Introduction..
From the President return to menu
Well the past month has been a whirlwind of activity adjusting to existing business commitments and my new Chamber responsibilities!

Aside from the usual monthly lunch, there was the Young Chamber function a couple of weeks before, with a broad cross-section of young at heart members and friends getting involved.

Coming up, there are meetings with Federal candidates, from whom we’ll be hearing a lot more in coming months as they persuade us to vote for them, whilst the Chamber persuades them to include in their manifesto much needed services and infrastructure. Then there are meetings with the aspiring pollies’ senior party colleagues – Ministers and Shadow Ministers, perhaps the PM – keep an eye out for invites.

Take a look at the table of contents for this newsletter to see the range of issues and activities that your Chamber is involved in. If you have time and the interest in any of these (or indeed wish the Chamber to take up another cause), give the Chamber a call to find out more.

As the old adage goes, the more you put in the more you’ll get out.

Cheers for now.

JB

Jeremy Blockey
Chamber President

Highlights..
High Profile Speakers return to menu
Our events calendar can be found on our website at http://www.cairnschamber.com.au Use the menu on the right and click on the Events heading to access our calendar.

Weve just concluded the special event today with The Hon John Howard MP Prime Minister of Australia. We received an overwhelming response to this event with over 300 attendees.

Bernard Salt, Demographer and author of "The Big Shift" is confirmed for May this year. Bernard is famous for making 'boring' statistical figures about population shifts and demographics sound exciting!! A frank, informative and humourous speaker, Bernard is a speaker not to be missed! See recent stories in The Cairns Post and their Business and Property Review publication to find out more about Bernard Salt.

Our April lunch meeting saw a presentation from ARUP on the FNQ Water Strategy. ARUP has been commissioned to lead the development of the Strategy that will map out the provision of water resources for Cairns and the surrounding region up to 2050.

A meeting with Professor Robin Woellner is scheduled for 10th May to discuss how the Chamber and the Faculty of Law, Business & Creative Arts can work together. The draft agenda items are:

* Annual meeting with Pro Vice Chancellor and senior Faculty staff on future joint initiatives and update on plans for next 12 month period;
* Agreement on one or two research projects each year which are supported (financially or in-kind) by the Chamber
  * The value to business of the migration programs
  * Effect of migration on a city (migratory population)
  * Have employees remained with employers;
  * The value of these employees on the local economy;
* Agreement on research projects each year which are supported (financially or in-kind) by Chamber members;
* There is an opportunity for lecturers/students to engage with Chamber members in a much more coordinated manner than at the moment. We need a schedule of what each subject area will be requiring in terms of accessing business for assignments, guest lecturers and research projects. This would then be matched with a schedule of businesses interested in being involved in these activities.

The Executive Officer participated in a think tank for the Centre of Tropical Tourism & Hospitality on possible future activities. Of note to the Chamber were discussions on linkages with industry, cadet programs and international recruitment.

FNQ 2025 Regional Plan return to menu
The Chamber Management Committee was given a presentation on the FNQ 2025 Regional Plan prior to the last meeting. A subsequent meeting was held with the Chamber, NDIA and UDIA. The notes from this meeting are attached. A letter has been sent to the Minister for Local Govt & Planning expressing our concerns with FNQ 2025. A further letter was also set specifically addressing the draft Terms of Reference.

A meeting with the Chamber, NDIA, UDIA, Planning Institute of Australia (PIA and the Mareeba Chamber of Commerce was held on 13th April. This meeting looked at our collective future input and involvement in FNQ 2025. There are very tight timelines surrounding this exercise and we need to be coordinated to get our message across.

Bob Norman, Jeremy Blockey and Sandy Whyte also attended a presentation by Lindsay Enright, the senior planner for the SEQ Plan and formerly the FNQ 2010 Regional Plan. Lindsay discussed the process in SEQ and the reasons behind the plan. This was very insightful into how FNQ 2025 could unfold.

Regional Business Tour return to menu
The next Regional Business Tour will take place on 21st – 25th May 2007. 8 members have confirmed their participation. The itinerary includes Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw, Aurukun, Weipa, Napranum, Bamaga, Thursday Island, Lockhart River & Coen. Following the last meeting, members of the Management Committee were asked if they wished to take on the role of Tour Coordinator. Sim Hayward will take on the role of Tour Coordinator this year.

Chalco Aurukun Bauxite Project return to menu
Sim Hayward had previously advised that the Vice Premier of China would be in Brisbane in late March to sign the agreement between Chalco and the Queensland Government. Sim attended the formal dinner and had the opportunity to meet the Vice Premier as well as members of the Chinese and Qld teams working on this project. Sim felt the project is two years away from being operational.

There is an opportunity to coordinate this visit with the Advance Cairns deputations to Canberra in June (20 & 21).

Cairns Base Hospital return to menu
At the March Chamber luncheon, the Health Minister advised that a Services Plan is being undertaken, which will feed into a Masterplan. The Chamber has written to the Minister requesting a status report on this process and advised of our interest in participating in this planning process.

Management Committee Positions return to menu
The Annual General Meeting of the Chamber took place on March 27th. Below are the results of the election as announced at the AGM. Please note that the position of Treasurer remains vacant. As per the constitution, the Management Committee can fill this position as any time.

Expressions of Interest are being called from suitably qualified members to fill the position of Treasurer. An email with full details was sent to members last week with expressions of interest due by 4 May.

Skills In Demand return to menu
As a follow on from the Skills in Demand Survey undertaken last year, a meeting with the relevant organization was held to progress this matter further. It was agreed to form a group to be known as Critical Labour and Skills Shortages (CLASS) to work towards addressing these shortages. Subsequent meetings will flesh out the actions and the organizations to work on the actions. The Chamber has already indicated it will be the lead agency on the migration related items.
Attendees – Chris White- Accounting Plus, Sandy Whyte- Cairns Chamber, Vivienne Gayton- Commerce Queensland, Steve Oldham- CREDC, Deborah Maguire- State Development
Purpose – To form CLASS and outline actions to meet the critical labour demands in TNQ Outcomes –
Identified four areas of action
1. Increase school based vocational training utilizing model of Australian Technical Colleges recently setup. o Initial focus areas include Aviation, Hospitality, Marine and general trades
2. Develop and advocate proposals for DEWR/DEST/ DET in terms of programs for engaging local unemployed uptake including
* work experience o employer incentives
* adopting Australian Technical College model for training
3. Advocate for consideration of regional variations to employer sponsored temporary business (457) visa including
* Salary levels
* Skill levels
* Industry specific skill requirement
* Pre-approved allocation (Quota)
4. Develop and implement a national labour attraction strategy to the TNQ region
* Develop and implement a ‘Play and Stay’ labour attraction strategy in partnership with key stakeholders – employer member organizations, recruitment firms, individual businesses
* Develop/link web based ‘portal’ for vacancies in FNQ