing de-identified waiting lists, and information about the local community including things like the industries and the type of work that is available and the impact that has on the types of ECE needed, different hours and those sorts of things, whether there has been any population growth in your area and potentially whether there has been, for example, a decrease in the availability of ECE as well. Next up, we have the demonstration that the initiative that you are proposing is innovative. But think about what your proposed initiative is. Is it new to your community? Is it being done anywhere else? How is it different to other flexible proposals that are out there? You will be assessed on that. The fourth criteria is all about how you'll ensure that the needs of children and staff are met through the proposal. So some things that you might want to consider are, what are the impacts on the children who are attending your service? Have you discussed the changes and the impact and how that will affect your staff? Are they aware of your idea? Are they on board with your idea? And how will you make sure that child wellbeing and the quality of education and care is maintained? The next criteria is how the proposal will be accessible to all children and families in the local community. What adjustments will you need to make to ensure that all children and families in your local community have the same opportunity to access the flexible offering? You might need to consider things like how families where English might not be their first language, how are you going to make sure that they can hear about and be involved in the trial? Each proposal will need to consider different aspects of accessibility that are tied to your local contact. So each of the accessibility information that's sent through should be really well tied to what's happening in your local community and in your service. Your application will also be assessed on how you will sustain the initiative beyond the funding period, with consideration to participating children and families. It needs to show the value for money of your initiative and the impact of any fee changes on families. And evaluation and determining the success - sorry, the success of your trial program. Will also need to show how you're going to show us that your trial was successful. There's also additional weightings that will be applied for applicants who are located in an area with a SEIFA decile of one or 2, those from outer regional, remote, and very remote areas, Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Services, Aboriginal controlled children's services, and Aboriginal child and family centres, and all Stream 2 applications. If you have a look at the guidelines, there are links to check what SEIFA decile your service is in if you're not sure, and also to check whether or not you are classified being in a regional, remote, or very remote area according to the ARIA classification as well. Irene's going to take you through the next couple of slides.

IRENE VELA: So building your application. So once you have considered how your proposal will meet the assessment criteria, you are ready to start putting your application together. We strongly recommend that you download the application checklist which outlines all the requirements and allows you to tick off the list to ensure you have everything prepared and handy before you start filling in the online application form. Each assessment criteria will require a written response. So draught your responses, keeping track of the word count. The application checklist will guide you with these requirements. During this stage is when you should start gathering evidence or supporting information that you want to provide as part of your application. And the application includes a budget breakdown. So put your budget together, referring to the what can and cannot be funded section in the guidelines so you're not requesting funding that is out of scope. Quotes, evidence, are mandatory for budget items over $10,000. So any requests related to minor capital works over $10,000 will require a quote. You will also need to prepare a projected timeline considering what and when you'll be implementing your proposed initiative. This would include any regulatory or council approvals, staff recruitment, purchasing of resources and equipment. And once you have all this information, you are ready to apply online via SmartyGrants. If you haven't used the system before, you will need to register. Registration is free and straightforward process. You can save the application as you go and return when ready and continue making changes until you are ready to submit. And last but not least, applications close at 7 pm on the 2nd of July for round 2. So please do not leave the application to the last day. Give yourself plenty of time to submit your application well before the due date. FIT cannot cover retrospective funding or activities that have been funded by another state or federal grant program. And it's important to note that the successful proposals are not guaranteed any outcome regarding applications to the Regulatory Authority or local council. If successful, you may be approached to be involved in media opportunities, but we will help you to navigate these, and you are required to participate in evaluation activities including case studies, interviews or surveys with families, staff, directors and providers. You will also need to provide data on the uptake and usage of FIT in your service, and specific requirements will be included in the funding agreements. Funding agreements need to be signed prior to starting the implementation of your initiative. If you do have multiple ideas and wish to submit more than one application, please contact us so we can provide tailored support. And for any assistance with the online application system, please contact the SmartyGrants support desk. Any questions about the program, contact us. Both Raj and I are here to help you. And all the contact details are on the screen, in the program guidelines, and the application checklist. So I am going to hand back over to you, Dan, to run through any questions.

DANIEL GARLAND: Thanks so much, Irene. I think Caitlin is going to join me on screen again, and yeah, we'll work our way through some questions. One that came through was, "Is the funding going to be ongoing or just one off?" Caitlin?

CAITLIN ANEAR: Sure. So the funding will be for a 12 month period from when a successful applicant signs their funding agreement. We're looking for services to provide 12 months of their flexible offering.

DANIEL GARLAND: Thank you. This one is regarding about, "If I was unsuccessful in round 1, can I reapply for round 2?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: Absolutely, yes. Yeah, if you put in an application in round 1 and you were unsuccessful, absolutely apply for round 2. We do suggest that you have a look at the program guideline to review your proposal and make sure that it is in line with the program objectives and that the funding that you are requesting is also within scope and can be things that the trial will fund. The other thing is we provided feedback where requested for unsuccessful applications as well. So make sure if you did seek that feedback from us that you address that feedback when you put your application in for round 2. And also don't assume we know anything either. So your round 2 application will be assessed based on what you put in there. So don't make any reference to information that you've already provided. Don't assume we know that. You'll need to provide everything you want us to assess in your application.

DANIEL GARLAND: That's some excellent tips there. Is there a set number of grants, Caitlin, that will be made available in any given year or in any given location?

CAITLIN ANEAR: No. No. The FIT is not only looking to be flexible within ECE services but also as a grant itself. So we don't have any set number of grants that we will allocate during the trial. We don't have a set number of funding between each round, and there isn't any specific target in trying to make sure that there's 10 grants regionally and 20 within Sydney or anything like that. So each of the applications will be assessed on their merit. We are looking for a diverse mix of services and a diverse mix of proposals though. So the assessment panel and the board will be having a look at the breadth of the application and they might take into consideration the number of similar proposals or potentially the number of proposals within an area as well. So it will be part of the assessment but there isn't any particular target that we're looking for.

DANIEL GARLAND: Okay, great. What about the application process, Caitlin? How will you actually be assessing each application?

CAITLIN ANEAR: Excellent question. Once the round has closed, the FIT team here, so Raj, Irene, and myself, will undertake the eligibility check based on the information in the application, and we'll do some verification of that information. If an application is found to be eligible, it will then be provided to an assessment panel, and the assessment panel is made up of 3 or 4 individual assessors who all have experience either in ECE services - so last time we had prior directors on the panel, we had educators who had worked both in remote New South Wales and within the Sydney centre as well - we had some experts on assessing applications as well. So we make sure that we've got a really good mix of people involved in the assessment. Those people will assess the applications individually so they'll all have a look at all of the application and they will do their individual assessments before coming together as a panel and working through the ratings of all of the questions and making sure they've got all the information that they need. They may seek some additional information. So the panel might say, "We're missing a piece here, can we please go back to the service to ask for more information?" So you could potentially be contacted to provide some more information. They will then write a recommendation report, and those recommendations will be sent to the board to make the final decision on who will be provided with funding.

DANIEL GARLAND: Fantastic. That is excellent clarification. Here's the old GST question for you, Caitlin, "Should I list amounts as excluding GST or including GST on my application?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: Excluding GST. Definitely excluding GST. And make sure that if you are including any quotes that you are providing the excluded GST amount of those. And if it's not clear on the quote that you are providing, you might need to ask the person who's given you that quote to clarify for you. What we don't want to happen is for you to ask for funding that includes GST because then we will need to take that out after the fact, and you might end up with less funding that you were expecting. So be really mindful not to include the GST in your request. The department will work through when GST will be paid though, we just don't need you to include it in your application, in your budget.

DANIEL GARLAND: Great. Good for everyone to be really clear on that. Here's a relatively specific one, Caitlin, "Our scenario is we offer day care Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. We run dedicated preschool on Wednesday and Thursday. We are a one room centre in a rural remote area. We have community feedback requesting day care on Wednesday and Thursday, but we would need renovations for a second room. Does this seem to fit the criteria?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: I think it will depend on the scope of that renovation that was mentioned. A new room, I think potentially, would be considered major capital works. It will depend though. I think the best way we can answer that is for you to get in contact with us and we can have a chat and you can provide some more information so we can give you a really clear answer on that one. There are also some definitions in the guidelines in relation to what is considered minor capital works, which is included, and what's considered major capital works, which isn't part of the FIT funding.

DANIEL GARLAND: Great. And that's a good shout out too. So the team is there to answer those specific questions and we'll make those contact details really clear.

CAITLIN ANEAR: Yeah.

DANIEL GARLAND: Another one, Caitlin, "What happens if my application for the trial program is successful but my application to the Regulatory Authority or local council is rejected?"

CAITLIN ANEAR: Sure. So we've discussed that successful applicants are responsible for seeking those approvals that they require. It will depend a little bit on what the next step is. So if you have put in an application to the Regulatory Authority and they've said no and there's no way I suppose to amend it in a way that they might be able to say next time you put it in, then there will be provisions in the funding agreement for us to stop the trial if there isn't a way forward for you to be able to provide your proposal as you had originally intended. But we will work with you. So while we can't work with you to get the outcome you need from the Regulatory Authority, for example, or the local council, if that's what was holding it up, we can work with you to have a look at your proposal and see what else you might be able to do. And if there aren't any other options, then we can work with you to stop the trial and work through what that looks like and those sorts of things.

DANIEL GARLAND: Awesome. Thanks, Caitlin. So that's the end of the questions that have come through in the chat and that I've kind of jotted down that might be useful. Any final reflections, Caitlin, that you wanted to share with everyone today?

CAITLIN ANEAR: I think the main thing is if you are unsure about anything at all, please contact us. We are here to help. We can answer your questions, we can point you in the right direction. And also, and I know we're about to jump to this, we are looking at setting up some online workshops to help you to write a really strong application as well. So I do just want to promote that that is something we're looking to do. So if you think that's something that would be really helpful for you, particularly if you perhaps haven't written a grant application before or it's been a while since you've done one, then we'd really recommend that you have a look at these online workshops. We're still setting them up and we want a little bit of input from you about what and when they could look like, but I do just want to get a little bit of a promotion in there for those ones.

DANIEL GARLAND: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Caitlin. Well, I'd like to thank everybody for attending today. Hopefully, you found this to be a useful session and had a lot of your questions answered. The team is here to help and as Caitlin just mentioned, there's even this added opportunity to get some extra assistance with writing your application. Again, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to be with us for this little bit of time.