THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts today presented its report on the Australian music industry. The committee has made 16 recommendations to ensure the future growth and sustainability of this sector.

Chair, Luke Howarth MP, stated that "investment in the support and promotion of Australian artists and other industry careers is essential to the retention of talent and, ultimately, the sustainability and growth of the Australian music industry.

"The music industry has experienced significant disruption as a result of technological advances and the rapid digitisation of the distribution of music; however, the industry’s recent return to growth and decrease in the number of consumers downloading music illegally is evidence of the industry’s successful adaption to the digital disruption," Mr Howarth said.

Key recommendations include:

• removing the pricing cap on licence fees for the radio broadcast of sound recordings;
• investing in supporting artists to tour in Australia, both in major cities and regional areas;
• investing in the Live Music Office, to continue its work advising and supporting state and local governments to develop regulation that encourages and celebrates live music;
• changing the application and monitoring of Australian music content quotas for commercial radio;
• investing in Sounds Australia’s music exports program;
• prioritising and supporting Australian music at government activities and events;
• developing mutually beneficial visa arrangements with the United States of America to allow artists from both countries to more easily showcase and tour;
• encouraging states and territories to improve access to music education for public primary and secondary school students;
• investing in initiatives aimed at training and supporting Australian artists and industry professionals to grow and develop their businesses;
• investing in grants and industry partnerships that support artists in the creation of new music and new recordings; and
• investing in Support Act to enable it to expand its services and deliver crisis support for artists and others working in the Australian music industry.

The report can be accessed from the Committee’s website.

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REVOLUTIONARY developments in mass transit technology need to be met with the development of a revolutionary automated transit ecosystem, according to a new report.

House of Representatives Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Committee Chair John Alexander said if done well, the automation and electrification of mass transit has the potential to make Australian cities and regions cleaner, greener, more accessible and more liveable.

"Achieving this outcome will demand vision and leadership from government," Mr Alexander said.

"We need to make the timely provision of the supporting infrastructure for the transition to the fuels of the future."

The report, titled Innovating Transport across Australia, makes 17 recommendations addressing a range of issues around automated transport and alternative energy sources. These recommendations include establishing the Office of National Chief Engineer, developing a new automated transport ecosystem and developing a national hydrogen strategy.

"Ideally, our transport networks will consist of integrated multi-modal networks—systems operating across a variety of transport modes, connected by information exchanges with seamless ticketing," Mr Alexander said.

A copy of the report can be obtained from the Committee’s website or from the secretariat on (02) 6277 2352.

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ACS and DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) today announced a series of national events for World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, including a major event at ACS’s Technology and Innovation Hub in Sydney’s Barangaroo, designed to highlight opportunities in ICT for people on the autism spectrum.

Additional events are being held on April 2 and throughout April for World Autism Awareness Month, in Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.

DXC has been a leading advocate for inclusive employment for people on the spectrum since 2014 when it started the DXC Dandelion Program, focussed on building valuable technology, life and executive functioning skills to help establish careers for people on the autism spectrum.

“The launch of these events with ACS to mark World Autism Awareness Day will help us share our knowledge and learnings from our DXC Dandelion Program and our neurodiversity hubs to allow other organisations to establish sustainable employment programs,” said Seelan Nayagam, managing director, DXC Technology Australia and New Zealand.

“Our goal is make a greater social impact from the work we have done over the last five years and ACS is an excellent platform from which we can collaborate with the broader industry.”

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to highlight the value of a marginalised group of people,” said ACS president Yohan Ramasundara. “People on the autism spectrum represent an untapped resource and an opportunity to expand a business’ diversity and inclusion.

“Far from being a liability, many people with autism excel in the kinds of tasks required by ICT professions. They often have a very high attention to detail, an eye for detecting patterns, the capacity for lateral thinking and the ability to sustain superior levels of concentration. As we see with so many forms of workforce diversity, it’s actually to a business’s benefit to look at people on the spectrum as a source of business value.

“We really wanted to highlight on World Autism Awareness Day that there is this huge source of talent, with people who aren’t just capable, but excel in certain kinds of tasks.”

DXC’s Social Impact Practice leader and Dandelion program executive, Michael Fieldhouse, will be hosting the event at Barangaroo at 12pm on April 2, which will also showcase panellists Mike Tozer, CEO and founder of Xceptional; Natalie Phong, human resources business partner, SAP; and Susannah Pondekas, senior manager, strategic initiatives at CBA.

www.acs.org.au

About ACS

ACS is the professional association for Australia's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. More than 45,000 ACS members work in business, education, government and the community. ACS exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. ACS strives for ICT professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, relevant across all sectors, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on ICT and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.

About DXC Technology

As the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) leads digital transformations for clients by modernizing and integrating their mainstream IT, and by deploying digital solutions at scale to produce better business outcomes. The company’s technology independence, global talent, and extensive partner network enable 6,000 private and public-sector clients in 70 countries to thrive on change. DXC is a recognized leader in corporate responsibility. For more information, visit dxc.technology and explore THRIVE, DXC’s digital destination for changemakers and innovators.

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SME GROWTH INDEX research released today shows that, when asked what SME priority the new Federal Parliament should focus on, company tax cuts was the top response.

SME Growth Index research is conducted independently by banking analysts East & Partners, on behalf of national working capital funder Scottish Pacific. The owners, CEOs or senior financial staff of 1257 SMEs across all states and key industries, with annual revenues of $A1-20 million.

Scottish Pacific CEO Peter Langham said company tax cuts topped the wish, nominated by 27 percent of business owners as the initiative that should have top priority.

The Federal Government’s moves last month to further expand the instant asset write-off should please respondents, as almost 24 percent said this should be their focus.

One in five SMEs want the newly elected government to prioritise cutting red tape by reducing their administrative and regulatory burden.

Mr Langham said SMEs were far more concerned about government action on things they see affecting their business on a day-to-day basis, rather than big picture projects such as the NBN or small business funding initiatives.

“Over the past six years, the SME Growth Index has repeatedly highlighted that company tax cuts and a reduced regulatory burden are the most pressing reforms SMEs are crying out for. Nothing has changed this round,” Mr Langham said.

“The Index has recorded a three year high in SMEs expecting to grow in the first half of 2019, despite the uncertainty surrounding the property market, Royal Commission aftermath and pre-election period.

“Simplifying the complex tax system and cutting red tape, and on a state basis getting rid of payroll tax, would have the biggest daily impact for Australia’s small to medium business sector.

“These are the everyday impact items that will energise SMEs, encourage business investment and drive growth and innovation,” he said.

Mr Langham said Federal Government efforts to simplify BAS must be starting to hit the mark – in this latest research, only one in 10 SMEs named further BAS simplification as their top priority, down from one in four when this question was last asked 18 months ago.

Only 7 percent thought reducing SME energy costs should be the main focus for the new parliament.

“Despite significant publicity around the announcement of a $2 billion SME lending fund, not even 3 percent of respondents felt that implementing this fund should be the top priority,” Mr Langham said.

“The research also found that very few SMEs thought the first order of business for any new Federal Government should be extending legislation to ease late payment times, working on SME infrastructure such as the NBN or funding national cybersecurity education for small businesses.”

Most SMEs weren’t seeking the extension of legislation designed to ease late payment times and to mandate participation in the Australian Supplier Payment Code, despite much public debate about ever-lengthening supplier payment times.

Just over 2 percent of business owners named it as their preferred top post-election priority.

Dedicated SME infrastructure such as fast tracking the NBN (less than 2%) and cybersecurity (1%) are seen by business owners as lower on the agenda for a new government relative to tax cuts and cutting red tape.

This is despite a recent Chubb and YouGov survey, Too Small to Fail? Australia SME Cyber Preparedness Report, that found 71 percent of SMEs have experienced a cyber-attack or error in the past 12 months and 45 percent of SME owners are not confident that their employees who have access to sensitive data are fully aware of their data privacy responsibilities.

About Scottish Pacific

Scottish Pacific is Australasia’s largest specialist working capital provider, helping thousands of business owners with the working capital they need to succeed. Scottish Pacific lends to small, medium and large businesses with revenues ranging from $500,000 to $1 billion. www.scottishpacific.com

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