VECCI Chief Executive Mark Stone warned today that, at a time when Victoria will welcome a significant number of interstate and international visitors, parts of Melbourne’s CBD will be like a ghost-town this Friday, as the public holiday will make it uneconomic for many businesses to open.

"The cost to pay Victoria’s almost 2 million full time employees not to come to work could reach $543 million for the day," Mr Stoe said.

"As a Victorian business, this holiday will cost VECCI over $120,000 through lost revenue, paying people not to come to work and operating our advice line service to members and clients.

"The impact will be felt throughout Victorian business."

Mr Stone said examples include:

• Additional wages costs of $14,000 for a supermarket operator due to penalty rates.
• A building materials supplier paying $9,500 for its 50 full and part-time staff not to come to work.
• Some health sector operators will pay over $200,000 in additional wages for the day and, given the industry they operate in, must remain open.
• An adult casual shop assistant will now be paid $52.21 per hour instead of their regular Friday hourly rate of $23.73.
• A full time security officer working at an event will now cost 2.5 times their ordinary hourly rate to work on Friday, earning $46.17 an hour instead of $18.47. 

The taxpayer will pay over $20 million to cover extra public sector employee costs for the day.

Local governments throughout Victoria have to bear the burden of increased costs of operating services such as aged care facilities, rubbish collection and recreational centres.

Businesses across both Melbourne and regional Victoria have contacted VECCI asking us to see if we can have this decision retracted. We’ll continue to campaign on their behalf to see these holidays are not repeated in coming years.

The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is the most influential business organisation in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

vecci.org.au

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THE VICTORIAN experience of prevention and management of chronic disease in primary health care will be the focus of a House of Representatives Health Committee hearing to be held in Melbourne on Thursday.

The committee will hear from witnesses including the Victorian Health Department, chronic disease advocacy groups, bodies representing medical practitioners and allied health workers, research bodies, a health consumer group, private health insurers, and Primary Health Networks.

Discussion is expected to include methods used to treat chronic disease in primary health care, as well as ways in which patient care can be better coordinated, supported and improved.

Committee Chair Steve Irons MP said, "Hearing more about innovative models of care being delivered in Victoria, including the CarePoint partnership delivered by the Victorian Department of Health and Medibank Private, will provide a perspective on the ways in which the challenges of chronic disease can be addressed on a local and state-wide scale.

"Collaborative partnerships, and information sharing between research bodies and primary health care organisations, including Primary Health Networks, may find efficiencies and lead to better implementation of best practice treatment for patients living with chronic disease."

Details of the hearing are:
Thursday, 1 October – 9.00 am to 5.30 pm
Meeting Room G1, 55 St Andrews Place, Melbourne, Victoria

A program and further information about the inquiry is available at: www.aph.gov.au/chronicdisease

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ENTREPRENEURIAL training specialists, iBosses Corporation Limited (ASX: IB8) (“iBosses” and “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company is set to list the Company’s securities on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today, Wednesday, 30 September 2015 at 11:00am.

The Company has raised $2.7 million by the issuing of 13.5 million new ordinary shares at an issue price of $0.20 cents to achieve a market cap on listing of AUD $22.74 million.

In commenting on iBosses’ preparation for listing on the ASX, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of iBosses, Dr Patrick Khor, said:

“iBosses is delighted to be listing on the ASX and to be able to assist time-poor Australian entrepreneurs and may others around the world achieve their dreams of starting-up a new business.

“We are excited as this listing brings us closer to our aim of expanding operations to include 2,000 centres covering major cities of diverse regions in Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Australia, Philippines, Cambodia, Germany and America.”

iBosses employs the eight-level entrepreneurship acceleration process: Passion, Ideation, Validation, Implementation, Commercialisation, Replication, Fruition and Actualisation, to mentor entrepreneurs whose businesses presently focus on regional markets but have high potential and readiness to venture globally.

To assist start-up businesses in preparation for success, iBosses offers four business revenue models:

• Entrepreneurship Training
• Entrepreneurship Mentoring
• Entrepreneurship Digital Channel
• Entrepreneurship Licensing

iBosses’ e-system on Cloud is a digital platform that showcases start-ups from all over the world to investors, customers and other entrepreneurs allowing for convenient connections with potential members, co-founders, and crowd source.

In commenting on the imminent ASX listing, Mr Steven Lau, Deputy Chairman of iBosses Corporation Limited, said:

“iBosses is committed to listing on the ASX as it offers a sophisticated capital market, an internationally recognised and sustainable corporate governance environment, and a suitable platform for the Group’s expansion.”

ABOUT IBOSSES

iBosses is an internationally recognised corporation that is dedicated to inspiring and leading potential entrepreneurs in their pursuit of success through individually-tailored training programs.

With a vision to be the global leading provider of Entrepreneurship Training and Development, iBosses’ services include Entrepreneurship Training, Entrepreneurship Mentorship, Entrepreneurship Licensing and an Entrepreneurship Digital Platform. These services are intended to nurture, groom and grow successful entrepreneurs via iBosses Global Platform.

Established in 2014, iBosses Corporation Limited is based in Australia, and has expanded to include multiple centres located in Singapore (iBosses Private Limited), Hong Kong (iBosses Hong Kong Limited) and Malaysia (YES Academy Licensee). iBosses has been registered as a member of the Franchising and Licensing Association (Singapore) – FLA Singapore – iBosses.

www.ibosses.com

ENDS

NATIONAL resource industry employer group, AMMA (Australian Mines and Metals Association), calls on the Labor Opposition to heed the clear message from the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr Ma Zhaoxu, that our country needs to act quickly to secure the significant economic and employment opportunities of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA).

AMMA executive director, policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb says Australia must not waste its opportunity to steal a substantial march on our global competitors, and to lock in preferential trading arrangements with our most important trading partner.

“Ambassador Ma is correct in describing the ChAFTA as a win-win for both nations. As the Chinese leadership, the Australian Government and the Opposition are well aware, this is an excellent deal which will allow Australia to secure the highest levels of access to this massive market for our exports, goods and services,” Mr Barklamb says.

“It will create jobs for Australians, including our children and grandchildren, and increase our living standards for decades to come - but only if the negotiated agreement is rapidly ratified when parliament resumes.”

As Ambassador Ma delivers his address on the 100^th day since the ChAFTA was signed, Mr Barklamb says the enormity of what Labor is risking should not be underestimated.

“The Chinese leadership must be incredulous that Australia is not seizing with both hands the opportunities ChAFTA promises. As a nation we should be embarrassed that our alternative government needs to be reminded of what is at stake if we let this opportunity slip through our fingers,” he says.

“If ChAFTA does not proceed, our competitors will be only too quick to take up the preferential opportunities we have negotiated.”

With legislation to ratify the ChAFTA expected to be considered in parliament next month, Mr Barklamb says Opposition leader Bill Shorten will be tested on his economic leadership credentials.

“The CHAFTA legislation is where national economic leadership starts to get very real for Mr Shorten,” he says.

“This is a test of his capacity to make decisions for all Australians, rather than for the vested interests of the union movement. It is a test of actions rather than spin.

“The Opposition must decide whether they want to take instructions from the CFMEU and thereby become complicit in a fundamentally xenophobic campaign singling out Chinese labour, or instead demonstrate maturity and vision, act in the national interest, and help deliver more jobs and better living standards for generations of Australians.”

AMMA’s comments follow Mr Ma Zhaoxu’s address to the Australia China Business Council/ China Chamber of Commerce in Australia on the evening of 29 September. 

www.amma.org.au

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