The moratorium, backed by both the Victorian Government and Opposition, stops any exploration or traditional onshore extraction of natural gas until 2020.  This is a mistake. Locking away Victoria’s gas reserves until 2020 restricts our state from adding to the supply of natural gas which would provide certainty and help lower the price of gas for Victorian businesses and households.  Instead, we are left at the mercy of rising international gas prices.

We will continue to advocate that the moratorium should be removed and the risks of individual gas supply projects be evaluated on a case by case basis.

This week we also released our latest Survey of Business Trends and Prospects which provides us with insights on what issues you, our members, are facing. The latest survey looked at innovation and found that while many small businesses know that innovation is a critical factor in capturing new customers and driving business growth, they face a number of challenges which make innovation difficult. These ranged from being too busy with day-to-day operations and lacking appropriately skilled staff to limited access to competitively priced finance. You can find out more about our survey results here.

This week we also held a very successful half-day event for HR professionals, People in Business, which featured excellent key note speakers Marty Wilson and Holly Ransom. If you missed this one, our events calendar features some exciting events in the months ahead that you can register for here.

Mark Stone AM