Compared with Norway, where the Government has mandated that listed company boards have a composition of at least 40 per cent women, the number of female directors on ASX 200 company boards is quite shocking, at just 8.3 per cent.  And in what we hope is not the beginning of a downwards trend, the figure has dropped from last year’s 8.7 per cent.

Australia also rates poorly compared with other Western nations. In the United States 15.2 per cent of listed company board seats are held by women, in Britain 11.5 per cent and in Europe 9.7 per cent.

In August, the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee, the organisation that advises the Federal Government on corporate law matters, brought down a report which noted that directors of public companies come from a ”relatively limited pool” and are often ”drawn from the ranks of other boards and senior corporate executives”.

CAMAC has urged the ASX Corporate Governance Council to develop guidelines to boost the representation of women on Australian boards.

herVoice believes this is one of the few cases in which the imposition of quotas must be progressed, with heavy penalties for non-compliance, to ensure equal numbers of  male and female board members for Australian listed companies, public sector agencies and statutory authorities.  

Without such quotas, the glass ceiling will remain firmly in place, despite the efforts of the many skilled, talented and qualified women who continue to try and break through it.  

smh.com.au article - Making Pink the New Black   

Businesses, government and community organisations are encouraged to apply for the 2009-10 National Work-Life Balance Awards (the Awards) ahead of the closing date on COB Friday, 18 September 2009.

The Awards will acknowledge leaders in various industry sectors who excel in offering work, life and family initiatives. There will be 13 award category winners and one overall national winner.

Award winners will be able to use a winner’s symbol for a three-year period, helping them to attract employees. Winners will be announced at a ceremony scheduled for February 2010.

To apply or to find out more about the Awards go to http://www.deewr.gov.au/worklife or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94. If you would like further information about other workplace relations initiatives go to www.deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations

In response to a common question being asked at the moment,  the ATO has advised as follows:

The tax office definition of a small business is: an individual, partnership, trust or company with aggregated turnover less than $2 million. An aggregated turnover is your annual turnover of any businesses you are connected or affiliated with.

If your previous year’s aggregated turnover (gross income not net profit) was $2 million or less, you are a small business for the current year. If one of your last two year’s aggregated turnover was less than $2 million, you can estimate that your current year will be $2 million or less.

These allow you, as a small business, to access the various PAYG Instalments, GST, CGT, FBT and income tax concessions.

The Federal Government has released its issues paper on the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace legislation and called for public comment.

Submissions close on 16 October 2009 and instructions on how to make submissions are included in the paper.

Women in the workforce have undeniably come a long way since the days of blatant discrimination and sexism in the 70s.

But in her media release announcing the review, Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, highlighted the fact that the pay gap between male and female full-time earnings is now 17.2 per cent and that over the last decade we have seen a decline in women in executive leadership roles.  

Hopefully, the review will go some way towards forcing the government to strengthen its legislation and address these issues.

The Assistant Treasurer has warned taxpayers of a door-to-door scam operated by people claiming to be consultants from the Tax Office.

Senator Nick Sherry said the bogus consultants ask people to sign up to a supposed Government program promising financial incentives, including a reduction in taxes. The offer is a fraud and  under no circumstances, should anyone give personal information including credit card, banking or super fund details to these people.

“Anyone who has given personal information to an illegitimate source should immediately report it to their credit card provider, bank or super fund,” said Senator Sherry.

Anyone concerned about the legitimacy of the call or identity of a Tax Officer, should call the Tax Office on 13 28 61 and report any suspicious activities.

In a long overdue move, the Federal Government has finally taken steps to simplify the onerous burden of small business reporting requirements. 

It has released new Standard Business Reporting (SBR) taxonomy and tools, so that software developers can begin building programs for their business and accounting systems.

In practical terms, this means that  when the system’s up and running, instead of having to  waste time sending the same or similar information in different formats to each government agency, the number of individual pieces of data businesses have to track , analyse and report will be reduced by 71 per cent.

With many businesses often having to report the same or similar information to 12 Australia, state and territory government agencies, this is a welcome initiative.

Now, if only the Federal Government could show as much attention to the needs of business in its industrial relations, superannuation, reserach and development, funding and childcare policies, it could be onto a winner!

To read the full story, please click here

Shadow Tourism Minister Steven Ciobo has advised herVoice of an issue of serious concern to Australia’stourism industry, which has already been hard hit by the economic downturn.  Tourism Australia’s CEO left in June -  and $40,000 of taxpayers’ money has already been paid over the past nine months to global consultancy Spencer Stuart to locate his replacement.

A  quick search of Hansard by herVoice shows that on 2 June this year, TA advised a hearing of the Economic Legislation Estimates Committee that the contract would continue - at additional expense to taxpayers - until the position was filled.

While herVoice is obviously concerned that TA remains without a permanent leader  to take control of its future direction - and that the recruitment process is continuing to impact on the public coffers; it was the behaviour of TA’s leaders in response to the Estimates questions that has prompted this post.

herVoice regrets to report that rather than recording an attempt to address the Committee’s questions with dignity and respect, Hansard in fact recorded proceedings that were reminiscent of a hybrid of Monty Python and Yes, Minister.

The absolute flurry of bluff and porcupine-passing that the TA chiefs drew upon in their responses made for an impressive performance by all accounts -  but as the leaders of the peak body of a $90 billion a year industry, these people aren’t paid to be comedians or sidesteppers.

herVoice is not unaware of the many political pressures upon agency representatives at Estimates hearings; and the additional  pressure of being held to public scrutiny.  But despite that, she maintains that answering questions in the public interest with integrity is far more important than hiding behind a veil of fluff and buck-passing.

In a  nutshell, strong, independent leadership is needed - and fast - to put our peak tourism body back on track.

Gold Coast Tourism chiefs Paul Donovan and Martin Winter seem equally unimpressed, letting  fly at a House of Representatives committee hearing on the Gold Coast last week, calling for a ‘total overhaul (of TA)  from the top to the bottom’, including a new TA managing director.

After her foray into Hansard this morning, herVoice supports their call.

Opposition launches campaign for nominations.

Small business owners are being urged to nominate the worst, most idiotic, piece of red tape they have experienced as part of a campaign launched this week by the Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull, and Shadow Small Business Minister Steven Ciobo.

As part of its target to reduce red tape in Australia to the lowest level of all developed economies, the Coalition is on the hunt for the most diabolical piece of red tape nationally.

Mr Ciobo says that the last thing small business needs right now is “mindless, bureaucratic red tape”, when it is grappling with cash flow stress, industrial relations changes and the toughest lending conditions since the credit crisis of the early 1960s

herVoice commends the Coalition’s initiative and will be waiting impatiently for the announcement of the winning experience, but in the interests of balanced reporting has to ask – which party was it that implemented most of this current  “mindless, bureaucratic red tape” during its term in Government?

Enough said.

Click here to nominate your experience,  or tell us about it in your response to this post and we’ll include it in our submission.

Inc magazine’s The Best Industries to Start a Business Right Now -lists 18 industries poised for growth.

herVoice is proud that so many ABN members have already identified those opportunities and are growing successful businesses in those areas.

Seeing what these entrepreneurial women have achieved with little or no government assistance at all, leads herVoice to wonder what Australia’s SME sector could be achieving now if the Rudd Government hadn’t wound up the previous Government’s Commercial Ready program.

Over its life, Commercial Ready gave billions of dollars of support to innovators and helped many Australians launch businesses that in turn provided employment to tens of thousands.  

The Govt’s replacement programs are tailored to assist only a few select industries and are focused more on addressing social policy imperatives than on supporting the growth of Australia’s SME sector.

A new resource for small business owners facing a life-
threatening illness

Developed by the Victorian Government, the Illness and Business Management Plan offers practical support to small business owners,  in the form of information sheets, checklists, contacts and case studies.

It helps business owners plan for the day-to-day running and long-term future of their businses, while they come to terms with the physical, emotional and financial impact of a serious illness.  

The plan guides business owners through questions such as how to inform staff, appointing Power of Attorney, deciding what to do with the business and accessing support from a range of organisations.  

Visit  http://www.business.vic.gov.au/illness  for more information.