BUSINESSES, not-for-profits, education and research organisations are encouraged to apply for grants to inspire more girls and women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) and entrepreneurship.

Acting Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Senator Michaelia Cash, today announced the second round of the Australian Government’s $8 million Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) grants program.

“It is vital that all Australians are equipped with the skills they need for the jobs of the future but in particular, we need to get more girls and women engaged with STEM in schools, universities, TAFEs and in the workforce,” Minister Cash said.

“The WISE program supports activities to get girls and women interested and involved in STEM education and careers. This includes helping them develop entrepreneurial skills and professional networks, paving the way for more Australian women to start their own businesses and become entrepreneurs.”

The first round of WISE grants, announced in December 2016, saw approximately $4 million awarded to a diverse range of projects including coding workshops for teachers and primary school girls, networking and mentoring for female entrepreneurs in rural and remote Queensland, drone flying and programming camps in Northern Australia, and a new ‘Superstars of STEM’ initiative to raise the profile of Australia’s women in science, technology and engineering.

Minister Cash said eliminating barriers for women’s participation in STEM education and careers was a key aspect of the WISE program.

“As a Government we understand the importance of ensuring our young women have female role models in science and research, entrepreneurship and corporate leadership to look to for inspiration,” Minister Cash said.

Minister Cash also announced today that the Australian Mathematics Trust would receive $75,000 over 2017­­­–­18 to 2019–20 to recruit and send a team of four Australian students to the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad in each of the next three years.

“For the first time, Australia’s best and brightest female high school mathematics students will compete at this prestigious international event,” Minister Cash said.

“This will open up new opportunities for Australian girls to compete in elite international mathematical competitions and inspire more students to strive for mathematical excellence.”

Applications for round two of the WISE program close on 15 November 2017, and the successful projects will be announced in early 2018. The Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship program is part of the ‘Inspiring all Australians in Digital Literacy and STEM’ component of the National Innovation and Science Agenda.

business.gov.au/wise

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THE Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) Australia received record dispute numbers in 2016-17, according to new data published today.

The Annual Review shows that FOS received 39,479 disputes, a 16 percent increase from last year, after a 7 percent increase the previous year.
 
The increase was driven by continued growth in general insurance disputes. The number of general insurance disputes received (13,200) increased by 2,612, accounting for about 38 percent of the overall increase.
 
FOS said the increase in general insurance disputes was due to a continuation of industry-specific issues including higher claim numbers, organisational changes and the impact of Cyclone Debbie, all of which may have affected insurers’ internal dispute resolution.
 
Resolving disputes more quickly and efficiently
 
Overall, FOS reduced the average time taken to resolve disputes by 13 percent in 2016-17 and 43 percent from the previous year without compromising the quality of outcomes. A major challenge this year has been the increase in disputes received (from 34,095 to 39,479).
 
“This means that people can have their cases resolved more quickly and get on with the rest of their lives,” Chief Ombudsman Shane Tregillis said.
 
FOS resolved disputes in an average of 54 days in 2016-17 compared with 62 days last year and 95 days in 2014-15. It also closed 44% percent of disputes within 30 days (up one percentage point from last year and double the previous year’s 22%).

The record number of disputes have put pressure on staff workloads and we saw some queues re-emerge in the second half of the year. In response to this, we have recently recruited additional ombudsmen and other staff to ensure we can handle the anticipated high volume of disputes we continue to receive.
 
Financial difficulty disputes continue to decline
 
Financial difficulty disputes, which occur when a consumer is unexpectedly unable to meet their payment obligations, fell again in 2016-17.
 
Chief Ombudsman Shane Tregillis said this was due to improvements that FSPs were continuing to make in managing hardship requests and complaints from customers in financial difficulty, consistently low interest rates (which had reduced repayment pressures for many borrowers), and improvements to the FOS process.
 
Systemic issues a key priority
 
A key focus again was on systemic issues. FOS identified and referred 192 possible systemic issues to FSPs for response and resolved 66 definite systemic issues. FSPs said more than 940,000 customers were affected by these systemic issues, leading to significant refunds and other remedies such as amendments to, or removal of, credit listings. 
 
Improving accessibility
 
In 2016-17, FOS continued working to make its service as open and accessible as possible. “Every person who comes to us has specific circumstances that we need to take into account,” Mr Tregillis said.
 
As part of its work in response to the Victorian Royal Commission, FOS encouraged applicants to identify if family violence was a factor in their dispute. We also developed partnerships with expert services to help staff understand and help people affected by family violence and financial elder abuse.
 
A key achievement was completing the FOS Reconciliation Action Plan and having it endorsed by Reconciliation Australia. The plan outlines 16 key initiatives to help make FOS more accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
 
What the disputes were about
 
FOS accepted 22,475 disputes in 2016-17. Of these, there were:
 

• 10,973 credit disputes (43%)
• 8,756 general insurance disputes (35%)
• 1,861 deposit-taking disputes (7%)
• 1,331 payment system disputes (5%)
• 1,292 investments and advice disputes (5%)
• 1,018 life insurance disputes (4%)

Total disputes accepted (22,475) are based on counting disputes that may involve multiple products or issues as single cases.
 
Of credit disputes, one-third (33%) involved credit cards, one-quarter (24%) involved home loans and one-fifth (19%) were about personal loans. Of all disputes accepted by FOS, credit cards were involved in 14 percent, home loans 10 percent and personal loans 8 percent.

Some 10,464 disputes (or 41% of all disputes FOS accepted) involved banks. This was a slightly lower proportion than in 2015-16. Disputes involving banks were mainly about FSP decisions (23%) and financial difficulty (20%).
 
Of general insurance disputes, almost one-third (31%) involved motor vehicle – comprehensive insurance and more than one-quarter (28%) involved home building insurance. The main issues were claim amount (20%), denial of claim (18%) and denial of claim – exclusion/condition (16%).
 
Of deposit-taking disputes, 63 percent involved personal transaction accounts and the main issue was unauthorised transactions (29%). Of payment system disputes, 28% involved non-cash systems and the main issue was interpretation of product terms and conditions (28%).
 
Of investments and advice disputes, 25 percent involved mixed asset funds (investing in multiple asset classes such as cash, bonds, shares and property), and the main issue was inappropriate advice (24%). In life insurance, almost half (48%) the disputes involved income protection insurance, and the main issue was denial of claim (26%).
 
External dispute resolution review
 
FOS contributed throughout the year by making submissions to the Federal Government’s review of the financial system’s external dispute resolution (EDR) and complaints framework.
 
FOS advocated that changes to current dispute arrangements should build on the proven features of the industry ombudsman model, and be designed to simplify, strengthen and increase access to timely, cost-effective and efficient EDR for individuals and small business.
 
The key elements of the industry ombudsman model remain at the heart of the Government’s plans for a single EDR scheme, which is to be called the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
 
 
Links: FOS Annual Review

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THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said the August trade figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) represent a lower than expected move towards Spring with a 2.13 percent total growth year-on-year.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the August retail trade figures continued to show strong growth in the Other Retailing category which inlcudes gambling and online goods and services, however the broader retail categories have suffered significantly.

“With many historic challenges affecting the Australian industry these past few months, we have expected to see the sector suffer,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“With increased energy costs, higher tax burdens and an inflexible wage system, we need Government action to increase consumer and business confidence.”

Alongside Other Retailing, Food Retailing (2.30%) and Household Goods (2.01%) show moderate year-on-year growth.

The retail categories showing a significant hit to year-on-year sales growth include Cafes Restaurants and Takeaway Food (1.92%), Clothing Footwear & Personal Accessories (0.89%) and Department Stores (-1.35%).

“These August figures have seen Takeaway Food Services receive a -0.80% year-on-year growth, the first negative figures for this category in over 15 months,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Although Department Stores (-1.35%), Newspapers & Books (-3.87) and Hardware & Building (-0.47%) also received negative year-on-year growth figures, the drop in Takeaway Food is quite concerning for the industry.

“July month-to-month retail trade figures saw a return to growth for Department stores, to see these figures go backwards is of high concern to the sector.”

All states recorded a drop in growth year-on year, an undesirable sign for the months ahead. Victoria (3.41%) and New South Wales (2.91%) showed the strongest year-on-year growth of the States. With Tasmania (1.92%), the Northern Territory (1.71%), the Australian Capital Territory (1.69%) and South Australia (1.36%) trailing behind. Both Queensland (0.37%) and Western Australia (0.81%) again showed the least year-on-year growth across the nation.

“As we lead into Spring racing and the beginning of the Christmas season we expect to see a pickup in both Food Retailing and Clothing, Footwear and Accessories,” Mr Zimmerman said.

MONTHLY RETAIL GROWTH (July 2017– August 2017 seasonally adjusted) 

Department stores (0.67%), Other retailing (0.06%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-0.16%), Food retailing (-0.63%), Household goods retailing (-1.02%) and Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (-1.27%).

New South Wales (-0.25%), South Australia (-0.57%), Western Australia (-0.62%), Tasmania (-0.68%), Northern Territory (-0.68%), Queensland (-0.78%), Victoria (-0.79%) and Australian Capital Territory (-0.81%).

Total sales (-1.27%). 

YEAR-ON-YEAR RETAIL GROWTH (August 2016 – August 2017 seasonally adjusted)

Other retailing (4.92%), Food retailing (2.30%), Household goods retailing (2.01%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.92%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.89%) and Department stores (-1.35%). 

Victoria (3.41%), New South Wales (2.91%), Tasmania (1.92%), Northern Territory (1.71%), Australian Capital Territory (1.69%), South Australia (1.36%), Western Australia (0.81%) and Queensland (0.37%).

Total sales (2.13%).

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has welcomed the introduction of shorter, plain English loan contracts by National Australia Bank for small business borrowers.

The bank announced yesterday that more than 130,000 Australian business owners would benefit from a complete overhaul of its existing business standard loan form contract.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell said this was a positive step.

“My small business loans inquiry recommended this in December last year and called for implementation by July 2017,” Ms Carnell said.

“It followed unfair contract terms legislation coming into force last November.

“The inquiry report recommended that where a small business had met loan payments and acted lawfully, the bank must not default a loan for any reason.

“The report also said conditions must be removed where banks could unilaterally value existing security assets during the life of a loan; and not invoke financial covenants or catch-all ‘material adverse change’ clauses.

“I applaud NAB for being first off the mark and urge other banks to follow.

“It shouldn’t have taken so long, but we finally have a situation where banks will be treating small business clients as partners and share some of the risk. Currently the contractual relationship is one-sided and unfair.”

The NAB statement says: “The changes come after NAB announced financial indicator covenants will no longer be used in most loan contracts for new and existing small business customers with total business lending of less than $3 million in April 2017.”

However, Ms Carnell said it would be disappointing if changes such as these were not applied by all lenders to loans above $3 million.

“The banks’ own independent expert adviser on the ABA Code of Banking Practice review, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Government’s response to the Ramsay review on external dispute resolution have all identified a credit facility of at least $5 million is an appropriate threshold,” she said.

“I’ll continue talking to the government, opposition, crossbench MPs and the banks about raising the threshold to $5 million.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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