Federal Election – What are the issues that matter to your business community?
We are currently working on collective issues to raise with candidates for the upcoming Federal Election. Whilst the date has not yet been announced, we anticipate it will be in mid-May and want to ensure that the voice of all regional business communities are heard. We have been working on some collective issues that affect all of our members and are very keen to hear your feedback on these, and also on any other issues you would like us to work on. More information will be sent to all of our members is the next couple of weeks, but for now please see me any feedback you have to ceo@regionalchamberswa.com.au

Collective Issues such as:

• Fringe Benefits Tax – regional exemptions
• Escalation Freight costs – looking at fuel excises, maintenance, the network infrastructure etc
• Supporting the Agriculture Industry  - live sheep trade, dairy industry etc
• IR/ER – awards, minimum wage,  impact of changes on all businesses etc
• Visa classification and categories

A Message from Telstra CEO – Andy Penn – Telstra Invests in Regional & Rural Communities
Last year Australian’s provided their views, thoughts and comments to the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (RTIRC) on telecommunication services in regional, rural, remote parts of Australia. The committees report was released late last year, covering broad areas about communication in regional and rural Australia, including maximising the economic benefits of connectivity, improving consumer protections, and increasing social benefits through digital inclusion and digital literacy. Read the full report here.

The RTIRC made a number of recommendations on improving fault repair times, continuing expansion and availability of mobile services and improving digital literacy, particularly amongst indigenous communities – all things which Telstra has been leading on and investing in to improve outcomes for customers.

Telstra looks forward to continuing to work closely with Government to continually improve our services and meeting the challenges highlighted in the RTIRC report. Through the recommendations of the report they have committed to the following program of work across regional and rural Australia:

• Repairing and replacement of around 1,000 cable joints (and where necessary the cable itself) on the worst performing cables.
• Migration of around 350 customers off the ageing HCRC network onto NextG Wireless Local Loop (NGWL) telephone services.
• Around 200 battery replacements in exchange and roadside cabinets where mains power failures are more frequent.
• Increase stocks of pair gain units (approximately 800) – to reduce repair time delays caused by having to wait for parts.

For more information on Telstra’s ongoing investment in regional and rural Australia please click here.

RCCIWA Members Forum – June 13^th and 14^th 2019
Planning has already commenced for the first biannual RCCIWA Members Forum, to be held in Perth at Parliament House on Thursday June 13^th and at The Mercure Hotel Perth on Friday June 14^th.  For this first Forum of 2019, we are looking at what technology we may be able to utilise so that members unable to make it to Perth, can still participate and contribute. We will keep you posted on this. We will also be managing the registration for the meetings and the BAH via an online platform – so hopefully this makes it easier for everyone.

I am also pleased to announce that the NAB have very generously agreed to host our Business After Hours which will showcase great produce and beverages from Regional WA. The terrific team from Accor Hotels WA will be able to take the night off and join us for quality networking and NAB hospitality.

In order for us to plan the Forum so that it is relevant and informative for you, we would love your feedback on the following – just email me with any suggestions you may have:

• Members of Parliament you would like us to invite
• Questions for those MP’s
• Topics and issues, you would love covered on Day two, the Operational Day
• Any guest speakers you would like to hear from on either day
• Any suggestions you have for the format and the timings of both days
• We have larger capacity for our BAH, so please start thinking about any of your members who may be based in Perth, that you would like us to invite. We will put out a request for this next month.

Website Refresh - Send us your Documents
We are currently working on developing a member’s only access area on our website that will be a resource library to share information from our members with our members. We get asked every week for examples and templates and thought it would be great to have a live resource you could access. We hope this will be up and ready to go by the end of April and to assist us, could you please send Emmi at admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au any documents that you are happy to share with your fellow members. We will assume if you send it to us that you are happy for us to upload this on the members only access section of our website. Please send in pdf format, documents such as:

• Your Constitution
• Your Strategic or Operational Plans
• Membership Forms, Membership prospectus
• Member Benefits flyer
• BAH information
• Sponsorship information
• Directory information
• Business Awards Information
• Job and Position Descriptions
• Events information
• Policies and Procedures
• Committee Induction pack  etc

Update your Information
To assist Emmi with keeping our website and communications as up to date as possible can you please send to admin@regionalchamberswa.com.au the following:

• Any changes to your contact details, particularly following your AGM. Please also let Emmi know if you have any committee members or general members that you would like added to the newsletter and we will pop them on the distribution list.
• Your new logo if you have refreshed or changed it recently.
• Any activities, initiatives or events you would like us to include in our weekly newsletter. You will notice that we are including an item each week that showcases 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.
• Any events you would like added to soon to be coming events calendar on our website. If you have a specific logo for that event - could you also send that through, and we will include it.