Malaga Business Development Manager's Report JUNE 2010

Oscar, Creating a Safer Community

Oscar, the new crime deterrent tool introduced by the City of Swan as part of the Australian Government’s Safer Suburbs program, to promote safety and security in our communities, has won the endorsement of the Malaga Crime Management Forum.

May 3 saw the launch of Oscar, a mobile CCTV unit made from fabricated checker plate in the form of a fully enclosed trailer. The hardware components have been sourced from suppliers around the world and footage will be recorded and is accessible via remote secure access for the Police and the City of Swan.

Communities can help Oscar by reporting any suspicious activity to the police on 131 444 or by calling Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

For more information about the mobile CCTV units, contact the City of Swan on 9267 9267 or visit www.cityofswan.com.

Small Business Superannuation Clearing House

The Australian Government’s Small Business Superannuation “Clearing House” will soon be operational through Medicare Australia. Registration for the clearing house service has now commenced and the full Clearing House service will be available from 1 July 2010.

Any small business with less than 20 staff can register to use the free Clearing House if they choose.

Registered small businesses can pay their employees’ superannuation into a single location in one simple electronic transaction. The Clearing House will then send the contributions to the nominated superannuation funds.

For small businesses, the convenience of making one easy payment means they can meet their superannuation guarantee obligations and save on time and paperwork. A built-in reporting function means they can access a record of their contribution history whenever it is needed.

Small business can now register for the service online by going to www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/super or calling 1300 660 048 to speak to one of their staff.

Fair Work Act

From 1 January 2010, employers and employees in the national workplace system are covered by the new National Employment Standards (NES).

Under the NES, employees have certain minimum conditions. Together with pay rates in modern awards (which also generally take effect from 1 January 2010) and minimum wage orders, the NES makes up the safety net that cannot be altered to the disadvantage of the employee.

In addition to the NES, generally an employee’s terms and conditions of employment come from a modern award, agreement, award and agreement based transitional instruments, minimum wage orders, transitional minimum wage instruments, state or federal laws.

The NES are set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 and comprise 10 minimum standards of employment.

What are the 10 NES entitlements?

• Maximum weekly hours of work
• Requests for flexible working arrangements
• Parental leave and related entitlements
• Annual leave
• Personal / carer’s leave and compassionate leave
• Community service leave
• Long service leave
• Public holidays
• Notice of termination and redundancy pay
• Provision of a Fair Work Information Statement

For detailed explanations of the above 10 NES entitlements go to the web address http://www.fairwork.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx then click on Employers.

Good-bye to the former, welcome to the new – MDBA Exec Officer

In my last report, I was very remiss in not expressing my regret in the resignation of MDBA’s former EO, Julie Davies. Julie brought such a level of “Can Do” to the organisation and I was, many times, in awe of her thought processing “on the go” abilities. Julie has chosen to be with her family in the warmer climate of Karratha.
Good-luck friend, all the best to you.

I would like to welcome MDBA’s new EO, Marnee D’Andrilli. Marnee was literally thrown in at the deep end with 2 weeks until the MDBA Business Excellence Awards event, and told to “swim”. She managed the final preparation details extremely well and with the committee's assistance the Business Awards were a great success. Well done Marnee, I look forward to working with you in the future on our various combined projects.

MDBA Business Excellence Awards

The City of Swan would like to congratulate the following MDBA Business Excellence Awards winners:

Well done to all, winners, nominees and sponsors and a big thank you to MDBA for a great evening.

Wiki Power
Business Relations Officer
Business & Tourism.