REPORT TO

THE REGION RDA-South West

Welcome

Welcome to the latest

update about the work

being done by

Regional Development

Australia in the South

West.

The Australian

Government tasks

RDAs to report on

activities in relation to

the RDA Charter and

agreed working

agenda which is

endorsed both by local

representatives and by

the Commonwealth.

RDA Board 2018-19

Led by Chairman,

Duncan Anderson, the

RDA Board comprises:

Scott Robinson

(Deputy)

Bernice Butlion

(Treasurer)

Posy Barnes

Dr Jack Carlsen

Kevin Haylock

Dr Robyn Morris

Claire Savage

Charles Jenkinson (ex-officio)

Tasmania partnership talks go ahead

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. When a

Board member from the University of

Tasmania and Managing Director of South

Region TAFE sat on a plane together and

each found the other to Chair an RDA

region, only good things could happen.

Each found similar regional issues and some

closely-linked industries and so the idea of a

South West WA and Tasmania partnership

was born … and even signed off by the

Minister in Canberra.

The basics of a partnership agreement

revolve around sharing business, educational

and cultural ideas. The principle is that each

can learn from the other but are far enough

apart not to impact on respective markets.

Regional Development Australia SW Chair

Duncan Anderson said: “We are already

developing educational ties in a number of

areas. Anything else is a real bonus.”

On the back of education success, RDAs

engaged with forestry and separately with

food, wine and tourism. Creative sector links

are expected to follow through a Creative

Corner event in March.

The Forest Industries Federation of WA and

Forest Industries Association of Tasmania are

keen to explore mutual issues and share

ideas while food, wine and tourism bodies

have also found common ground at a virtual

forum connecting the regions.

The forum revealed who might want to pursue

working relationships which collaborative

projects/ideas are most likely to yield the best

outcomes.

To support connections, RDASW has

committed funds to facilitate travel and

converting great ideas into great actions.

Photo: Tas timber talks selfie – Ian Telfer,

Patrick Warrand and Charles Jenkinson

this issue

Small Business Fair P2

Chinese on the menu P3

Notebook P4

I S S U E

2 0 1 9

04

RDASW is a network partner for Generator,

an online regional innovation development

platform that supports the commercialisation

of new ideas and backs business growth.

Generator connects business to business

and business to investors. It has tools to

validate propositions and more tools to teach

the skills needed to progress to the next stage.

Generator also features recruitment vehicles,

crowdfunding resources,

co-working opportunities and mentor matching.

To learn more visit the Small Business Fair.

RDA South West is backing

business and supporting the

Commonwealth’s Small

Business Fair.

The event is one of four in

Western Australia and is being

organised by the Department of

Jobs and Small Business to help

businesses grow.

The fair is a great opportunity to

find out about the incentives and

programs that take business to

the next level.

The day will feature live

demonstrations, key note

speakers, presentations and

ATO NEWSROOM

Threshold boost

The ATO has announced

that the $20,000 instant write

off threshold has been

extended to 30 June this

year.

If you buy an asset and it

costs less than $20,000, you

can write off the business

portion in your tax return for

the relevant income year.

You are eligible to use

simplified depreciation rules

and claim an immediate

deduction for the business

portion of each asset (new or

second hand) costing less

than $20,000 if you had a

turnover less than $10m and

the asset was first used or

installed ready for use in the

income year you are making

the claim.

The $20,000 threshold

reduces to $1,000 on 1 July

2019.

Workshops

The ATO is holding a series

of workshops in Perth that

are specifically designed for

small business. The free

workshops run on various

days through to June.

Check out https://lets-

talk.ato.gov.au/sbworkshops

wa

Portal

There is a wealth of free

information, downloads,

advice and even podcasts on

the ATO website. Visit

https://www.ato.gov.au/ to

find out more.

practical advice from a

business coach.

RDASW will be showing

attendees how they can use

economic modelling software,

REMPLAN, to research

regional data, benchmark,

identify gaps and opportunities

in the region.

REMPLAN drills down to full

demographic models,

locations, wages and salaries,

industry breakdowns and even

how people travel to work.

There is invaluable information

on trends and benchmarks

between shires, across the

state and Australia-wide.

RDASW now employs an

officer to best utilise the

software and produce reports

based on the latest data.

See REMPLAN at

https://www.economyprofile.co

m.au/rdasouthwest

Small

Business

Fair

Where: The Lighthouse, Bunbury

When: Friday, February 8

What time: 11am-7pm

The Generator Network is on its way

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS …

Key financial support for the China Office is through the

South West Development Commission, Regional

Development Australia – South West, ECU, the City of

Bunbury, the Bunbury Geographe Economic Alliance,

Bunbury Geographe CCI as well as business memberships.

Chinese treats

on the menu

EC DEV 101

Rethinking regional

winners and losers

Questions of equity

regularly feature in

regional development

discussions. Some places

seem to get all the

investment while others

miss out.

Like it or not there are

good reasons for that and

strong regional centres

lead to a strong hinterland.

More than half of the

whole South West

population is on the

Bunbury-Busselton axis

and headcounts attract

government investment in

key infrastructure. The key

is to think that without a

strong regional centre

everyone would have to

go to Perth for specialist

healthcare and TAFE

options would be very

limited, for example.

It is best to view

economies as flowing out

from concentrations of

population like ripples

from a pebble thrown in a

pond. The bigger the

population the bigger the

pebble and the greater the

reach of the ripples.

■ Remember that

population attracts

investment, so aggregate

projects, share facilities

and join the winners list.

Jointly funded by a number

of organisations, the Jiaxing

Business Office is as busy

as it has ever been.

Liaison Officer Yan Lyu has

been signing up new

members, providing advice,

translations, trade checks and

most recently helped with a

special visit by Chinese Consul

General Lei Kezhong.

Mr Lei opened the Xiuzhou

Modern Folk Painting

Exhibition and noted that

regional links between

Jiaxing and the South West

were beneficial. He was

particularly impressed that this

region was the only one in

Western Australia that has

direct links with China and he

enjoyed meeting businesses

and tourism attractions in

Harvey, Ferguson Valley,

Dardanup and Bunbury.

In the meantime, Mr Lyu has

been working on wine exports

projects and helping tourism

operators become China ready.

Future opportunities include

showing the region’s

businesses how to engage with

Chinese social media (We

Chat) as well as assisting with

trade issues generally.

As this is the Year of the Pig

and is predicting a year of luck,

overall good fortune, wealth,

honesty, general prosperity,

sincerity, trust and

understanding it could be a

good time to make the China

link and think about trade with

our biggest Asian neighbour.

Anyone wanting to contact Mr

Lyu should call 0498 803 485

Jiaxing Business Office funding partners celebrate Chinese New Year with the office’s key contact, Yan Lyu.

Partnerships make it happen

新年快乐

• Lotterywest Grants Clinic

Grants officers from Lotterywest are visiting Busselton and

Bunbury on February 14 and 15 respectively, to offer help and

advice to anyone planning a project or event that may require grant

support. Suggest a couple of timeslots and send an email to

Grants_development_team_3@lotterywest.wa.gov.au to make an

appointment.

• 100 Days for Change

Building on the success of the ‘100 Days for Change’ campaign,

Women & Leadership Australia is providing women with grants of

between $3,000 and $7,000 to enable participation in a range of

rural and regional leadership development programs. The

scholarship funding is provided with the specific intent of providing

powerful and effective development opportunities for regional

women; however the funding has to be allocated before the end of

March. Find out more and register your interest by completing an

EOI form available at: www.wla.edu.au/register

South West WA: the place to do business

There is increasing

activity around regional

investment into our

diversified economy.

RDASW has been

supporting the work

being undertaken to

create a SW Investment

Fund and has been

engaged with the

expansion of angel

investment in the region.

These two exciting

opportunities

complement one another

in the investment space,

while business innovation

and expansion is being

encouraged through the

emerging Generator

Network.

Overall the business

environment is on the up.

Watch this space.

Tech Times Issue 00 Month

Westport visit to Bunbury Port

Wines WA

Events/presentations

Business Incubators - Donnybrook

Business Council of Australia

Consultancies/feedback

Busselton Entertain and Arts Cultural Hub

Bunbury Outer Ring Road – Economic Advisory Group and Community Reference Group

National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy

Regional Price Preference (JTSI)

South West visit by Ministers McCormack and McKenzie - briefings

Engagement

AusIndustry

Austrade

Australia's South West RTO

Bunbury Business & Industry Liaison Group

Bunbury Development Committee

Bunbury-Geographe Growth Plan (Timber)

Bunbury-Geographe Economic Alliance

Busselton-Margaret River Airport

City of Busselton Economic Development Taskforce

Forest Industries Federation of WA

Jiaxing Business Office

Go Geo

Main Roads

Nannup Timber Processing

ECONOMIC

MODELLING

RDA-South West has

advanced its economic

modelling capacity by

engaging an officer to run

analyses of projects and to

provide regional data to

support public and private

sector projects.

Anyone who wants to fully

understand their community

or run impact scenarios

should contact the RDA

office on 9721-1111 for a

discussion.

RDASW can be contracted

for in-depth economic and

community data, but some of

the software can be

accessed publicly and for

free. Just visit

www.rdasouthwest.com.au

and follow REMPLAN links

Your RDA touching bases

Nola Marino MHR

Recfishwest

Local Government – Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Bunbury, Busselton, Collie, Dardanup, Donnybrook, Harvey

Mick Murray MLA

South West Academy of Sport

South West Angels

South West Development Commission

South West Infrastructure Group

South West Investment Fund

South West NBN Advisor Program Partnership

Dr Steve Thomas MLC

WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

www.rdasouthwest.com.au