Companies to increase hiring

A new survey from Manpower Employment indicates that 35 per cent of Northern Territory companies expect to increase hiring. Only 11 per cent plan a decrease in the number of staff taken on.

As a large proportion of the Territory workforce is transient, so employers are consistently looking to take on new  workers, says the employment company.

One of the biggest concerns facing Northern Territory employers at present is retention, it claims.

The large oil and gas projects starting up in the Territory over the next few months should help to prevent an exodus of skilled trade workers. The projects will require thousands of workers in the construction phase alone .

Unemployment in the  Northern Territory rose slightly last month, but is still only a little above 3 per cent - a level that experts consider to be, in effect, full employment.

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin, The Northern Territory, Australia
http://www.woodwards.co/

Watch out for tax scammers

A word of warning that is worth passing on. Phone and e-mail scammers claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office are offering a "A$7000 grant" in return for a A$200 payment.

During the busy tax season, scammers will try to catch people off guard using phone calls, letters, text messages, emails, bogus websites and even false job advertisements to trick people into providing their personal details and pay money.

The crooks operating the scam claim to be from the ATO or Taxation Department.They even try to appear more legitimate by providing people with a case number and a telephone number to call back on, warns the ATO

Anyone receiving these types of calls should treat them with utmost caution and not provide any personal details or money. The ATO will never ask you to pay money to receive your refund.

Reported scam attempts are investigated by the ATO and other government agencies as appropriate, including the Australian Federal Police.

The ATO has warned taxpayers also to steer clear of tax avoidance schemes as they prepare to lodge their 2011 tax returns. If you're considering entering into an arrangement that will affect your tax liabilities -- including shares, real estate or other financial products -- it's important to carefully investigate and understand the tax consequences before making your investment decision.

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin; The Northern Territory, Australia
http://www.woodwards.co/

New minimum rates of pay in July

Increases to minimum rates of pay have been introduced by Fair Work Australia, the regulatory body responsible for managing the National Minimum Wage.

Minimum weekly wages as contained in modern awards are increased by 3.4 per cent. Hourly rates of pay will be adjusted to reflect the percentage increase to weekly rates.

The increases flow on at the appropriate percentage to junior employees, employees to whom training arrangements apply, employees with disabilities and basic piece rates of pay.

The increases will apply from the first pay period commencing on or after July 1, 2011, as opposed to a singular effective date.

In effect, the national minimum wage order will be A$589.30 per week or A$15.51 per hour;

The Fair Work Australia announcement applies to all employers in the Northern Territory

Meanwhile, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has produced a fascinating document containing  the results of a survey on how employers dealt with the A$26-a-week minimum wage increase granted by Fair Work Australia in last year's review.

The national survey, which was conducted online, involved 923 small to medium Australian businesses, most of them employing fewer than a hundred staff. It shows that after last year’s rise:

65.9 per cent of employers reported decreased profitability;

54.6 per cent reported a reduction in cash flow;

39.1 per cent reported that they had reduced the total number of working hours offered to employees; and

24.2 per cent reported that they had cut the number of casual employees, while 18.6 per cent had cut back on full-time employees.

A key finding was that 44.9 per cent of employers reported a direct impact on new hiring intentions.

And 42.7 per cent of businesses owners said they were working more hours

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin; The Northern Territory, Australia
http://www.woodwards.co/

The Northern Territory defies job trends

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A private survey by the ANZ bank group shows the number of jobs being advertised fell sharply in May across most of Australia, but the Northern Territory has bucked the trend.

The ANZ job advertisement series measures the number of jobs advertised in the major daily newspapers and Internet sites covering the capital cities each month.

It has historically proved to be a very good indicator of future labour market conditions and thus, is extensively relied upon for forecasting employment growth.

The survey shows the number of job advertisements in newspapers and online in May posted their largest monthly fall in almost three years, dragged down by non-mining states.

The ANZ Job Advertisements Series shows the number of jobs on offer contracted by 6.5 per cent in the month.

The number of roles listed on the internet fell 6.7 per cent, with a smaller fall in newspaper ads.

But while New South Wales and Victoria saw some sizeable falls in newspaper job ads over the last month, they grew in the Northen Territory, as well as South Australia and the ACT.

The ANZ says it expects official employment data this week to show 14,000 jobs were added to the national workforce in May.

It is forecasting the unemployment rate could go as low as 4.7 per cent in the next few months.

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin; The Northern Territory, Australia

A major tourism event for Darwin

Three hundred qualified Aussie Specialists converge on Darwin this week to take part in Corroboree 2011, a trade event organised by Tourism Australia and Tourism NT to train international travel agents who are dedicated to selling holidays in Australia.

It is the largest  travel trade event ever to have been staged in the Territory. The NT government has invested A$274,000 in Corroboree 2011 with Tourism Australia putting in A$568,000.

This important travel gathering takes place from June 2 to 5.

The participants will be coming from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland; the UK and South Africa, and while in Darwin they will be taking part in a series of training worshops – one of the best opportunities the Territory has to promote itself as a vibrant, exciting destination to a key industry audience.

Each of the agents has undergone a lengthy training programme, devised by Tourism Australia and State and Territory tourism organisations, to give them expertise in promoting Australia to their local markets.

Apart from the Darwin workshops, agents will also experience other regions of the Territory while in the Top End, with visits Litchfield, Kakadu and Nitmiluk national parks.

Other activities will include an Aboriginal welcoming ceremory at Cullen Bay and the chance to get to know the locals at the Mindil Beach Markets - where agents will be issued with ‘Mindil Beach Money’ to spend. 

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin; The Northern Territory, Australia
http://www.woodwards.co/

Why not an Australian to head the IMF?

It's a pity that the top IMF job seems such a closed shop. As Australia has one of the  wrorld’s most successful economies, and with one of the safest banking systems, I would have thought our most successful former Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, was an excellent choice for the job.

Costello has years more experience than the front-running French candidate and would, in my opinion, give the IMF a fresh new face from outside Europe.

For those who may not know Costello’s background, he is a 54-year old Melbourne-born lawyer and former member of the Australian House of Representatives. He served as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1994 to 2007, and was Federal Treasurer of Australia from 1996 to 2007, making him the longest serving treasurer in Australian history.

In 2008, Costello was appointed to the World Bank’s new Independent Advisory Board (IAB), set up to provide advice on anti-corruption measures.

He resigned from parliament in late 2009 .

Costello is a director of the Australian Government Future Fund’s Board of Guardians,  a role he commenced shortly after leaving parliament.  He is also a managing partner of BKK Partners, a corporate advisory firm run by former Goldman Sachs JBWere managers.

Surely such a track record makes him a serious contender.

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin; The Northern Territory, Australia
http://www.woodwards.co/

Darwin property market takes a dip

The latest statistics show that house prices in Darwin and Palmerston fell in the first three months of this year.

A total of 199 houses were sold in the period for a median price of A$550,00, a decreasel of 1.7 per cent on the previous quarter and a drop of 0.5 per cent over the year.

The only other drops in the median houses prices during the ten years were in June and September 2000, June 2003 and December 2006.

The number of houses sold in the first three months this year was down 15.7 per cent on the previous quarter and 26 per cent on the same time last year.

There was a 24.7 per cent drop in the number of sales for the first quarter in Palmerston with 73 sold at a median price of A$465,000, representing an 8.8 per cent drop.

The prospect of further interest rate rises over the next 12 months will not help

Prepared by Bob Woodward & Associates: offering you business consultancy, accounting, payroll administration and ancillary services in Darwin; The Northern Territory, Australia