I was incredibly proud today as our President Adrian Kloeden hosted a lunch to celebrate the Victorian Chamber’s 25 years of involvement in supporting Apprenticeships in Victoria. It was an honour to be joined by so many members and esteemed guests at Crown Melbourne for Apprenticeship Support Australia’s (ASA) 25-year celebration luncheon, including our guest speaker, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, Federal Minister for Skills and Training.

Some prominent industry names are benefiting from the SummerTech LIVE digital skills program co-delivered by the Victorian Chamber.

I’m coming to you this week from beautiful Bendigo, where today we hosted one of our important Regional Roundtables. Hearing directly from business and industry is the best way for us to really get to the heart of our members’ concerns and challenges.

An exclusive Victorian Chamber event has heard how Victoria is fostering the development of self-driving trucks and other initiatives to maintain its mantle as the home of Australian innovation.

We are gearing up for our highly-anticipated Victorian Chamber Presents: Victoria – the home of innovation event next week. Political and industry leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries will come together to reveal future trends and explore strategies to foster innovation in the business landscape.

The Victorian Chamber’s Chief of Staff Chanelle Pearson will join the judging panel for the prestigious Recalibrate Gender Equity Awards 2023 presented by Business in Heels.

Taking the temperature of the Victorian business community over the past few weeks, there is a distinctive chill in the confidence barometer. 

I was fortunate to catch up this week with an extremely impressive woman in Freda Miriklis, Chair of the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network (CBWN). The Victorian Chamber first cemented our connection with the CWBN in Geneva at the World Chambers Congress, where our Chamber Change program was a finalist in the Best Gender Equity Project category in the World Chambers Competition. It was great to discuss how we are going to collaborate with the CWBN to continue our work to help empower women in business.

According to LaunchVic CEO Kate Cornick, the average business founder is 42 years old, “so it's never too late to start a startup”.

I hope this finds you well. I, for one, am still buzzing from last night’s Victorian Chamber President’s Dinner – our night of nights where we get to celebrate our members and the contribution that business makes to our great state.

In another busy week for the Victorian Chamber, the hallways of our Collins St headquarters on Tuesday best demonstrated the role we play across all levels and sides of government.

While we usually open with a positive message, there is no way to sugarcoat the blow of the news that Victoria will no longer be hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Victorian businesses to equip workers with cutting-edge digital skills for the future through Digital Jobs for Manufacturing

Applications are open to offer hands-on experience for hundreds of technology students and recent graduates, in turn helping ease the skills shortage in Victoria.

I want to kick this week’s message off by extending my heartfelt congratulations to Travis Auld on behalf of the Victorian and Melbourne Chambers, on his appointment as the new Chief Executive of the Australian Grand Prix.

A new research and development (R&D) fund has been established to help Victorian industry innovate, create new products and compete internationally.