AUSTRALIA's GDP, in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, grew 0.6 percent in the December quarter 2015, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The growth in expenditure was driven by a rise of 0.8 percent in Household final consumption expenditure and a rise of 6.0 percent in Public gross fixed capital formation. These were partially offset by a fall in private business investment (-3.3 percent), driven by a fall in new engineering construction (-12.3 percent). 

The growth in Household final consumption was reflected in the service industries of Information, media and telecommunications (2.7 percent), and Retail trade (1.0 percent). Other industries that had significant growth were Rental, hiring and real estate (2.8 percent) and Wholesale trade (1.6 percent).

The December quarter saw the Terms of trade decrease 3.2 percent in seasonally adjusted terms.

Further details can be found in Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, (cat no. 5206.0) available for download from the ABS website www.abs.gov.au.

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WHILE acknowledging the Government’s Innovation Statement, the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) is using its 2016 pre-Budget submission to encourage the Government to support innovative small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

“Australia needs sound public policy to be developed to encourage innovation amongst small to medium enterprises (SMEs), said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“Around 10 per cent of Australian businesses produce innovative goods and services, while between 16 and 21 per cent innovate in their underlying business processes.

“Even if Australian SMEs are not the initial investors or innovators, they can still capture some of the value of innovations developed elsewhere.

“New-to-country, and particularly new-to-firm, innovations are often more economically important for improving national productivity.  Innovation policy should include measures to encourage the diffusion and uptake of existing innovations to a broad range of firms, as well as encouraging new innovations.

“Firms that can adopt continuous improvement methods to imbed incremental innovation can generate large productivity improvements.

“SMEs are an excellent starting point. Large firms often find it hard to change their business model to capture value, but SMEs can change them more easily.

“Accordingly, public innovation policy should encourage value capture and business model innovation more generally.  It is important that regulation helps firms capture value while balancing the benefits other firms receive from the wider diffusion of value.

“Talent not technology is the key.  Without addressing wider skills requirements, research indicates it is likely to create bottlenecks downstream in the innovation process.

“We believe that government plays an important role. They can provide strong research and development support, enabling better linkages between cutting edge universities and industry; provide support to firms to adapt existing technologies and innovation; and, encourage firms to develop their ability to search for new options, evaluate them and successfully implement and adapt them to their specific context,” said Mr Conway. 

For further detail refer to the IPA’s pre-Budget submission for 2016-17 on the IPA website at http://bit.ly/1PVGJX7

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TOWNSVILLE Enterprise chairman Kevin Gill said his organisation believed everything possible must be done to keep the doors of Queensland Nickel open.

"With much uncertainty around the future of Queensland Nickel (QNI) now is the time all levels of government must come together to keep the doors of QNI open and to save hundreds of jobs," Mr Gill said.

"Under no circumstances can the doors of QNI be allowed to close without every option being explored. No stone must be left unturned.

"Unemployment is a serious issue. We all know that the economy is vulnerable," he said.

"All levels of governments must stand shoulder to shoulder and do whatever is needed to find a solution to save the 550 jobs in jeopardy and the livelihoods of families.

"QNI contributes $1.3 billion into the local economy annually – once its gone, that’s it."

He said Townsville Enterprise had spoken with the State Government to urge it to explore all options to keep QNI afloat.

"The Government must lead this process – it has levers that it can pull if necessary," Mr Gill said.

www.tel.com.au

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NW DATA released today by the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) shows that steps to lower employment costs, stimulate economic growth and improve training quality are needed to address falling apprenticeship and traineeship numbers.

The NCVER report shows that nationally there were 295,300 apprentices and trainees in-training as at September 2015, a decrease of almost 14 percent from September 2014. Disturbingly, this represents a fall of around 40 percent from 2012 levels, when cuts to employer incentives were made by the federal government.

The drop off in the number of Victorian apprentices and trainees is even greater. There were 69,100 apprentices and trainees in-training in Victoria as at September 2015, a drop of 44 percent from 2012 levels.

“The alarming fall in national and Victorian apprentice and trainee numbers is damaging Victoria’s current workforce capacity and undermining our ability to develop a strong future workforce,” said Victorian Chamber Chief Executive Mark Stone.

“It can take a number of years for a young person to commence and successfully complete an apprenticeship, find work and become fully productive in their employment. This means addressing barriers to hiring apprentices and trainees must be a priority for governments at all levels.”

A recent Victorian Chamber survey found that business will be more inclined to hire apprentices and trainees if the cost of employing an apprentice or trainee is reduced, demand for business products and services is stimulated and confidence in the training system is improved.

“With youth unemployment a persistent problem, policy makers, business and education providers must work together to ensure young Victorians have the best chance of gaining a foothold in the workforce,” said Mr Stone.

“Failure to do so risks creating a lost generation of workers and damaging the ability of business to compete and innovate.”

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1851, is the most influential business organisation in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

victorianchamber.com.au