THE State Government’s proposal to expand police powers to 'move-on' people engaging in illegal picket line and protest activities will help protect fundamental rights of Victorian businesses, says Victoria’s peak employer body.

“The right to freely enter one’s premises is a fundamental right. People should be able to go about their business and earn a living without others preventing them from doing so or making them fear for their safety,” says VECCI Chief Executive Mark Stone.

“It is also fundamental that their clients, customers and suppliers are able to freely enter and exit business premises and that private property is protected.

“VECCI supports the introduction of these new laws and calls for them to be passed by the Victorian parliament as soon as possible.”

The Bill before Parliament would grant Victoria Police the power to issue move-on orders where a person is:

- impeding lawful access to a business premises; or

- obstructing others or traffic; or

- causing a reasonable fear of violence.

“A number of Victorian businesses have been subjected to illegal picket line activities and protests in recent years including the CBD blockade of Grocon’s Myer Emporium project. More recently, traffic has been affected by the East-West link protesters. It is vital that the rights of businesses are protected and that major projects are able to proceed,” says Mr Stone.

“Victorians need to support each in these challenging economic times and we need the economic activity that major projects stimulate.

“There is no place for those who do not respect the rights of others to engage in lawful work and business activity.”

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is the peak body for employers in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

www.vecci.org.au

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PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association today welcomes Acting NSW Small Business Commissioner Candace Barron and thanks former NSW Small Business Commissioner Yasmin King for all of her hard work and dedication to small business over the last few years.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the ARA and the retail sector have benefited greatly from Ms King’s ongoing support.

“On behalf of the ARA and the wider retail industry, I would like to wish Ms King every success for the future.

“Small businesses are the backbone of Australia's economy, representing 96 percent of all businesses in the country. In NSW alone, there are 680,000 small businesses employing around 50 percent of the NSW workforce.

“The ARA is eager to work alongside Candace Barron to ensure the retail sector remains viable and successful into the future. We also look forward to the announcement of the official new NSW Small Business Commissioner,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041

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BUSINESSES of all sizes are backing the City of Sydney’s new Economic Development Strategy, praising the 10-year plan to keep Sydney at the forefront of the Australian economy.

The draft strategy reveals the City of Sydney’s economic output was estimated at over $100 billion in 2011–2012 - almost a quarter of the NSW economy and seven per cent of the Australian economy.

Submissions from major business groups including the Sydney Business Chamber, Tourism and Transport Forum, AMP Capital and smaller groups like the Pyrmont/Ultimo Chamber of Commerce and the Newtown Precinct Business Associations, have welcomed the strategy.

The groups have written submissions supporting the City’s work to ensure Sydney remains the premier place in Australia to live, work and visit.

They also praised the City’s leadership role in engaging and promoting business and in analysing emerging issues that keep Sydney’s economy flourishing.

Business groups also said they want the City to continue to engage with the sector and proceed with development of an Asia Action Plan to quantify the importance of this rapidly growing market.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the past five years of withstanding the worst of the global financial crisis while adding nearly 2,000 new businesses proved Sydney’s resilience.

“Cities around the world compete for ideas, investment and talented people and our economic strategy is designed to ensure Sydney wins that competition,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Sydney is the leading knowledge-based economy in Australia, home to Australia’s largest and most globally-connected finance and insurance district and home to the country’s largest digital community.

“We are determined to build on our great record. The City is investing $1.9 billion in a 10-year infrastructure program that includes $220 million for the transformation of George Street. In the southern part of the City, we’re investing $440 million building a new town centre at Green Square.”

There are 437,000 jobs within the City of Sydney, with 173,000 of them - almost 40 per cent - in the finance and professional services areas.

The Economic Development Strategy identifies three priorities - to strengthen Sydney’s competitiveness, improve productivity and capacity, and promote opportunities for Sydney’s business community.

As part of the broad strategy, a series of action plans are being developed to analyse in detail the issues faced by new and established industry sectors and to set programs to respond to emerging challenges.

Draft action plans covering the priority retail and tourism sectors have already been completed and welcomed by business and tourism groups. Major retailer David Jones has backed the City’s desire to make Sydney Australia’s premier retail destination that is a match for comparable global cities.

Tourism Accommodation Australia welcomed the tourism action plan as a major milestone for the accommodation sector by recognising the importance of the tourism to the local economy.

Upcoming plans will be prepared for small business and entrepreneurs, creative and digital industries and international education.

Action plans will also be produced for new and emerging sectors, including Sydney’s green economy.

www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

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TODAY'S launch of the Docklands Dragon has been welcomed by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) for the benefit it will bring to the tourism economy.

The 100 metre-long dragon is part of the Chinese New Year celebrations and is on the corner of Bourke Street and Harbour Esplanade until Sunday 16 February 2014.

The static dragon will be lit-up at night and is surrounded by hawkers’ markets and entertainment over the two weeks.

“VTIC is excited to have assisted in activating the Docklands precinct for Chinese New Year 2014,” says VTIC Chief Executive, Dianne Smith.

“The Docklands Dragon has been brought to life by a range of private enterprises working together and we applaud this cooperation for the good of the visitor economy.”

Ms Smith’s comments come as the Docklands Dragon is officially launched by the Lord Mayor the Right Hon. Robert Doyle today.

The project has received overwhelming support from the City of Melbourne and Chinese community groups.

Led by John Forman of Eureka Skydeck, the group’s aim is to develop ongoing celebrations during Chinese New Year, in association with existing activities in Chinatown and Southbank, including at Crown Casino and Federation Square.

The attraction is part of a longer term plan to establish Melbourne as a key Chinese-friendly tourism destination by developing Chinese New Year celebrations in the City of Melbourne and across Victoria.

www.vecci.org.au  

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PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said Australia is losing around $1 billion in GST revenue because of the Low Value Threshold (LVT) GST giving overseas business a tax advantage.

A reduction to $20 in the threshold from the current $1000 collection rate must be made a priority.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman agrees wholeheartedly with the Shopping Centre Council of Australia’s (SCCA) recent statement that the LVT actually operates as a ‘reverse tariff’ by raising the prices of local goods and lowering the prices of imported goods.

“The ARA supports SCCA’s view that this makes no economic sense - particularly when it means less money is available for hospitals, schools and other community services.

“An Ernst and Young 2013 report estimated that GST revenues could be raised if the LVT was lowered from $1000 to $20. Ernst and Young estimated that good imports alone would capture an additional $997 million of GST in 2014/15 - growing to $1.643 billion by 2020/21.

"Thousands of jobs are at risk if closing the GST loophole is not made a priority. This issue is costing jobs in the retail sector as people are buying overseas where GST is not applied. All retailers ask for is a level playing field to compete on.

“In a time when our country is in financial crisis, this would seem to be a natural righting of a tax loophole that hasn't kept up with the global digital revolution. By leaving offshore online purchases tax free, Australia is only hurting itself. We are sending profits to foreign companies, jobs to foreign workers, and tax revenue to a foreign government.

“If urgent action is not taken, a further 33,000 jobs will be lost by 2015 in the discretionary retail sector and states will forego $2.453 billion on GST revenue by 2015.

“The previous Labor government sought to justify its own inaction on the issue by arguing that the cost of collecting GST on online shopping would outweigh the additional revenue it brought in. However, this was contradicted last year by Labor's own Low Value Parcel Processing Taskforce, which found the incremental revenue generated by scrapping the tax break would more than cover the cost of collection.

“The opportunity is there for the government to restore a level playing field - the government must stop what is active discrimination against Australian retailers who are being taxed in areas their overseas counterparts are allowed to avoid.

“The current customs and parcel GST collection system should be replaced by a system that requires offshore suppliers to register for Australian GST and collect and remit the tax. This proposal has been talked through with the Federal Government for the last two years. It can be achieved through a simple lodgement of a Business Activity Statement (BAS) just as Australian businesses are required to do.

“By targeting just the large overseas online retailers to start off with, GST would be collected at little cost to government, taking away the long held argument that the tax is too expensive to collect.

“The ARA believes that over a reasonably short period of time nearly all the lost revenue from GST not being collected by overseas retailers will be brought in, thereby helping states pay for schools, police and hospitals along with helping local Australian retail businesses by putting them on a level tax playing field in both their online and traditional stores.

“The ARA will continue to work alongside the government to get this issue resolved once and for all,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041

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THE Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) today congratulated the Federal Government on their “Repeal Day” initiative which will see the targeted removal of thousands of unnecessary compliance demands on business.

Peter Strong, Executive Director of COSBOA said Repeal Day represents a major milestone.

“The removal of red tape and the subsequent freeing up of small business people to run their companies, rather than do the work of governments has been a base aim of COSBOA since our founding in 1977.

“The announcement of “Repeal Day” in parallel with the stated aim of the government of removing $1 billion worth of compliance demands on business is exactly what we need.”

COSBOA and its member organisations are working with the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, who is tasked with achieving sense in business compliance.

COSBOA will be focusing on gathering information from small business people throughout Australia on what they want removed or changed and what difference it will make to their businesses.

“There is good compliance that is easy to manage, however there is also bad compliance processes. And, there are tasks we are asked to do, such as collecting superannuation, which get in the way of running small businesses.

“There are over 2 million business people who employ almost 5 million others, so removing unnecessary processes and red tape will add to the productivity of the economy, improve safety in the workplace and add to job security, in a profound and far reaching way,” Mr Strong concluded.

www.cosboa.org.au 

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METROPOLITAN businesses are relatively more positive about prospects for the national economy over the next 12 months compared with their regional counterparts, according to the latest VECCI - Bank of Melbourne survey of business trends and prospects by Victoria's peak employer body.

The state-wide survey of more than 400 businesses found that 40 per cent of Victorian metropolitan businesses expect an improvement in national economic conditions in 2014, compared to 38 per cent of regional businesses holding this view.

Only 14 per cent of surveyed metropolitan businesses expect national economic conditions to weaken in the next 12 months, while 19 per cent of regional respondents expect a deterioration.

Looking at the survey results as a whole, for the first time since December 2011 more businesses reported an improvement in general business conditions during the quarter than did those reporting a deterioration.

While metropolitan businesses were slightly more likely to have experienced stronger general business conditions in the December quarter, their regional counterparts reported more stable selling prices along with a small improvement in exports.

Profitability was under pressure for both groups during the quarter, particularly those in metropolitan Melbourne.

“Confidence in the future prospects of both the state and national economies is vital to driving growth," says VECCI Chief Executive Mark Stone.

“Many parts of regional Victoria have faced difficulties surrounding traditionally strong local industries. However, strong regional employment growth and recent major announcements of new investment in sectors such as food processing and retail should provide a platform for improved performance and optimism.

“Despite improving business confidence, challenges remain and the business community is looking to governments at all levels to play their part by progressing reforms that lower business costs, cut red tape, enhance infrastructure, raise exports and improve education and training outcomes. Reforms in these areas are key to creating new investment and employment."

Bank of Melbourne Chief Executive Scott Tanner concurs: “We have seen an increase in business lending in the past few months. The latest survey supports the proposition that the Victorian economy is gathering momentum and it is pleasing that most sectors in the state recorded an improvement in conditions. Low interest rates and a weaker currency are particularly good news for Victoria.”

www.vecci.org.au 

VECCI & Bank of Melbourne partnership

VECCI is pleased to partner with Bank of Melbourne. The bank supports VECCI’s quarterly survey of business trends and prospects, Business Leaders event series and Women in Business event series. The partnership builds on both VECCI’s and the Bank of Melbourne’s mutual goals in supporting businesses in Victoria.

Background – About VECCI

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is the peak body for employers in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

www.vecci.org.au 

Background – About Bank of Melbourne

Bank of Melbourne is helping build a better Victoria. Since launching in July 2011, the bank has tripled its workforce, opened 80 branches and become more involved in the local community. The bank partners with Victorian organisations and events including the MCG and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and supports industry with initiatives including Agenda Victoria. As a full-service bank, its team of lenders, account executives and industry specialists are supporting Victorian businesses, both large and small.

www.bankofmelbourne.com.au

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PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is calling on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to consider adjusting the current cash rate of 2.5 percent in order for the retail sector to contribute its full potential to the Australian economy in 2014.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said retailers are worried that a rate hike at this time of year would reverse the positive results that the industry has worked hard to achieve over the last few months, particularly during the booming Christmas period.

“The ARA believes the current cash rate has room for further adjustment and we have every hope that with the RBA’s support, the retail sector will experience a healthier and more successful year compared to the last.

“A reduction is also crucial to stimulate employment, particularly youth unemployment which has recently hit an 11-year low. The ARA is strongly concerned for the future of Australian retail workers and a reduction in the current cash rate would certainly support the retail industry and encourage employment opportunities for the leaders of tomorrow.

“The ARA is continuing to work alongside the government to rapidly implement its program of tax cuts and economic reform, and we urge the RBA to consider the retail sector when it meets to make their decision tomorrow,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $258 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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