As a Chamber we congratulate Labor leader Anthony Albanese on his election as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister.
Our members look forward to a business-friendly government that strives to make business prosper in the post pandemic economy. It will be essential for the new Labor government to assist businesses to deliver a private sector led recovery that creates new jobs, and better opportunities. We acknowledge the outgoing Morrison government and their particular challenge of the last two years managing a nation through a period of upheaval none of us could have predicted.
As many of us who run and operate businesses have experienced recently skilled worker shortages are a critical factor. Many of our members have shared the fact they are missing essential roles stretching their current crews and missing out on further revenue opportunities. We cannot afford to have a new government drag it’s heals on this issue to businesses both large and small. We need to see a practical plan that will allow, skilled migration flowing to the regions and continued removal of red tape, allowing businesses to invest and get projects underway.
Earlier this month the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to increase interest rates. This decision is allied to a dynamic global economy and inflation hikes. It is a necessary economic lever that needs to be applied when such metrics head in this direction. We have witnessed unprecedented emergency stimulus across the last two years of the pandemic however, action is now needed to manage the growing cost of living pressures on our local economy. Controlling the price rises that we have all experienced will be a delicate matter for us all and we strongly desire a reduction in the bottlenecks and supply chain issues across the last year.
Recently, we hosted a State Budget Breakfast at the Dolphin Discovery Centre, attend by nearly 100 local business professionals. Minister Hon. Reece Whitby MLA presented the financial position for the State, including an impressive budget surplus of $5.7 billion. The South West will see further investments across tourism, housing, health and infrastructure. It was particularly pleasing to see more than$2 billion invested to ensure people in the regions pay the same for water and electricity as metropolitan users.
We are particularly proud as a Chamber to see the launch of the South West Leaders program, with 17 participating member organisations forming the core of this sensational opportunity. As a Chamber, we look forward to welcoming many of our member organisations to allow themselves and their employees to be part of a mentor:mentee 12-month program. By creating better leaders, we will see benefits to individuals, their organisations and our communities, an all-round win for us all.
Safe Trading,
Danny Griffin
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