Annual Report from the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW

National Small Business Summit to focus on critical business issues

The 2008 Virgin Blue National Small Business Summit, convened by the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA), will bring together leading business figures, regulators and senior parliamentarians to discuss and review the significant challenges and opportunities facing Australia's dynamic small business sector.

To be held on Wednesday June 11 at the Sydney Hilton Hotel, the 2008 Summit will be addressed by the Federal Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson; the Federal Small Business Minister, Craig Emerson; the ATO Commissioner, Michael D’Ascenzo and the Chairman of the ACCC, Graeme Samuel, as well as leading business identities and commentators from franchising, retailing, marketing and business development.

Prominent business entrepreneurs who will address the Summit include:

• CEO of Aussie Homes Loans, John Symond
• Chairman of Sydney BridgeClimb, Paul Cave
• Director of Possum Furniture, Margot Spalding (winner of the Telstra Australian Businesswoman of the Year)

Leading business and political identities will outline the impact of the changes to:

• the trade practices act
• tax reform and regulatory reforms
• the transformation of business being driven by e-commerce innovations
• the convergence of telecommunications and the internet
• franchising and retailing trends and opportunities
• marketing trends and developments

The CEO of COSBOA, Tony Steven, said that the 2008 Summit would be an “opportunity to review major policy issues impacting on small business in the tax, regulatory, telecommunications and related areas.”
The Summit will be preceded by the Annual Summit Dinner to be held on the evening of Tuesday 10 June at the Sydney Hilton Hotel.
The 2008 Summit is being supported by Virgin Blue, Hewlett Packard, Vodafone, the Commonwealth Bank, The Australian Domain Name Administrator, Marketing Angels and the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board. It is organised for COSBOA by Australia’s leading small business magazine, My Business.
To view the agenda, please click here. To register for the Summit go to www.mybusiness.com.au/summit or phone 02 8923 8003 or email events@mybusiness.com.au.

Hurry! Entries close 5 May

25 January 2008

State Government admits payroll tax cuts create jobs

NSW’s largest employer organisation, NSW Business Chamber has welcomed today’s acknowledgement by the NSW Government that a cut to payroll tax in NSW will “create jobs”.

“This is the message we have been saying for some time – that payroll tax relief will encourage business to employ more people” said John Pearson, Regional Manager for NSW Business Chamber.

The acknowledgement came in media releases issued by the NSW Minister for Regional Development who said the Government through its Payroll Tax Incentive Scheme was helping create new jobs.

“The Minister’s praise for the payroll tax incentive scheme confirms what business has been arguing for years; that lower payroll taxes encourage job creation.

“The Premier has often said payroll tax is the tax he wants to cut – well, the time has come to do it. The Governments own media statements show that they know high payroll taxes are hampering the growth our state’s businesses.

“Modelling we undertook for the NSW IPART review demonstrated that a 12 person business in Sydney pays $25,600 in state taxes compared to $2,600 for a similar sized business in Brisbane.

“NSW businesses are finding themselves in an increasingly uncompetitive environment with other states when it comes to payroll taxes.

“The Half Yearly Budget Review detailed that total payroll tax collections will increase by $3.9 billion by 2010. This is $434 million above the figures released in the 2007/08 Budget in June this year.

“A cut in payroll tax is affordable and could be done without putting the Budget into deficit – and the Government must cut payroll tax in the next Budget if it is committed to growing NSW’s economy.

For more information contact John Pearson on (02) 8838 0404.

7/11/07

RBA has responsibility to fight inflation first says Business

NSW’s largest business organisation, NSW Business Chamber says it expects the Reserve Bank to fulfil its obligations to act independently and to ignore the current election campaign.

“The Reserve Bank has a responsibility to call it as it sees it, be there an election in three weeks or not.  The independence of the Reserve Bank is one of the pillars of Australia’s economic success and we should be thankful that an independent Board is making a call on monetary policy rather than elected officials in the midst of an election campaign”, said Kevin MacDonald, CEO of NSW Business Chamber.

Mr MacDonald said whichever way the decision of the bank goes, it is important that the Bank did not flinch in fulfilling its charter.

“Business loathes interest rate increases, it loathes inflation even more.  The costs and impacts of interest rate increases whilst not pleasant, do not compare to the negative impacts of inflation on an economy.

“Inflation destroys the power of savings, destroys purchasing power and impacts on a nation’s competitiveness.

“It should be noted that we are experiencing the side-effects of an economy running at full speed.  The economy is finely calibrated and we are seeing the impacts of strong growth and a tight labour market.

Mr MacDonald said the worst thing that could happen to inflationary pressures was for changes in the regulation of labour markets that inhibited individual agreements.

“Individual agreements allow for growth in real wages, without that growth being fed into the wider economy.  Increases under individual agreements are confined to where they are justified because of the productivity of the person.  Collective agreements by their very nature feed inflationary pressures into the economy very quickly - they have a contagious effect.  Where wages are primarily determined by awards this effect is even quicker and more damaging.

“AWAs create the mechanism by which wages growth pressures are contained, rather than exported to the wider economy.  The abolition of AWAs would remove this important safety valve from the workplace relations system”.

For more information contact Paul Ritchie on 0438 670 851.

Election 07 - Workplace Relations Briefing - Where the Parties Stand
As mentioned by CEO Kevin MacDonald at the Launch of the Chamber Luncheon Series last Friday, please click here for comparison of IR policies by the Coalition and ALP.

Tips For Saving / Making More Money

By Greg Smith, of moneycafe.com.au*

For many of us our income never seems to be enough and we constantly battle to find extra dollars to pay the regular bills – not to mention trying to pay a little extra off the credit cards or even make extra payments on the home loan.

If you want to earn more and the prospect of changing to a more highly paid job is out of the question, then you have two methods of increasing your income – earn more and spend less.

Here are some tips for earning more:

• Turn your hobby into cash – got a hobby like dressmaking, pottery, or painting? Offer your services to your friends and family or chat to a stall-holder at your local markets to see if they will sell your wares.
• Sell some of your unwanted things. If you have an extra TV, a set of sporting equipment or anything no longer in use, take them to your nearest second hand store.
• Buy and sell things – one person's trash is another's treasure. Scan the classifieds or go to garage sales. If you are a bit creative or handy you might be able to restore or improve on what you buy and then re-sell it.
• Join a network marketing program – Amway, Network 21, Avon or Tupperware . But you need to put in a real effort to make good money.
• Do some odd jobs – if kids can go house-to-house asking for odd jobs, why can't you? There's some easy cash to be made by doing odd jobs like babysitting, gardening or even pet sitting.
• Get a weekend job – 28.5 per cent of your earning potential is not being used. That's the amount of working time lost every week on the weekends.
• Sell the children. Got cute kids? Why not call up a few talent agencies and see if there are any opportunities to use your kids for advertising photo shoots or commercials. The money's not bad and who knows what other opportunities may open up for them.

Here are some tips for spending less:

• Take a notebook with you for a two-week period and write down everything you spend. At the end of the two weeks take a closer look at the amounts and look for things you can cut back or cut out.
• If you are an average smoker you might be able to cut back by say one pack a week to save around $400 a year.
• If you work in the city and drink two coffees a day, cut back to one and you will save around $14 dollars a week or $700 a year.
• If you buy your lunch each day chances are that you'll be spending $50 a week (or $2,600 a year). Cut it back to half by bringing your lunch from home and you'll save around $1,300 a year.

Do You Know Your Rights in the Workplace?

Download Your Workplace Relations Fact Sheet Here