It’s great to be back in Victoria after spending last week in Paris and London. I was there alongside CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau, Julia Swanson to bid for the 14th World Chambers Congress (WCC) to be held here in Melbourne in 2025. We will find out if we are successful in mid-December and securing it would be a fantastic coup for Victoria. I will keep you across the details as we learn more, and thanks to VCCI’s Chanelle Pearson, Scott Veenker and Karyn Sobels who joined us in Paris for the pitch along with Gonul Serbest, CEO Global Victoria, and Tim Dillon, Agent General-Victoria to the UK and Commissioner to Europe and Israel. It was a true ‘Team Victoria’ approach.

After the pitch, we met with a number of key people in Paris and London to strengthen the Chambers ties. Among the key meetings were Gillian Bird PSM, Australian Ambassador to France, Samantha Cohen, Envoy, Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Commission, London Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and the Britain Australia Society.

It has been a big week for the Victorian Chamber and I would like to thank our Executive Director – Commercial Services, Antoinette Truda for stepping in as Chief Executive while I was overseas.

It was interesting to see how both Paris and London are getting on with business, despite challenging conditions and economic headwinds. I spoke to 3AW’s Ross and Russ about my experiences, and opportunities for Victoria, in particular Melbourne’s CBD.

As the Victorian Election campaign prepares to enter its final week, the Chamber is continuing our strong advocacy on behalf of business including the release of our latest advocacy video which focuses on building Victoria as the best place to operate a business and features the CEO of Queen Victoria Market, Stan Liacos.

We’ve also released the latest episode of our Business Voice podcast in which we speak with the Managing Director of Stanton Killen Wines, Wendy Killeen, about growing Regional Victoria. We also talk to Sean Sammon from York Park Group about the important role our regions will play in the State Election and you can listen to it here.

At a federal level, the Victorian Chamber has outlined our concerns with the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022, which, if passed without changes, would present significant challenges for our members for years to come. We want you to be aware of the issues we see with the proposed legislation, and welcome your input. We are working closely with the team at the Australian Chamber, who are right in the thick of it, and are active with both the Government and the Independants. Ultimately, the Government will need the support of the Independents to pass the legislation, so it’s vital that the business position, and implications of the legislation, is understood. Quite simply, we do not want this legislation passed without amendment, and our article will help you understand why.

Our final three big events for the year are a celebration of women, across business and sport. We are proud to be hosting the official 2022 NAB AFLW Grand Final Season Seven Lunch on Thursday 24 November, with AFLW captains Meg McDonald, Kerryn Peterson and Brianna Davey to join MC Sarah Jones from Fox Footy, for a lively discussion ahead of the AFLW Grand Final.

We also look forward to our annual women in business luncheon with our special guest speaker, wellness entrepreneur Jessica Sepel. She has built a thriving business empire and will share what she’s learned on her journey on December 8 at Crown Palladium. This one is not to be missed and tickets can be secured here.

And we are looking forward to hosting the 36^th Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) conference, and would love you to join us and other chambers and business leaders from across Asia Pacific. The conference is the 28^th and 29^th November and you can still get tickets by heading to our website.

And finally, congratulations to our Melbourne Chamber Platinum Member Transurban on their automated truck trial, the first to be tested on public roads in this country. Their CAVs have the potential to transform the freight industry, helping to move more goods more often and better supporting the needs of both businesses and consumers.

Have a wonderful rest of the week.