What an amazing night we had with Keynote Speaker Eric Bailey on Thursday 29th July 2021. The event was well supported, and Tranquil Park made us feel in the Christmas spirit with our mulled wine and copious amounts of Christmas decorations.
Many of our guests knew Eric in fact some guests travelled as far as Caboolture, others were close to town. For those of you that do not know of Eric Bailey, Eric started as a successful basketball player in the USA and played against the likes of Magic Johnson. Eric came from a life of the underprivileged and was put up for adoption due to his poor health and in particular problems with his legs. His adopted parents encouraged him to do well in whatever he set his mind to, and he set his mind on basketball earning himself a scholarship. After a successful career ending up playing for teams in Australia Eric retired from Basketball and pursued a career in keynote speaking.
We were also asked to write the following message down that I would like to share with you:-
“In my life we have as of today and if I was standing in front of the judges and they were judging me for a medal based on my performance what do I get gold, silver or bronze? What do I need to do every day to get that medal" Eric Bailey
Key Takeaways
Are You Living Your Personal Best During Uncertain Times.....
1. Show up expecting Success
2. Increase your appetite for learning and mental well-being
3. Stop sleeping with the enemy...(your negative self)
We are having our last networking breakfast meeting for the year (I know hard to believe) in September at Tranquil Park. Details of the event are further listed in this newsletter. Next month we will tell you about our last event for the year in November at The Barrel at Clouds.
I leave you this month with this thought from the Olympic Games “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part”. The same goes with life and participating in events and supporting groups such as your chamber.
Until next time!
Guest Speaker Networking Breakfast
Tuesday 14 September 2021
7.00am to 8:30am
3 GUEST SPEAKERS
Presentation by Maleny and Districts NBN Working Group
see Maleny and District NBN Problems information below
&
Topic: Sunshine Coast Tourism moving forward - Andrew will be discussing the hardships of tourism on the Sunshine Coast and the positive steps that are currently being implemented.
Marlene will tell us about how their social media platforms benefits the region and businesses and the importance of having a social media plan for your business.
Breakfast Menu: A menu will be available to choose from in the morning.
Cost: $25 for members, $30 for non-members.
To book please email admin@malenycommerce.org.au
Maleny and District NBN Problems
The Maleny and Districts NBN Working Group was formed as a result of a well-attended gathering at the Community Centre, hosted by Maleny Forums. The attendees heard from the federal member for Fisher Andrew Wallace and NBN representative Marcello Massi. Both speakers put forward the view that while there were instances of some householders reporting that their NBN connections were either poor or non-existent, the NBN rollout was now complete and those with problems should take them up with their Telecommunications (Telco) supplier e.g. Telstra, TPG.
Hinterland internet users know only too well that we face a major problem that Telcos cannot handle. There are several reasons for this. First, in hundreds of instances, households are not being given a connection to an NBN-enabled node and have to hope that Telcos keep supporting ADSL, an internet connection technology that is now 25 years old. There is no guarantee that this will happen. In addition, regional Australians who don't reside in or next to the main CBD area have only two NBN technology choices – Fixed Wireless and Satellite. In many cases, both are inadequate. Fixed Wireless is a bad technology for any towns that are on or near the Great Dividing Range because it is highly dependent on having a direct line of sight to an NBN tower. Hills and valleys are serious impediments. Satellite is even worse because it hardly works in bad weather and even when it does, latency issues mean that some applications such as videoconferencing are almost unusable.
Mayor Mark Jamieson says he wants the Sunshine Coast region to be the most desirable place for business. In Maroochydore, Queensland’s first direct international data and telecommunications connection to global markets is now in service. The Sunshine Coast now provides the fastest international connection point from east Australia to Asia and the US, a significant development in the Sunshine Coast's attractiveness as an investment location. This fibre-optic cable is capable of download speeds of 36 terabits per second. So what a pity it is that many Maleny businesses cannot tap into this world-class resource, less than 50 kms from Maple St because of our poor internet connection.
The Federal government recently announced that it would upgrade at no cost to the householder, thousands of under-performing NBN connections to full fibre this year, with up to two million upgrades planned by the end of 2023. It is unlikely that Hinterland internet users on Fixed Wireless and Satellite will get this upgrade.
The Maleny and Districts NBN Working Group is making a submission to the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (RTIRC) to have the federal government urgently take steps to remediate our poor internet connectivity. The RTIRC was established to conduct a review into telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia. Our submission will be lodged by 30th September 2021. We would like to get support from business, schools and other community groups who have an interest in getting better internet connectivity for our region. If you would like to add your support, then please send any case studies or words of support to richard@longwalk.info.
We would need this information by no later than 15th September.
Thank you for your help.
Richard Proudfoot (on behalf of the The Maleny and Districts NBN Working Group)
Christmas in July Event
Our inaugural Guest Speaker and Dinner event at Tranquil Park was a huge success, the room was full, the food delicious, mulled wine plentiful and our Guest Speaker Eric Bailey was amazing! Thanks to our sponsors Maleny Supa IGA & Tranquil Park. Here are some photos.
Winners!
Congratulations to our members Easton Lawyers and in particular their employee Sharon Schofield, Practice Manager. Sharon won the Silver Employee at the recent Glassies Award and then this week received a Rotary pride in workmanship award. Well done Sharon and Easton Lawyers!
Congratulations to VIP Wildlife who won the Silver Business at the recent Glassies Award for Maleny.
Congratulations to Annette English of Nellie's Creative Hair who won the Bronze Employee at the recent Glassies Award for Maleny. (Photo above is Nellie accepting the award on behalf of Annette)
Congratulations to The Orangery Maleny who won the Bronze Business at the recent Glassies Award for Maleny.
Latest Pulse Survey results show business confidence falling for the first time since COVID-19 began in March 2020
Results from our recent Pulse Survey of Business Conditions indicate that the Queensland economy and business community are not out of the woods yet, with business confidence taking a dip for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis began.
The report revealed that over 40% of business owners have been forced to contribute personal funds to keep their business afloat. These contributions were on average more than $110,000.
The findings also indicate the Queensland business community is financially and emotionally exhausted, with approximately half of business owners or their staff stating COVID-19 has contributed to mental health challenges.
To view the regional Pulse reports, you can use the interactive map on Page 14 of the Queensland report or head here: www.cciq.com.au/business-voice/pulse/
Mental health support for businesses in your network available here: Mental Health
Support for COVID-impacted business announced: Rebates, refunds, tax relief and more
Liquor licensing fee refunds and waivers
One off payments extended to large hospitality and tourism businesses
Payroll tax relief for tourism and hospitality businesses
Fees for eligible businesses waivered, refunded or deferred until 2022
2021 COVID-19 Business Support Grants for lockdown-impacted businesses in Queensland
Applications for the 2021 COVID-19 Business Support Grants opened at 12pm (midday), 16 August and will close on 16 November 2021. All eligible businesses who apply for a grant during the 3-month application period will receive funding.
Successful applicants will receive the total value of the boosted grants ranging from $1,000 to $30,000 depending on your business or not-for-profit organisation.
Non-employing sole traders update
The online application form will be available in September. Check theeligibility criteria, and register your interest. For queries about the grant for non-employing sole traders, phone the Office of State Revenue on 1300 300 734 and choose option 5.
Visit Sunshine Coast - Tourism Intelligence Survey - August Lockdown
Business Impact - August Lockdown
To assist Visit Sunshine Coast's advocacy efforts and continue to support the tourism and hospitality industry, we are seeking information about the real and anticipated impact to local business.
We encourage all industry/members impacted by the current lockdown to provide feedback through the short survey below. If you would like to discuss or provide further insights, please email Andrew Fairbairn directly onandrew.fairbairn@visitsunshinecoast.com
Nb. Please note that your business specific data will remain confidential.
Payment redirection schemes are the most common type offalse billing scam impacting small businesses. These types of scams currently target a large range of businesses including real estate, construction, law, recruitment, sports and more, but over time more businesses will fall into their sights.
According the ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report, payment redirection scams were the most financially damaging scams for Australian businesses in 2020. Combined losses for these scams reported to government agencies, banks and payment platforms totalled $128 million last year. See morehere: https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/targeting-scams-report-on-scam-activity.
In a payment redirection scam, scammers will often pose as one of your suppliers. They will at times even hack your computer so they can see exactly who you make regular payments to and what your supplier’s emails look like. Scammers will then send your business a similar email but with ‘updated bank details’, which is of course, the scammer’s personal bank account.
Scammers will search online to quickly identify names of senior staff and the likely format of their email addresses. More sophisticated scammers can even hack into email accounts, including through information gathered inphishing scams.
How you can protect your business:
Ensure your staff know about your payment processes and what the warning signs are for false billing scams.
Take time to consider if a payment request is genuine, especially if you are told that it is urgent.
Check that emails asking for payments or emails providing you with bank details are real by checking the sender’s email address.
Check if a payment request is real by getting in touch with the business asking for payment using a contact method you have used before.
If you’ve been scammed, you should contact your bank as soon as possible. You should also contact the platform that you were using when you were scammed to let them know what has happened. You should also report scams to Scamwatch. To report a cybercrime visit cyber.gov.au.
Maleny Commerce will be here showcasing the Maleny Gift Card and how Maleny Commerce Means Business to our new residents
Save the date
MEMBERS WE WANT TO CELEBRATE YOU!
Again we call for any member that wishes to promote their business to please email admin@malenycommerce.org.au and Nicole will liaise with you to complete a social media and newsletter profile and advertising campaign.
Our organisation’s operations are supported by council through a Community Partnership.
About Maleny Commerce
Maleny and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. is an incorporated body representing the business community since 1986. Check our website for upcoming events.