It has been a busy month here at the Chamber, leading up to the Quality Business Awards. The night was a great success and on behalf of the Tamworth Business Chamber, we congratulate all winners and finalists on their achievements. We thank our sponsors for supporting the Chamber and the Awards night, and finally we thank everyone who attended. The night shaped up to be a great success. The Chamber Connect program kicked off at Apollo Engineering on 31 July and then PRD on 28 August. This new look networking program, run in conjunction with rebranded Junior Chamber committee, is a way of showcasing member businesses, introducing new members, updating everyone on Chamber news and of course networking opportunities that everyone is keen on attending.
The latest Business NSW business conditions survey released this week is still showing our region having the highest business confidence across NSW but confidence has fallen across the State since the previous quarter. The cost of doing business is the most common barrier to business expansion, followed by a lack of customer demand, taxes and government charges, and skills shortage. The three cost categories that businesses are most concerned about are insurance costs; taxes, levies and other government charges; and energy costs. About one in four businesses reported an increase in general insurance costs of more than 30% in the past 12 months. As a result of the increase in general insurance costs, 22% of businesses have insured below their desired level and 12% of businesses have gone without non-mandatory insurance. As previously mentioned, we suggest businesses do an audit of the expenditure and where necessary talk to the experts, such as insurance and electricity brokers, to see if there are better deals for your circumstances.
I was privileged to attend a forum in Armidale this month with the RBA Governor, Michelle Bullock, who is a UNE Alumni and grew up in our region. Her explanation of the RBA Board’s decision-making processes and her view of the economy confirmed that there are a lot of moving parts that influence the final call on any interest rate movements. Business productivity got a mention, but it was clear that bringing CPI under control using interest rate increases is their main agenda with the impact on exchange rates and the wider economy not getting too much airtime. If business productivity was to increase then the pressure on the CPI would likely ease over the coming months however, unlike her predecessor, she was not willing to make any predictions as to interest rate movements in the coming months. I have included in this month's newsletter an article on business productivity and how small businesses can increase their productivity.
We also conducted the Meet the Candidates forum on 22August. This forum was attended by 15 of the 24 candidates with the Labor and Greens parties putting two of their 5 candidates forward. Each candidate was asked a series of questions and provided the audience with key information ahead of the voting on Saturday 14 September. The Chamber hosted this event so our members and the wider community could make more informed decisions at the ballot box. Our Vice President, David Errington, attended the night along with a number of our Board member and has included an overview on this event as part of this month’s newsletter.
We look forward to seeing you all at the QBAs on 6thSeptember and best of luck to the finalists on the night. Remember that the winner of the aligned categories also gets the opportunity to progress to the regional awards to be held on 20th September and then possible progress to the State awards in October. Good luck everyone involved.
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