Kaya,
As I write this our team are reminiscing about our successful ‘Business After Hours’ hosted at Chamber House on Wednesday night. It was a reminder to the 90+ guests in the room the vibrancy of connection and how coming together to share their stories is more important than ever., especially in the world of this fast-moving technological world.
Our aim to personally host the event was to introduce our Executive Board Members, our internal team along with our 2023 Strategic Plan. To implement the vision of the Board, eight initiatives have been designed into Portfolio’s. Inviting 4 of our ‘Portfolio Leads’ to speak about their initiatives at the Business After Hours event offered a snapshot of what our members can expect to see implemented over the course of the year.
Many of you will see the words SW Club around the building, particularly at the front. The history of the building is an important segway into how the Bunbury Geographe CCI came to be here. The building (freehold) was gifted to us on 13 June 2003, nearly 20 years ago. Two SW Club Life Members, Neville Eastman and Stephen Craddock, joined us in sharing some of the history with our team recently, however there are many more hours to capture. We will endeavour to seek a grant to engage an Oral Historian to write both the history of the SW Club and the Bunbury Geographe CCI.
The other opportunity is to take a deep dive into the proposed Jobs and Skills Expo market. A working group have agreed that moving forward the ‘job expo market’ is well and truly covered by educators and schools and that future skills is an area that needs our collective attention. The group have decided next steps will be to create a ‘Think Tank’ series of discussions between educators and industry (sector specific) to garner information from each in preparation to plan future skills required in our region.
The gender pay gap bill has passed through parliament yesterday, meaning that from early 2024, the gender pay gap data of employers with 100 or more workers will be published. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 is a key reform to drive transparency and action towards closing the gender pay gap.
Australia’s national gender pay gap was last reported at 13.3 per cent in 2023, and the average weekly full-time earnings of a woman in Australia are $253.50 lower than their male counterparts.
What’s coming up at the Chamber?
• Cyber Security & ID Care – Wed 5 April at Chamber House. 8.30 – 10am
Cybersecurity is important in our lives today because of the widespread use of technology and the increasing interconnectedness of our world. With the rapid expansion of the digital landscape, we are constantly creating, sharing, and storing massive amounts of data online. Cybersecurity helps to protect this data from unauthorized access, theft, and other malicious activities.
• Business After Hours hosted by the City of Bunbury – Thursday 27 April (due to ANZAC day falling on the 25 April)
Bunbury Outer Ring Road Project Update:
Construction of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road project is now over 40% complete. After the first bridge beam lift was completed in February , preparations have been underway for the next beam installation, which will occur in May at the Paris Road and Clifton Road interchange.
