Phil Henry
May was Small Business month and the Capricornia region scored a visit by the Small Business Commissioner, Dominique Lamb. Dominique visited several small businesses, hosted by Advance Rockhampton and, in Yeppoon, by the Chamber.
During her visit, Livingstone Shire Council signed up to be a Small Business Friendly Council at a well-attended function at Stir ‘n Stitch in Yeppoon.
Rockhampton Regional Council is also a Small Business Friendly Council.
Business Chamber Queensland (formerly the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland) has released its quarterly Pulse report on the state of the economy and business conditions.
Data for the survey comes directly from business responses to the survey.
Not surprisingly, businesses reported weakening conditions both in Queensland and nationally, with the main declines in sales and revenue and profitability.
Constraints to better performance arose from interest rate increases, which affect consumer behaviour as well as direct business costs and other cost imposts, particularly energy.
Following input from the Capricornia Chamber through our chairing of the Regional Policy Committee, and several other regional chambers, the Pulse survey now also lists shortage of housing as critical constraint, closely allied to difficulties in finding staff. State-wide, lack of accommodation ranked as the fourth most critical constraint.
In Capricornia, the biggest constraints seen were energy costs and reliable high-speed internet.
However, it must be noted that responses for the Central Queensland region, as the Pulse survey defines us, were too low for Business Chamber Queensland to deem them statistically significant.
This should serve as a reminder for businesses in the region to complete the survey so that we can have more confidence in its findings.
Sign up to the Business Chamber Queensland mailing list at their website.
Speaking of mailing lists, sign up to the Capricornia Chamber newsletter on our website to see upcoming events – of which we have a few.
Our coffee catch-ups, held on the last Wednesday of each month, are very popular.
See the photos of our last such function at Ocean Brew, Emu Park. See you soon.