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Past Event
Investment the key to reversing South Australia’s brain drain
“This is a place where people can actually come back, bring their kids up, live in a very, very affordable way, and live a very good lifestyle. It's still a wonderful place here.’’ Jennifer Westacott, Business Council of Australia chief executive Reversing the brain drain and attracting more business investment to South Australia are critical to ensuring the state can power ahead. When the Business Council of...
Past Event
Embracing change to create new industries and hope
“We are going through a tough period, but we're trying to fast-track our way to the future, and we're trying to make change a friend, not an enemy.’’ Frank McGuire, Member for Broadmeadows Back when the car manufacturing industry was in full flight in Australia, small to medium-sized Victorian business Australian Performance Vehicles had three customers: Ford, Holden and Toyota. As a tier-one supplier to the global car...
Past Event
Western Sydney is transforming
“The challenge for Western Sydney is to create meaningful full-time jobs in Western Sydney so that people just don't have to go through this wretched commuting every day.’’ Tony Shepherd, former Business Council of Australia president About 40 per cent of residents in Sydney’s west are forced to drive 90 minutes each way for work, said former Business Council president Tony Shepherd. It is this absence of local...
Past Event
Gladstone turns the investment tap on for jobs, skills and training
“When big business can compete, and attract that capital and make those investments, that doesn't just trickle, but it flows right down that ecosystem to medium businesses and small businesses.’’ Grant King, Business Council of Australia president Gladstone is a magnet for business activity; a perfect illustration of the benefits that flow into a community when it attracts investment. Grant King, the president of the Business Council of...
Past Event
Vision and planning sees Toowoomba flying high
“People come for jobs and the jobs come because the people come.’’ Catherine Tanna, the managing director of EnergyAustralia Nowhere does the adage of “build it and they will come’’ resonate more than in the southern Queensland city of Toowoomba. The garden city’s $100 million Wellcamp Airport, built by the Wagner family and opened in 2014, has served as a mecca for development in the region. In September,...
Past Event
Rising to the challenge of technological change with lifelong training and skills
“We've got to embrace this because there are some fantastic positive community outcomes here but sitting back and being fearful is a way for it to run over us. If we lean into it, I think the opportunity is to shape it.’’ Rohan Mead, group managing director and chief executive of Australian Unity As far as career changes go, Jodie Auster’s journey from emergency department doctor to leading...
Past Event
'The success of small businesses is dependent on the success of big business’
“It's the biggest growth of any market we have in our entire network. So, it's phenomenal what's been occurring.” Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce The “virtuous circle” of big and small businesses generating economic activity, opportunities and jobs in Tasmania has helped the state hit its stride. Business leaders from tourism, manufacturing and agriculture industries put this success down to businesses and enterprising people being the engine room...
Past Event
Western Sydney Airport will give business a tailwind
“We need, a post-secondary plan that puts them on equal footing." Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott Employers and workers across Western Sydney are set to get a tailwind from the Western Sydney Airport when it opens in 2026, with hundreds of thousands of jobs planned for the region, which is expected to generate up to a $15.6 billion economic boom over three decades. “The reality is our airport,...
Past Event
Strong Australia lunch
Townsville's Strong Australia lunch event featured Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott, Aon Australia chief executive James Baum, PVW managing partner Carl Valentine, Townsville Chamber of Commerce president Debbie Rains and Townsville Enterprise Limited chief executive Patricia O’Callaghan.
The event was moderated by award winning Sky News political editor David Speers.
The Strong Australia Network is travelling across the country speaking to everyday Australians.
Here you can find our upcoming events and the issues we’ve tackled at past events.
Here you can find our upcoming events and the issues we’ve tackled at past events.