RCCIWA Members Forum – June 16^th & June 17^th - Perth
Our first Members Forum for 2022 is less than two weeks away and it is going to be a fantastic couple of days. With a stellar program of speakers, our largest ever attendance and many people attending for the first time it promises to be informative, extremely valuable and full of networking opportunities. To our members that haven’t booked in yet, you can find out more about why your organisation should be represented here and also all of the info and logistical details here.

Book your tickets today   RCCIWA Members Forum June 2022 Registration

Thank you to all of our members who sent through questions or topics for each of our speakers for Day One. We have sent them through and look forward to their responses and the valuable discussions around those questions. Whilst we have individual questions for each speaker, we have highlighted that for all regional business communities there are five critical areas of concern in common:

• Access to workers – skilled and non-skilled, there are simply not enough people in Regional WA
• Critical Housing shortage – throughout regional WA there is simply not enough housing, and short-term accommodation and hotels are being taken up by workforce employees
• Childcare – this is a multi-faceted issue; however, we know we have a latent workforce that cannot work to capacity as there is not enough childcare places in any regional locations, and in some towns, there is none.
• Ongoing Impacts of COVID 19 – currently the impacts of people contracting COVID 19 are forcing businesses to close whilst they are in isolation or closing as they do not have enough staff to open.
• Reliable access to broadband and telecommunications is still a long standing, ongoing issue

If you have not attended our Forum previously, I would strongly encourage you to come along. It is two days of first-class networking,  relevant and important information, high level advocacy and lots of opportunities to share and learn. We all love the RCCIWA Forum and take a great deal from them, whist strengthening our supportive network of regional business organisations. We hope you can join us.

RCCIWA Share n Learn Online Sessions
Late last year we commenced our regular Share N Learn online workshops, covering areas such as  revenue streams, membership & sponsorship structures, marketing your organisation and business awards. They are proving to be very valuable sessions with lots of great information shared and very informative conversations. A big thank you to our President Simone de Been for suggesting the whole concept of the Share n Learn and for offering to facilitate sessions. Based on the very positive feedback from our members we will continue to hold these regularly, and we are planning to hold our next one in July. They are a fantastic way to share ideas, activities, processes, and ways of working as well as for picking up very relevant tips, tricks and suggestions. We are keen to receive your suggestions for any topics you would like covered – so please send them through to me

Easing of Public Health Measures
Following the latest health advice, more public health measures will be phased out in WA. The following will come into effect throughout June:

• Returning unvaccinated Australians and permanent residents will no longer be quarantined for seven days on return to WA (effective from Wednesday 1 June)
• Mandatory vaccination policy will be updated to only apply to workforces working with the most vulnerable including: (effective Friday 10 June)
  • Healthcare and health support workers in hospitals and primary health care settings;
  • Workers in residential aged care; and,
  • Workers in residential disability settings.
• Restrictions on travel to remote Aboriginal communities will ease (effective Wednesday 15 June) however some communities may choose to still apply their own restrictions.

The lifting of the ban on travel will allow remote communities to continue their operations in areas such as tourism, community stores, arts and cultural centres, and the two-week transition allows communities to plan and adjust to these changes.

This approach follows consultation with a number of key stakeholders and the WA Government will continue to work with and support communities to facilitate them through this transition.

Mask wearing, proof of vaccination and visitor limits in certain settings will remain and continue to be monitored by the Chief Health Officer, as well as isolation and testing requirements for positive cases and close contacts.

For more information on these changes, please see the full announcement on the wa.gov.au website.

Small Business Development Corporation – COVID Small Business Grants
The SBDC have a number of grants available for Small Business to provide support for those impacted by Covid.

Small Business Hardship Grants
As part of the WA Government’s Level 2 COVID-19 Business Assistance Package, tiered grants are being offered to eligible businesses that can demonstrate a specific decrease in business turnover for any two week period between 1 January and 30 April 2022, compared to an equivalent period in 2021. Payments will be based on the number of full time equivalent (FTE) employees of the business.  Applications are now open until 30 June 2022.

Tenant Rent Relief Scheme
As part of the WA Government’s Level 1 COVID-19 Business Assistance Package, grants of $3,000 are being offered to eligible small businesses tenant that can demonstrate a 30 per cent decrease in business turnover for any four-week period between 1 January and 30 April 2022, compared to an equivalent period in 2021. Applications are now open until 30 June 2022.

RCCIWA Administrative Items

• Emmi Taylor is constantly updating our membership contact list. If you have any changes to your contacts or would like to add any people, please email Emmi at admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au
• Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and share our page with your members.
• Please also let us know about any activities, initiatives or events you would like us to include in our fortnightly newsletter. We love showcasing a great idea, program or event that one of our members is delivering. If you have something you would like us to share – please send through the details to Emmi.
• Our member portal is being well accessed by our members, but we can always add more content – so please send through any operational documents you are happy to share with your fellow members to Emmi at admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au