IN REVIEWING early feedback, it is clear that small businesses experiencing financial difficulties are often leaving it too late to seek help.

That’s one of the factors contributing to small business insolvencies that has been explored at the first meeting of the reference group established by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman as part of its Insolvency Practices Inquiry.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell said it was vital for small businesses to recognise the signs of financial distress and seek help as quickly as possible.

“It is crucial that small and family businesses experiencing financial difficulties understand they don’t have to go it alone,” Ms Carnell said.

“What we know is the sooner small and family businesses get help, the more likely it is they can achieve a more favourable outcome.

“Small and family businesses should lean on their trusted advisors, like your accountant, especially when financial concerns arise. We know this is an issue that is important to the small and family business community because there has been an overwhelming public response to our Inquiry.

“Already we’ve had 230 survey responses and 20 submissions and we expect that number to grow. We also appreciate the generous feedback we’ve had from many insolvency practitioners so far and discussions with industry groups and professionals involved in the insolvency sector are ongoing.

“We remain very keen to hear from all parties that have been through a restructure or insolvency. These stories can be shared by completing our online survey or by providing a submission via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..”

An interim report will be released next month ahead of the final report in February.

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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THE Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts is holding a public hearing at Southport, Queensland on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 for its inquiry into the deployment, adoption and application of 5G in Australia.

This will be the first public hearing for the inquiry, and will begin a series of public hearings and site visits to gather evidence about the challenges and benefits of 5G in Australia.

Information about the inquiry, including the public hearing program, may be found on the Committee’s webpage.

Public hearing details

Date: Tuesday, 19 November 2019
Time: 11.30am – 1.30pm
Location: Room F4, Southport Community Centre

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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THE Joint Standing Committee on Migration is headed to South Australia to examine how to encourage migrants to settle and remain in regional areas, in the first round of regional hearings for its inquiry into migration in regional Australia.

“South Australia is at the forefront of initiatives and strategies to encourage higher levels of migration to regional areas,” said Committee Chair Julian Leeser MP. “South Australian towns are seeking more migrants to boost population growth and address skills shortages, and the Committee can learn a lot from this experience.

“For our first regional hearings, we will be travelling to Adelaide (considered regional for the purposes of migration) on 18 November, Murray Bridge on 19 November and Mount Gambier on 20 November. This is a great opportunity to talk with people in regional areas with first-hand experience about what works to assist migrants to settle and stay in regional areas.”

As part of the hearings, the Committee will be meeting with local government, Regional Development Australia, as well as local migrants and businesses.  The Committee will also discuss regional migration with the South Australian Government and migration experts in Adelaide on 18 November.

“The support of regional communities is critical to the success of regional migration. We want to hear directly from local people and organisations to understand how to ensure the long term success of migration to regional areas,” Mr Leeser said.

The Committee will be travelling to other states and territories to visit a range of regional areas, details on these hearings will be announced in early 2020. Further details on the inquiry, including the terms of reference, are available on the inquiry website.

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THE Financial Services Council (FSC) has urged caution in relation to the use of APRA’s proposed heatmapping exercises to make comparisons between superannuation funds.

Responding to the release of APRA’s Information Paper: Heatmap – MySuper products, FSC CEO Sally Loane said that APRA has clearly worked hard to present information in a fair and impartial way and acknowledged the potential value in the analysis APRA is undertaking, but cautioned against the information being viewed in isolation.

“Particular care should be taken by commentators in interpreting the heatmaps into simplistic league tables,” Ms Loane said.

“The industry was not consulted on the methodology, so we don’t have full understanding of APRA’s approach, this is why we caution against using the information to make a like-for-like comparison of products. We believe it is far more complex, and in some cases problematic.

“For example, the reference portfolio used by APRA to benchmark returns appears simplistic, and it is unclear whether the level of risk adjustment is appropriate.

“We are also concerned that the analysis of sustainability relates to the whole of a super fund rather than the specific products being examined, presenting a potentially misleading view.

“We urge APRA to be open to engaging on genuine concerns about data and methodology over the coming weeks,” Ms Loane said.

The FSC said that while there was a case for being able to directly compare MySuper products in this format with the appropriate methodology, there were concerns about APRA’s intention to expand this project to choice superannuation products.

“The variation in choice superannuation products in the market makes them significantly more difficult to accurately compare, and there are not currently agreed metrics and standards for how this would occur.

“We recommend APRA be cautious in extending this exercise to choice products before they have access to appropriate, comparable data.

Ms Loane said that if issues are addressed, information in the heatmapping analysis could be a good resource super funds can use to improve consumer outcomes.

“The FSC and our members will review the documents released today in detail, and we look forward to ongoing engagement with APRA as they improve their data collection, analysis and publication capabilities,” Ms Loane said.

www.fsc.org.au

About the Financial Services Council

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has more than 100 members representing Australia's retail and wholesale funds management businesses, superannuation funds, life insurers, financial advisory networks and licensed trustee companies. The industry is responsible for investing $3 trillion on behalf of more than 15.6 million Australians. The FSC promotes best practice for the financial services industry by setting mandatory Standards for its members and providing Guidance Notes to assist in operational efficiency. The FSC’s mission is to protect and enhance confidence in a strong, sustainable financial services sector that serves Australians with integrity.

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