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14/10/2022 | Public Access
Trade update | October 14, 2022
Australian trade ministers abroad Last week, the Assistant Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Tim Ayres, was in Singapore for the sixth ministerial commission meeting of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Ministers issued a Joint Ministerial Statement following the meeting, which can be accessed here. The statement welcomes...
14/10/2022 | Public Access
Employment & skills update | October 14, 2022
Apprenticeship commencements the highest in 12 years The latest data from NCVER shows there were 387,830 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 March 2022, 17.1 per cent higher than at the same time in 2021, see here. It found apprentice and trainee commencements increased to 85,470 in the March quarter 2022,...
14/10/2022 | Public Access
Economics update | October 14, 2022
Payroll jobs rose 0.3 per cent in September Recent figures released by the ABS show payroll jobs up 0.3 per cent in the month to 17 September 2022. Although growing six per cent for the year, the average monthly growth over the last six months is 0.3 per cent. The...
30/09/2022 | Public Access
Economics update | September 30, 2022
Monthly CPI indicator rose 6.8 per cent in the year to August. Published early this week, the ABS monthly CPI indicator rose 6.8 per cent in the year to August, up from the 6.1 per cent recorded in June and slightly down on July’s 7 per cent inflation increase. The small...
30/09/2022 | Public Access
Workplace relations | September 30, 2022
Shutdown Provisions in Modern Awards On 25 August 2022, a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down a decision that will affect the shutdown provisions in 78 modern awards: 4 yearly review of modern awards—Plain language—Shutdown provisions [2022] FWCFB 161 The introduction of the model term will mean that employers will no...
30/09/2022 | Public Access
Employment and skills | September 30, 2022
Employment White Paper Following the Jobs and Skills Summit, the government has opened consultation on the Employment White Paper. This next stage should provide a roadmap to address the labour and skills shortages in all industries. The Terms of Reference for the Review can be found on the Treasury website, with submissions due on...
30/09/2022 | Public Access
Trade update | September 30, 2022
ACCI briefs the Thailand-Australia Bilateral Dialogue Last week ACCI Head of Trade and International Affairs Chris Barnes joined the Australian delegation to the Thailand-Australia Bilateral Dialogue in Canberra. The dialogue brought together distinguished and emerging leaders to support the strengthening bilateral relations. Chris participated in a session on expanding economic...
30/09/2022 | Public Access
Small business update | September 30, 2022
Unfair contract terms On Wednesday, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, and Treasury Dr Andrew Leigh introduced the unfair contract terms bill into Parliament, called the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better Prices) Bill 2022. It is the same bill that was introduced by the previous government and will make unfair contract terms illegal,...
23/09/2022 | Public Access
Economics update | 23 September 2022
US Interest Rates Rise 75 Basis Points The US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates for the fifth time this year, raising 75 basis points for the third consecutive time. Aligning with Dr Philip Lowe and the RBA, chairman Jerome Powell outlined on Thursday that the central bank is committed...
23/09/2022 | Public Access
Tourism update | 23 September 2022
Visitor Economy Disability Employment Pilot ACCI-Tourism has continued its engagement with the Department of Social Services (DSS) on progress of the Visitor Economy Disability Employment Pilot. Given the limited Budget allocation of $3.3 million, it is likely that the pilot will focus on a small number of regional locations in...
23/09/2022 | Public Access
Trade update | 23 September 2022
Australian-Spanish Business Meeting Members are invited to attend the Australian-Spanish business meeting in Sydney on September 29. RSVPs are being sought as soon as possible. This event, held on the occasion of an official visit to Australia by Spain’s Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Hon Reyes Maroto, features...
16/09/2022 | Public Access
Economics update | September 16, 2022
Full-time employment grows with participation ABS Labour Force data released this week shows a 33,500-person increase in employment in August. This was facilitated by an increase of 58,800 in full-time employment, offsetting a decrease of 25,300 in part-time employment. Participation rose by 0.2 percentage points to 66.6 per cent, with increases...
16/09/2022 | Public Access
Tourism update | September 16, 2022
The latest National Visitor Survey monthly snapshot for June 2022 has been released, with some positive signs for the tourism industry. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, overnight trips were down 14 per cent but overnight spend was up, increasing 22 per cent on June 2019. While visitor numbers have not returned...
16/09/2022 | Public Access
Trade update | September 16, 2022
Sri Lankan Delegation in Canberra ACCI director of trade policy and international relations, Chris Barnes, briefed a high level delegation from Sri Lanka on Thursday. The delegation, which consisted of chamber of commerce, government officials focused on export promotion and business owners from Sri Lanka, had the opportunity to hear...
16/09/2022 | Public Access
Employment & skills update | September 16, 2022
ACCI, the ACTU & Ai Group jointly call for stronger apprenticeship/trainee settings This week ACCI, the ACTU and Ai Group wrote to the Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O'Connor, requesting government action across four key areas including a 30 per cent wage subsidy for apprenticeships/traineeships without limitation of a...
09/09/2022 | Public Access
Trade update | September 9, 2022
Indonesia-Australia Skills Development Exchange Pilot Project DFAT has provided details of an opportunity to further expand the economic integration between Indonesia and Australia. This pilot project focuses on employees in the financial and insurance services, mining, engineering and related technical services, and information media and telecommunications services sectors. Exchanges of...
09/09/2022 | Public Access
Workplace relations update | September 9, 2022
Jobs and Skills Summit On 1 and 2 September 2022, ACCI participated in the Commonwealth Government’s Jobs and Skills Summit, represented by Chief executive, Andrew McKellar. Following the summit, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon Tony Burke MP, announced a series of priority areas in workplace relations for (a) immediate action and (b) further work. These include...
08/09/2022 | Public Access
Work health and safety update | September 9, 2022
Business feedback needed on how changes to Work Health and Safety may impact you and your business. 2022 has been a significant year of change for Work Health and Safety (WHS). There has been: New legislation on silica and psychosocial risks in VIC, QLD, WA and ACT New psychosocial WHS Regulations...
08/09/2022 | Public Access
Employment and skills update | September 9, 2022
VET qualifications review In the aftermath of last week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, Minister O’Connor has announced that the VET system will undergo a review to make it more effective and efficient, see here. The review will be undertaken with states and territories, unions and industry looking to simply the VET...
08/09/2022 | Public Access
Economics update | September 9, 2022
GDP rose 0.9 per cent for the June quarter Australian National Accounts data released earlier this week show GDP rose 0.9 per cent for the June quarter and 3.9 per cent over 2021-22. Largely facilitating this quarterly growth was an increase in household spending of 2.2 per cent and an...