News

The owner of a gymnasium in Queanbeyan says she is losing customers to gyms in nearby Fyshwick and Kingston because of restrictions on numbers allowed in NSW gyms compared with Canberra. Despite there being no active COVID-19 cases in the Canberra and Queanbeyan region since the start of July, the owner of F45 in Queanbeyan, Pip De Vries, said she...

There is little doubt that 2020 will be marked as an important year in world history. In Australia, and the rest of the world, it has been a year of uncertainty, anxiety and frustration, but also a year when trust, particularly in our workplaces, has never been more important. As Australians, we know only too well how to respond to...

A report commissioned by the Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association of Australia & NZ (RCSA), the peak industry body for Australian job agencies, says Australia's economic recovery from the COVID-19-induced recession will be heavily dependent on the services of labour hire and recruitment companies. The report said businesses are likely to want flexible workforce solutions in the current level of...

In an Australian first, Master Plumbers ACT has taken inspiration from its New Zealand counterpart by issuing a consumer guarantee to ensure all works by its members are covered by a $5000 fund if works are substandard or your plumber goes out of business in the middle of plumbing work. The concept of a consumer guarantee came from a conference...

Resilience is paramount in the face of a global pandemic, as Canberra-based Viva Leisure knows only too well. Despite COVID-19's impact on the competitive health club space, the listed pacesetter has delivered a solid result for the 2020 financial year, thanks in part to cutting-edge technology and multiple acquisitions that have created a foundation for further international expansion. The main...

Never let a good crisis go to waste, so the saying goes. First credited to Winston Churchill during WWII, Canberra Innovation Network chief executive officer Petr Adámek says the saying still applies today as businesses look to find opportunity in a disrupted market. "The disruption of COVID-19 can provide a catalyst for innovation for clever entrepreneurs and established businesses alike,"...

A couple of months ago, Region Media made a real "hero hire". He's already had a major impact on morale, and his input was ranked highly by staff in our annual performance review cycle. Those achievements have been recognised with a plum HR role and a headshot in our media kit. His name? Mr Smiggle. Sure, he spends much of...

The Mill House Ventures' flagship program Social Enterprise Accelerator has recently welcomed a new batch of 10 Canberra region business ventures to learn about business models, using trade for impact and changing the face of capitalism. A new online learning space to explore the entrepreneurial skills needed to change the world using social enterprise is a part of the program....

If the number of businesses owned by women matched those owned by men, the economic opportunity for Australia would be worth between $71 and $135 billion, according to 2019 research by the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. With that in mind, the Canberra-based Academy for Enterprising Girls is on a mission to help girls aged 10 to 18 Australia-wide learn...

Despite dire predictions of the largest economic contraction in 80 years, the ACT economy is faring considerably better than many other states and regions, and unemployment has actually fallen in the Territory this year despite disruptions due to COVID-19. In figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, the headline national unemployment rate increased to 7.5 per cent...

A survey of 300 businesses in Braddon has revealed that more than half face the prospect of closure before the end of the year if another lockdown were to occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey also found that 68 per cent of businesses experienced revenue loss during restrictions of between 50 and 100 per cent, and 17 per...

When this year’s Australian Orthodontic Congress was cancelled a week before it was to start in Cairns because of COVID-19, Dr Robert Wei of Embrace Orthodontists simply got on with helping patients create beautiful smiles. Then he received an email. Despite the event's cancellation, the Australian Society of Orthodontists Foundation for Research and Education was still granting its 2020 Milton...

After consultations with their printing staff in Canberra and several other sites, Australian Community Media has announced that they will cease printing permanently here in Canberra, at Ballarat and Murray Bridge. The Canberra and Murray Bridge sites will close at the end of August, while the Ballarat plant will cease printing on 2 October. There will be redundancies associated with...

Everyone has a story about how life has changed with COVID-19. For many young people, the pandemic has meant missing traditional graduation ceremonies and celebrations after years of hard work completing their degrees. For graduates entering professions that have an additional entrance hurdle, like the legal profession, COVID-19 has been even harsher. In Canberra, law graduates must complete additional training...

The global change in direction towards more ethically grounded business has found its way to Canberra, and the results are grist to the mill for community good. The Mill House Ventures is the social innovation node of the Canberra Innovation Network, and the vision behind the venture is to support, nurture and grow people who want to use business as...

With one third of our adult lives spent at work, and work-related stress estimated to affect around 32 per cent of all Australians, mental health in the workplace is a significant issue. The ACT's new Work Health and Safety Commissioner, Jacqueline Agius, said that workplace mental health matters, and it should be addressed the same way as other workplace health...