Business bulletin - 8 November 2018

Territory businesses with hard to fill positions can now receive support under the Welcome to the Territory Incentives program to recruit workers from interstate.

The ‘Welcome to the Territory’ Incentive is an initiative of the Northern Territory Government, to boost and retain the Territory’s population and to help Territory businesses attract workers into hard to fill jobs on the high priority occupation list.

Businesses must register online to participate in the program. Registration includes access to a promotional toolkit to be used when promoting relevant vacancies.

The Welcome to the Territory Incentives program, is a key action of the 2018 to 2028 Northern Territory Population Growth Strategy.

Government is investing $19 million over seven years to attract around 2,600 people to the Territory within two years and retain them for at least five years.

Incentives include:

New Territorian Relocation Bonus

Cash payment to eligible applicants to meet relocation and transition costs, up to:

Singles = $3000, Couples = $5000, One child = $1500, Two children = $3000.

Local Spending Incentive

A $625 incentive, payable after six months, and $625 payable after 18 months to be spent with local merchants for goods and services, such as local tourism, cafes and restaurants, motor vehicle registration, utilities and child care.

Five-year Retention Bonus

Cash payment to eligible applicants after five years continuous residence, to be spent locally, for purposes that benefit a long-term resident:

Singles = $3000, Couples = $5000, One child = $1500 Two children = $3000.

Individuals wishing to move to the Territory to fill a high priority job can find out more about the Welcome to the Territory Incentives at theterritory.com.au/move and follow the links to submit an application.

For more information on the 2018 to 2028 Northern Territory Population Growth Strategy go to the Population Growth Strategy website.

Licensed businesses can now access support under the new Alcohol Secure program to increase the physical security of their liquor stock against theft and damage.

The existing Biz Secure program has been expanded to include the new Alcohol Secure Grants program to specifically support pubs, clubs, restaurants, takeaways and other licensed venues to protect their alcohol and make it harder for criminals to steal or damage their stock of alcohol by creating a physical barrier to the alcohol (eg, security windows, doors, and roller door).

Eligible applicants can get up to $10,000 without co-contribution, or up to $20,000 with a dollar-for-dollar co-contribution.

Additional funding can also be allocated for high risk venues and / or special case projects like heritage listed buildings.

Subject to the terms and conditions, licensed premises such as restaurants, pubs, clubs, café’s supermarkets and other liquor retailers are eligible to apply.

Works must be carried out by a Territory business. The contracted business will need to be approved under the program before any works start.

Businesses that have accessed Biz Secure, but have not used the funding to secure their liquor stocks, can still access Alcohol Secure.

Alcohol Secure will run until 30 June 2020 or until the allocated $2 million in funding runs out.

For more information, please go the Northern Territory Government website.

For further assistance or enquiries please email alcohol.secure@nt.gov.au

October Business Month (OBM) has raced to the finish line with the social media sprint wrapping up a stellar month of business events across the Territory.

Australian entrepreneur and social media guru Jane Lu capped off OBM’s first ever Social Media Sprint with Territory success story Karen Hawkes. The two women shared their advice and insights on social media and how the new medium has played a major role in their unique business journeys.

This year there were more than 30 events dedicated to social media to help local businesses navigate and succeed in the digital world, which included advice from global experts Facebook and LinkedIn along with local agencies specialising in this area.

Innovation Week returned bigger and better in 2018 with over 850 people attending workshops, events and activities designed to inspire our innovative ecosystem and unlock innovative thinking.

The first ever Northern Territory Business Innovation Strategy was launched during Innovation Week. The strategy focusses on strengthening the Territory’s business innovation culture and outlines the government’s approach to ignite, inspire and intensify the Territory’s innovation ecosystem.

The 2018 OBM calendar included close to 200 events, workshops and training options to support Territory small business, with more than 9,000 people attending events across the Territory.

Five Territory success stories join our keynotes this year, each bringing their own local story to inspire the business community.

This year’s impressive line-up of OBM keynote speakers included:

• Lisa Wilkinson - journalist and host of Channel 10, The Project
• Jane Lu - entrepreneur, social media influencer owner of global fashion empire Showpo
• Gus Bal Bontin - former executive director and chief technology officer at Lonely Planet
• Daniel Motlop - former AFL player and general manager of Aboriginal owned supplier of game meats and native food, Something Wild
• Rob Cook - bestselling author and Australian Famer of the Year Award winner.

Territorians also took advantage of our OBM Hub in Darwin mall, more than 500 people dropped into the hub to book for events, meet with other businesses and the small business champions.

October Business Month would not be possible without the support of our sponsors and event partners.

Platinum: NAB and TIO.

Gold: Industry Skills Advisory Council NT (ISACNT), MinterEllison and social media sponsor, Captovate.

Silver: Darwin Corporate Park, Yellow, Merit Partners, Telstra Business Centre NT and PwC’s Indigenous Consulting.

Andrew Peers is using the skills he built up over an interesting professional career to help create jobs for people living in remote Northern Territory (NT) communities.

He wants to help create sustainable, full-time jobs held by skilled workers.

Andrew, who was a teacher for 29 years and has also managed small tourism operations, such as guest houses and caravan parks, is a Northern Territory Government workforce training coordinator based in Nhulunbuy.

His job is to provide information and advice on workforce training options and opportunities to businesses and Aboriginal organisations.

He is a vital link between training organisations, apprenticeship and traineeship support, government skilling programs and industry associations.

Andrew has been in East Arnhem Land for 11 years.

He started with Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation at Yirrkala as their first training and employment officer.

Andrew has played an important role in bringing the Arnhem Land Progress Association (ALPA), private company Delta Reef and Swinburne University together to guide 10 Galiwinku men through a Certificate III in Remote Area Building Repair and Maintenance.

The Department of Trade, Business and Innovation helped ALPA develop the pool of trainees and Delta Reef’s Brett Martin with monitoring their progress.

“I’m very proud of that work.”

Andrew is also involved in an innovative project with Tavis Perry of the East Arnhem Regional Council to move permanent part-time casual workers into the permanent workforce.

“I get fantastic satisfaction from my work. It’s not easy - sometimes it’s one step forward and two back.

“But we’re slowly building new, permanent jobs with reliable employees, which is what the NT Government wants.

“We’re making progress.”

If you would like to discuss training options for your business or organisation you can contact Andrew on 08 8987 0553.

Scholarships are now available for directors and leaders of Territory not-for-profit (NFP) organisations to give participants a better understanding of performance related roles and responsibilities for directors, specifically in the areas of governance, risk, financial performance and strategy.

The Northern Territory (NT) Government have funded the scholarships and are working in partnership with Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) to make a positive impact on the local community through governance education and director development.

Terri-Ann Maney, AICD NT Members and Directors Manager said “we greatly welcome this assistance from NT Government for NFPs across the Territory, particularly, as this sector continues to face complex and changing regulatory settings, uncertainty in funding and increasing service demands.”

“We know how much directors and leaders greatly appreciate these opportunities - particularly as the vast majority of directors in the not-for-profit sector carry out their duties for no financial reward, and organisations can find it difficult to fund on-going development opportunities. “

These fully-funded short course scholarships are for emerging and experienced directors and leaders of not-for-profit organisations based in the Northern Territory to attend one of the following AICD short-courses:

• One and a half day Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors - Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek
• The Role of the Chair - Darwin and Alice Springs
• Governing to Protect Vulnerable People - Darwin.

Applicants must be directors or senior managers of NFP organisations operating within the NT. The scholarship covers 100% of course attendance and materials to the programs listed.

For further information email nt-nfpscholarships@aicd.com.au