First RCCIWA Members Forum of 2021
Planning is already under way for the first Member Forum for 2021. We have not set the dates yet as we are waiting for the WA Parliamentary sitting dates for 2021 to be set. This should happen next week. We expect it to be held some time in mid-June. As soon as we have the dates, we will let you know.

We have already spoken with several Members of Parliament, have secured a sponsor for our BAH (to be announced soon) and have our host Minister in place.

For now, we are seeking your feedback on the speakers and content you would like to see over both days. Suggestions for particular topics and recommended speakers are encouraged. For those that have not attended previously please read the reasons to attend outline here from the meeting we held last November.

RCCIWA Stakeholder Engagement & Representation
It continues a very busy time, and the past couple of weeks has seen RCCIWA representing our members in many different ways, including:

• Local Content Advisory Network (LCAN) forum – I was invited by Lewis Mavrantonis, the Manager of Local Content with DPIRD to take park in a session they held during their two day forum on stakeholder and network engagement. Eight of the Nine regional Local Content Advisers were in attendance and it was a very valuable session. Thanks to our members who provided great input. The key points of discussion from a RCCIWA perspective were:
  • Developing strong and regular engagement with the local Chamber is essential
  • Businesses are wanting education and training on how to tender effectively
  • Businesses are asking for feedback when they are unsuccessful.
  • RCCIWA is keen to have regular annual reporting on what the local content/procurement is for each region.
  • More feedback is needed to the local Chamber as to why a local business was not successful so that the Chamber can work on delivering support and training for their members to get them in a better position of securing future work.
• Telstra Regional Advisory Council – continued to provide relevant input to the Telstra RAC and our WA representatives for Telstra, Boyd Brown and Eva Colic to ensure any issues from regional businesses can be resolved or at least looked into. This is proving very effective, and I encourage you to send me any and all feedback regarding Telstra as we have a strong relationship with them and they are keen to help where they can.
• We took part in the RRR Women's Networks' Roundtable #1, to discuss how the WA State election commitments and results will affect the business, arts and health sectors in Regional WA.A brilliant format with plenty of opportunities to connect and genuinely engage with all attendees. Thanks to Kendall Galbraith the CEO of the RRR Network for inviting us to participate and for delivering such a valuable event. Great to be part of the conversations with Tim Shackleton from Rural Health West and Phillip Maughan from Regional Arts WA.
• Foodservice & Hospitality Working Group – continued to contribute to this State Government formed Working Group (one of about 22) which is a part of the Government recovery program. A very important way to ensure the issues and challenges of our members are being voiced and heard.
• Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre – Release of the Gender Equity Report
• Attended the BCEC report lunch last week, which is now in its 6th year. A valuable report with some improvements in Gender Equity – however we still have some work to do. It would be very useful to see if we can get a Regional WA breakdown – we will see if this is possible. You can read the report here.

Jobs Fair in Perth – A Chance To Showcase Regional Jobs
The Department of Education, Skills and Employment will be holding a Jobs Fair on Tuesday 20 April from 9.30 am until 4 pm in Pavilion 1, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, 21 Mounts Bay Road, Perth WA. The Fair will provide businesses with the opportunity to showcase and promote current and expected job vacancies in their workplace to local job seekers.

They would love to have a regional showcase section, where regions of WA which require workers bring real, available, local jobs to the table, but also have information on the ‘liveability’ aspects of the region – why would it be good for a job seeker to move to the area.

Their ideal model would be to have a representative from the relevant Chamber, to coordinate job vacancies in their region, sourced from their local employers, and also to talk on the day about those vacancies. It would also be good to have a representative from the community there on the day (maybe someone from a local shire council, or someone from the RDA), to talk about moving and living in regional WA. There is no cost for a booth at the Jobs Fair – the Australian Government funds this aspect. There is an expectation that the exhibitors be available for the whole period of the fair.

Katharine is happy to talk to any of the regional Chambers about this, so please get in touch via her contact details below if you are interested. We already have quite a few of our members attending and taking a booth.

Katharine Blackwell
Director
Jobs Fairs | Industry, Regional & International Strategy Branch
Labour Market Strategy Division
Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment
Phone (02) 6121 6595 | Mobile 0435 652 220
Katharine.Blackwell@dese.gov.au
www.dese.gov.au