An advocate for people working remotely has been named Australia’s rural woman of the year.

Wagga Wagga’s Jo Palmer created Pointer Remote Roles, a platform designed to help people get into work, regardless of where they live.

Ms Palmer told Macquarie’s Rural Reporter Eddie Summerfield, it was hard to believe she was named the rural woman of year.

“I was just thinking what a tough call those poor judges had to make, I was very, very excited,” she said.

The annual Agri Futures Australia award aims to recognise rural women across the country who are leaders in their field.

The winner receives a $10,000 bursary to help grow their idea.

The Pointer Remote Roles platform is only in its infancy, but is already creating a buzz in regional areas.

“What we’re finding is we’re actually connecting rural businesses with a lot of rural people,” Ms Palmer said.

The concept sees businesses advertise jobs where people can work remotely, so they don’t physically need to go into an office.

Jo Palmer says it not only provides people living in regional areas a greater scope of employment opportunities, it also broadens the net for business looking for skilled workers.

“If you’re looking to fill skills in your business and actually just asking yourself, do we physically need them here? If not then we can look at putting someone on remotely, and that could actually be someone in the regions,” Ms Palmer said.

“That salary going into their rural community, makes a really big impact.”

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