ALINTA ENERGY is bringing its customer service call centre team onshore and will hire hundreds of Victorians in the Latrobe Valley for a new customer contact centre.

Alinta Energy managing director and CEO, Jeff Dimery, said the move demonstrated the organisation’s commitment to deliver even better service to its customers.

“For 20 years, Alinta Energy has been making energy fairer and more affordable for Australians," he said. "Now, we’re establishing a new customer contact centre in Victoria so we can provide even better service and support to our customers.”

The new customer contact centre will commence operations in mid-2021, and will make Alinta Energy one of the largest employers in the Latrobe Valley.

“We’ve chosen the Valley as our operational hub because we already have strong ties with the area through Loy Yang B,” Mr Dimery said.

“We’re investing in Australian jobs, and I think our customers will enjoy speaking to someone locally when they call us.”

Alinta Energy has around 600,000 customers on the east coast of Australia.

Mr Dimery said the new customer contact centre would be a multi-million-dollar investment by the company each year, but will deliver immeasurable benefits to customers and boost the local economy in the Latrobe Valley.

“We’re making this investment because it’s the right thing to do for our customers, and because we want to cement our local operations and help create jobs and investment in regional Victoria," Mr Dimery said.

The initiative is being supported by the Victorian Government through its investment attraction and Jobs Victoria programs.

“We thank the Victorian Government for their support to make this possible,” Mr Dimery said.

Alinta Energy is also investing in developing leading technology to ensure this new customer contact centre will be a centre of excellence for customer service.

“Our focus is on delivering better, more efficient service and support to our customers right across Australia. We know our customers enjoy speaking to local people; now they’ll be speaking to local people in Victoria,” Mr Dimery said.

Alinta Energy careers page has updates on employment at the centre.

About Alinta Energy

Alinta Energy has been supplying energy to Australians for over 20 years. In addition to supplying retail electricity and gas to over 1.1 million customers and employing around 800 people, Alinta has electricity generation, storage and transmission facilities across Australia and New Zealand. Alinta has a mission to make energy more affordable and is committed to its 2025 target to support development of 1,500 MW of renewable energy generation.

ends

THE overwhelming success of the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder scheme in driving economic recovery is confirmed by new data released today, according to Master Builders Australia.

“It’s even more proof that a stronger building industry means a stronger economy,” Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said.

“HomeBuilder has been the star in the government’s economic recovery plan since it was announced in June last year along with measures such as JobKeeper.

“HomeBuilder will support $18 billion in new home construction and $50 billion in economic activity across the wider economy,” Ms Wawn said.

“The surge in new home construction being driven by HomeBuilder has averted the valley of death that was confronting residential builders and tradies due to the pandemic.

“Without HomeBuilder thousands of small builder and tradie businesses would have gone under and hundreds of thousands of jobs would have been lost,” Ms Wawn said.

“There is no doubt that the Federal Government’s decisive action to implement HomeBuilder in the eye of the Covid storm saved the day for thousands of small builders and tradies, the people they employ and communities they support around the country.

“The success of HomeBuilder also demonstrates that measures that support people to overcome the deposit gap is a game-changer in making homeownership available to more Australians,” she said.

“The benefits of homeownership to individuals, families and the community can never be underestimated and the government also deserves credit for element of HomeBuilder’s success,” Ms Wawn said.

www.masterbuilders.com.au

ends

WEX, a leading financial technology service provider, has announced its collaboration with online business management platform MYOB to deliver B2B payments for Australian businesses.

MYOB provides business and accounting software to 1.2 million businesses in Australia and New Zealand.

The collaboration gives WEX customers access to MYOB’s business payment platform to pay their suppliers via WEX virtual credit cards.

Utilising the MYOB solution, WEX customers can enjoy a more seamless and efficient experience when making payments to suppliers, even if suppliers do not typically accept virtual credit cards and without the need for suppliers to make any changes to how they receive payments.

MYOB general manager for financial services, Andrew Baines said, “Cashflow is absolutely critical for businesses, and this relationship with WEX provides its customers with more choice around payment options, allowing more flexibility to choose a solution which works best for their business at a particular moment in time.

"WEX’s B2B payment capability will be a strong complement with MYOB’s business payment platform, and we’re delighted to offer this experience to its Australian customers.”

WEX director of business development and partnerships for EMEA and APAC, Justin Cross said, “WEX’s corporate payments business is continuing to work with innovative brands like MYOB to support local business growth and ensure payments are not an afterthought. We are committed to growing with Australian brands by helping them build their financial infrastructure and providing a seamless customer experience through simplified payment transactions.”

About WEX 

Powered by the belief that complex payment systems can be made simple, WEX (NYSE: WEX) is a leading financial technology service provider across a wide spectrum of sectors, including fleet, travel, and healthcare. WEX operates in more than 10 countries and in 20 currencies through about 5,000 associates around the world. WEX fleet cards offer 15 million vehicles exceptional payment security and control; purchase volume in travel and corporate solutions grew to approximately $40 billion in 2019; and the WEX Health financial technology platform helps 390,000 employers and more than 32 million consumers better manage healthcare expenses. www.wexinc.com.

About MYOB

MYOB is a leading business platform with a core purpose of helping more businesses in Australia and New Zealand start, survive and succeed. At the heart of MYOB is a customer base of 1.2 million businesses and a network of more than 40,000 accountants, bookkeepers and consultants, for whom MYOB delivers end-to-end business and accounting solutions. MYOB operates across four key segments: Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), Enterprise, Financial Services and Practice. myob.com,  @MYOB.

ends

THE Accommodation Association has welcomed the publication of the NSW Government’s 2030 NSW Visitor Economy Industry Strategy which recognises the importance of mobilising government funding and support for the visitor economy. 

Importantly, Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long said the strategy recognises the significant impact of COVID with a three-phase plan: Recovery, Momentum and Accelerate.
 
Mr Long said it demonstrated the government’s strong confidence in the NSW visitor economy by retaining the pre-COVID 2030 targets to triple the 2009 overnight visitor expenditure ($18.3billion) for an overnight visitor expenditure of $55 billion by 2030, incorporating a regional target of $25 billion by 2030.

“The Accommodation Association welcomes the Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 and acknowledges this as a critical step in the recovery of NSW’s tourism sector," he said. "We welcome the commitment to a Visitor Economy Index, which will ensure that outcomes are tracked and reported ensuring the strategy and implementation can be adjusted accordingly.
 
“We congratulate the NSW Government on their leadership and collaborative approach in developing this roadmap and committing to helping our members and the entire sector not only recover but also thrive in the future. NSW is the largest visitor economy in Australia and this roadmap will help rebuild our $43 billion visitor economy and grow it to $65 billion by 2030."

At a time of significant uncertainly, the Strategy forms the basis of a clear roadmap for recovery pointing to stronger government commitment to:

• Sydney and Greater Sydney. For the first time the strategy recognises the metropolis of three cities encapsulated in the Greater Sydney Commission vision and the importance of Western Sydney Airport (2026) in escalating growth.
• The Strategy recognises the significant economic contribution of the Sydney market to the NSW economy committing to the development of a compelling brand, programs and campaigns for Sydney.
• Securing major events and business events to both position NSW globally, support recovery and accelerate growth.
• Investing in tourism infrastructure with a clear plan. The Strategy points to a Visitor Infrastructure Framework and game changing concepts such as the creation of Special Activation Precincts, making land ready for investors and building enabling infrastructure.
• Recognising the increased need for enhanced skills and workforce planning if the industry is to recover and to improve the competitiveness of our tourism offering.

“The Accommodation Association looks forward to working closely with the NSW Government and Destination NSW  to deliver on the plan for the accommodation sector in NSW," Mr Long said.

The Accommodation Association represents close to 3,500 hotels, motels and accommodation providers, over 150,000 rooms and nearly 100,000 employees across Australia (pre COVID). Accommodation contributes $17 billion to the Australian economy.

ends