THE deadline has been extended for submissions to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration inquiry into the Seasonal Worker Programme.

The committee is particularly interested to hear from individuals and organisations who have participated in the Programme and would like to encourage all stakeholders who either administer or participate in the employment scheme to share their experiences.

Submissions will now be accepted until Friday 31 July 2015.

As part of the inquiry, the committee will be focusing on the role of seasonal workers in the horticulture industry and investigate whether the program should be expanded to include other countries and sectors.

Further details about the inquiry, including the full terms of reference and how to make a submission, can be obtained from the committee’s website at http://www.aph.gov.au/mig or by contacting the committee secretariat on (02) 6277 4560 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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ON the agenda at the upcoming Vodafone National Small Business Summit on 16 and 17 July is a debate about the fairness and effectiveness of the government’s Competitive Policy Review, chaired by Professor Ian Harper, which sought to improve the Australian economy by ensuring a fair playing field in the interest of consumers.

Matthew Lobb, General Manager of Public Policy at Vodafone Australia; Jos de Bruin, Master Grocers Australia CEO; Simon Pryor, Executive Director Infrastructure and Regulation at Business Council Australia, and Danny Gilbert from Gilbert + Tobin, an independent corporate law firm, will go head-to-head with Su McCluskey, a member of the Competitive Policy Review Panel, to discuss whether the review helped or hindered small business and the consumer.

Master Grocers, the leading industry employer association for the independent grocery and liquor sector, takes a strong stance on the supermarket giant price war, which so far has seen Woolworths and Coles retain market share.

Jos de Bruin, CEO of Master Grocers said that for the last ten years his organisation has been advocating for changes to competition laws, to ensure a fair playing field.

“For the last ten years we’ve been advocating for changes to competition laws, to ensure a fair playing field and we welcome the Harper Competition Policy Review. The introduction of an effects test to section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act would strengthen existing laws for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and allow for necessary action to be taken.

“We have the public’s support on this matter, on wanting fair competition to build and maintain a vibrant economy. Our recent survey revealed that 90% of people want stronger laws and proper resources, so that the ACCC can stop anti competitive behaviour and protect the interests of consumers. Furthermore, many small businesses have their lives invested into their companies, and are responsible not only for their own mortgages and families, but their employees too. They haven’t got shareholders and billions of dollars to come to their aid, so it’s important that there’s fairness to enable success,” said Jos de Bruin.

Likewise, in the business of telecommunications, Vodafone goes up against heavyweight, Telstra.

Matthew Lobb, General Manager of Public Policy at Vodafone Australia, said that he welcomed the renewed public policy focus on overcoming the roadblocks to effective competition.

“A regulatory framework that is constantly working to deliver a level competitive playing field is crucial for Australia’s future. For example, greater focus on overcoming the roadblocks to effective competition in the telecommunications sector will help Vodafone and other challenger telco’s deliver substantial benefits to small business and the Australian economy,” said Mr Lobb.

The Summit, spearheaded by Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA), the peak body and the leading voice of small businesses, is the annual event where key leaders, policy influencers and government meet to exchange knowledge on how to influence and make change that will contribute to the growth of small businesses in Australia.

Peter Strong, CEO of Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) said small businesses are the lifeblood of Australian culture; it represents the essence of our entrepreneurial spirit to allow everyone a ‘fair go’.

“Small businesses are essential to the stabilisation of the Australian economy. COSBOA stands beside small businesses to bolster them against the inequalities in the marketplace, which occur across all sectors. These inequalities ultimately have a knock on effect on employment, culture and our communities,” said Mr Strong.

Registrations are open for the Vodafone National Small Business Summit. For more information please visit www.nationalsmallbusinesssummit.com.au

http://www.cosboa.org.au/

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ON grand final Friday, the cost to pay Victoria’s almost 2 million full time employees not to come to work could reach $543 million for the day.

Additional wages for the retail, accommodation, food services and recreation industries are estimated to cost small business owners $105 million for the two holidays as wages can be 50 per cent higher on Easter Sunday and 150 per cent higher on grand final eve.

The two new holidays widen the disparity between public holiday arrangements across Australia and will result in Victoria having a nationwide high of 13 days, compared to states like New South Wales with 11 and Queensland and Western Australia with 10.

Excerpts from Chief Executive Mark Stone’s press conference:

"It is a terrible decision that the government is continuing to go ahead with this plan," Mr Stone said.

"The government must do the right thing by Victorian businesses, do the right thing by people who are trying to employ more people and trying to create more jobs; and not take money away from them.

"I regularly meet with the relevant ministers, the Premier, the Treasurer, and I keep reinforcing that the view of business in Victoria is that this is the wrong call. They need to retract it. They’ll win a lot of support and business interest if they come back from this decision.

"What Victoria needs is more jobs and this plan is only going to set that back."

 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 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission welcomes the Federal Government’s decision to provide increased resources to boost its engagement with rural and regional industries, small businesses and consumers.

The Government has indicated its plans to implement policy outlined in the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, including allocating $11.4 million over four years to establish an Agricultural Enforcement and Engagement Unit with additional staff to conduct investigations and engagement in rural and regional areas.

"The ACCC will prioritise detecting, deterring and taking action against conduct that breaches the Competition and Consumer Act (2010) (CCA) that affects farmers and small businesses in rural and regional areas, particularly cartels, misuse of market power, and misleading or unconscionable conduct,” Acting Chair Delia Rickard said.

“The ACCC will strengthen its engagement with agricultural industries to understand factors effecting competition in rural and regional markets. This will also enable the ACCC to better explain its decisions to farmers and regional small businesses.”

Through the collective bargaining authorisation process, the ACCC has a long record of strengthening the position of growers and processors across a range of sectors including dairy, poultry, vegetables and seafood.

SOUTH KOREAN city, Daejeon, has received the honour of hosting the next Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors’ Forum in 2017 (2017APCS), following the record-breaking success of this year’s summit, which attracted 95 city leaders and more than 1,000 delegates over four days.

City of Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said Daejeon was selected ahead of five finalist bidding cities – Busan, Kuching, Panama, Ahmedabad, and Penang Island.

“The 2017APCS attracted the most competitive and diverse range of bidding cities that we’ve ever seen in our 10-year history, highlighting the growing importance of this forum in bringing city leaders together to discuss, share, and help respond to city urbanisation challenges across the Asia Pacific,” Cr Quirk said.

“As a sister city since 2002, Daejeon’s growing reputation as a leader in innovation and technology strongly aligned with our aspiration of becoming Australia’s new world city.

“Being the fifth largest city in Korea and Australia’s third largest export market, Daejeon has fast become the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Korea, with many of its large global businesses now based in Brisbane and south-east Queensland including Samsung, POSCO, CJ Nutracon, and KOGAS.

“In addition, we’ve further strengthened our partnership through a new Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier today with the Daejeon Metropolitan City Government.

“We are proud to announce it will launch an exciting internship program that will enable 20 Daejeon students to study English at International House in Brisbane.

“Congratulations to Mayor Kwon Sun-taik and his Government on their hard work in delivering such an outstanding bid and we look forward to 2017 for what will be an even bigger and better summit in Daejeon.”

On the final day of 2015APCS, delegates also heard from New York best-selling author, former Facebook Director of Marketing, and Zuckerberg Media Founder and CEO Randi Zuckerberg.

“Randi’s unique style thoroughly entertained our delegates, presenting her favourite 10 trends businesses could use to inject more creativity into their branding and marketing, encourage a ‘hacker’ or entrepreneurial spirit within their employees, and generally overcome a fear of failure,” Cr Quirk said.

Following her keynote, four young professionals took to the stage on behalf of more than 100 participants in the Young Professionals Program. Together they presented their cost-neutral solutions for cities on a range of urban challenges including transportation, sanitation, and energy efficiency.

“The calibre of young delegates from across the region engaged in the Young Professionals Forum continues to grow every year. This time they got the unique opportunity to present in front of over 90 city leaders, who collectively impact the lives of more than 130 million citizens around the world. Congratulations to this group of emerging young talent and we look forward to seeing how our leaders empower their ideas in the future,” Cr Quirk said.

The Mayors’ Accord was also officially announced and signed by all participating mayors today.

“Cities in the Asia Pacific will work together, with global partners, to advance common urban solutions in order to accelerate their global orientation, integration into the knowledge economy, technology uptake, governance, and liveability,” Cr Quirk said.

www.apcsummit.org

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AUSTRALIAN producers will gain better access to premium overseas markets, with $30.8 million in new funding to help us tackle technical barriers to trade and grow as well as maintain markets through the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper.

Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, said the funding would help producers realise the opportunities and benefits of free trade agreements (FTAs) recently finalised with three of Australia's largest agricultural trading partners, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

"About two thirds of all Australia's agricultural production, or more than $40 billion a year, is exported overseas each year," Minister Joyce said.

"This export focus underlines agriculture's contribution to our economy—and it is something we want to maintain as well as build to provide greater profits back to the farmgate and to the nation.

"While producers will gain significant benefits from the recently finalised FTAs the white paper consultation underlined that achieving improved market access by negotiating FTAs alone was not enough.

"The $30.8 million will go toward reducing technical barriers to trade in key markets, and to provide five new agriculture counsellors in overseas markets, promoting our products and the robustness of our assurance systems, and helping us to understand what our international customers want.

"Key to enhancing profitability of the sector is negotiating health protocols and treatment regimes to access and maintain markets that do not place unnecessary burden on our producers."

Minister Joyce said the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper was a blueprint for the future of agriculture.

"The Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper fulfils our election commitment to undertake a process that listens to the realities and challenges of life on the land.
 
"I'm encouraged by the level of engagement this has generated and pleased to be delivering a once in a generation plan for agriculture to the Australian community."

The White Paper was informed by comprehensive stakeholder consultation—more than 1000 submissions were received and the government talked face-to-face with more than 1100 people across the country in developing this document.

The White Paper is available at agwhitepaper.agriculture.gov.au.

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Speaking at APCS in Brisbane, Tencent’s SY Lau predicts Internet Plus will enable and encourage the rise of smart cities

(Brisbane, Australia, July 7, 2015) SY Lau, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Online Media Group, spoke about the future of cities powered by Internet Plus today at the 2015 Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) and Mayors' Forum.

Championed by Tencent, Internet Plus in a new concept in China describing the relationship between the Internet and society.

nternet Plus provides the backbone for administrations to create innovative way to develop smart cities. The ecosystem created through Internet Plus with online and offline activities can efficiently allocate resources, better connect people to private and public sectors, encourage entrepreneurship and improve lives.

“Internet Plus will create a new infrastructure, one that cleverly and efficiently allocates resources to meet the challenges today and in the future,” said Mr Lau. “Electricity is an essential utility – it’s an invisible force that’s easy to access. The Internet is emerging as a utility that is just as essential as electricity. It is up to us to utilize the Internet fully to enhance people’s lives and power sustainable cities.”

Internet Plus is not just a way to improve lives in urban areas. With technology, rural communities and towns are advancing down a new and different path.

Villagers communicate with WeChat (known as Weixin in China) and organize activities with Moments; they make purchases online, sell their products through an online retail platform and they spend leisure time playing QQ Games. Innovators of Internet Plus in urban areas can learn from the way villagers apply technology and the Internet to improve their lives and communities. Examples include:

• Chongqing, a western Chinese mega-city of almost 30 million people, became the first city to implement the Smart City concept powered by the technology of Tencent. Within 5 years, Chongqing will equip all traffic entry points with nearly 1,000 smart traffic monitors, linking the city’s transportation platform. Real-time monitoring and analysis will provide more efficient management of transportation.
• Didi Dache, a mobile taxi hailing app, informs taxi drivers of their potential customer’s destinations and of other customers nearby. Drivers can decide whether or not to accept the order and, if so, plan routes in advance, saving themselves and their customer’s time and resources.  

Tencent will be a facilitator and connector in the age of Internet Plus. There are already 40,000 Official Accounts in Tencent’s WeChat platform providing easy access to a wide selection of public services.

Connecting people, businesses and governments to each other and to technology is the first step. By the end of this year, Tencent will have 25 Innovation Centers across China, offering over 500,000 square meters of space for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Mr Lau concluded, “Brisbane is the second city in the world after New York to have a position of Chief Digital Officer. This beautiful city is at the forefront of leveraging technology to better serve the people here. We feel the energy and passion the city had and it is a truly valuable time to share our development experience with Brisbane.” 

To watch how technology is changing the people’s lives in rural areas in China, please watch https://youtu.be/aocsQkkNmFg 

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THE Australian Government has acted on concerns raised by farmers about supply chain transparency during the consultation phase of the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper.

Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, said the white paper would commit $11.4 million to establish an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Commissioner dedicated to agriculture as well as supporting capability at the ACCC concerned with agriculture supply chain issues.

"Many stakeholders were concerned with the lack of transparency in supply chains and the anti competitive distortions that can result—all too often to the detriment of our farmers," Minister Joyce said.

"The new Commissioner, combined with the new dedicated agricultural-focus of the ACCC, will give the ACCC additional agricultural skills and knowledge to address the concerns of farmers.

"These new resources will enable ACCC staff to attend the saleyards or visit farmers to see the market in action and gather necessary evidence.

"On top of these measures the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper will deliver $13.8 million to arm farmers with knowledge and materials on alternative business models like cooperatives and collective bargaining.

"Knowledge is power. A strong supply chain advocate, proactive ACCC investigations and information on alternative business structures will go a long way to reducing farmers' vulnerability to the market power that can be wielded by large processors or retail chains.

"These measures, combined with work this government already has in train through our forthcoming response to the Competition Policy Review; the current review of the Horticulture Code of Conduct; and the establishment of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, show we are serious about ensuring our farmers get a fair deal for their efforts.

"I am proud to deliver measures that go to one of the core themes we heard throughout the 18 month consultation that attracted 1000 submissions and involved face–to–face meetings with 1100 people."

The White Paper is available at agwhitepaper.agriculture.gov.au.

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