Within two minutes of publication last week I had a fiery email response, from a regular WollongongOnline reader, who clearly was not happy with any criticism being levelled at the small business sector - see FEEDBACK.
And a television appearance by Les Dion quickly tried to distance the Illawarra Business Chamber from its previous stance on the importance of tax reform which the minister had targeted in his outburst at the recent youth unemployment forum.
But has anything positive come of this spat at the top end of town, or is it just another distraction from the main game?
The early indications are not good. But it is early days and all the players involved have to remember the situation has been with us for at least two decades, so its resolution will likely not be quick or easy. If it were it would surely have been remedied by now.
The major positive to come out of the forum is that youth unemployment is now not only firmly on the agenda but at the top of the list of ‘must haves’ along with improved transportation links and infrastructure.
I would repeat my assertion from last week’s column that the role small business could play in the creation of new jobs needs more attention and emphasise again that no individual is currently responsible for this.
Of course David Campbell is also the Minister for Small Business in NSW so he is uniquely placed to make something happen in this area and WollongongOnline looks forward to an announcement from his office in the weeks ahead.
It would certainly demonstrate clearly that the Minister for the Illawarra is fair dinkum about youth unemployment and his statements which rocked the business community were not simply rhetoric.
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WCC on the move
Residents and business people who were concerned council’s decision making processes would suffer without the benefit of locally elected councillors have been pleasantly surprised by a series of decisions coming from the government appointed administrators, whether it was to save the Town Hall from demolition or many of the smaller matters which are signalling a refreshing pattern of common sense, far from common, in the over politicised bear pit of back room decision making in Wollongong.
The system of cronyism that caucus driven politics encouraged in Wollongong has now been shown to at best produce less than optimal results and at worst corrupt (jury still out on Shellharbour), and it must be said that this lack of transparency combined with an entrenched and dogmatic executive management team has produced a fundamentally flawed model of administration overtly unsuited to the proper supervision of hundreds of millions of publicly owned assets.
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The unaffordable cost of living
If you’re like me you probably just don’t want to think about it.
Of course, seemingly unstoppable petrol and interest rates have been centre stage for months now – would you believe I just paid $1.79 for 95 octane (I can remember when a young guy I know would drive miles to a bowser not to pay over $1.00 a litre).
But in the last week the staples, power and water, have also been hiked – both approved by the relevant regulatory authorities.
Combined with steadily escalating food costs the weekly budget is visibly shrinking before our eyes and one has to ask: where will it all end?
As the PM says, many of the drivers involved are external and cannot be influenced by government, but the increasing number of financial challenges ordinary families are facing will, I believe, give rise to increasing grass roots political activity – whether it be protesting the corporatisation of electricity assets or in support of wage negotiations.
Who knows, the unions may even start to claw back some of their lost popularity.
I think it can safely be said that Kevin Rudd and his new government’s honeymoon is now officially over – the hard stuff starts now – I wish them well.
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David Campbell got it right!
What crap
Ultimately a small business has to react to the greater market in which it finds itself. And greater Wollongong has been neglected by successive govts of all levels and persuasions at least since WW2. As a mostly labor party voting businessman all my life, it is time we started to swing as political seats. And then so many of the economic problems that have arisen for the gong would start to be addressed, even by bumbling ultra mediocre pedestrian blobs like NSW state labor.
Regards
MICHAEL BATES
Hi Andrew,
you make some really good points here.
I know that you are not afriad to voice your convictions and that is good.
I do hope that rather than your comments and those of Minister Campbell causing "offence" that they will in fact cause people to rethink the strategy to address this serious problem.
Just thought i'd drop you a line of encouragement, after all wouldn't want you to feel too lonley out on that limb? :)
regards,
Paul
The lack of employment opportunities in the Illawarra is not helped by large companies from outside the area who win contracts and bring their labour with them. The recent construction of the new Tallawarra Power Station was mainly with outside labour and even some of the permanent jobs have gone to outsiders. The new Innovation Campus has employed mainly labour from Sydney and no doubt several other large contracts are the same. The chances for apprenticeships is slim because of the recent practice of contracting out for services and no business is going to commit to training without the certainty of having continuos employment to be able to ensure work for the apprentices. I was always told that any company or businesses biggest assets were it's employees but with the current idea of maximising profits for shareholders I foresee many shooting themselves in the foot and going out of business due to the lack of investing in training. David Campbell doesn't have the employment history to really appreciate what is needed and is too simplistic in his views plus he should have done more to get investment by the Government in the region and lead by example. The amount of infrastructure upgrades needed would ensure more employment opportunities for everyone.
N. Hodges Kanahooka
What, did the Ministers office write this for you Andrew? - I hardly know where to start there is that much unadulterated naive nonsense in your so called ‘news article’!
Regards, Shaun Prince
Well said, Andrew, but who's listening?
Even the charities which were given [free, gratis, and no charge] all those valuable licences to run unemployment agencies, seem to be following feed them and keep them warm syndrome rather than finding people jobs and teaching them self sufficiency.
Fergie | 
