Hello Members,

Engagement with the new Albanese Government has commenced in earnest, following the Federal election, highlighting to the new Ministry the ongoing support required for the Tourism sector.

Bassel Tallal our General Manager of Government Relations has been in Canberra cementing our relationships with both Government and the Opposition and key Independents, which is important to do with a change of government.

I have attended roundtables with Ministers and agencies such as Austrade on a range of matters affecting the accommodation sector and our Council will be engaging over the next six months to annunciate the industries position.

The issues raised on behalf of members have been collected by all our committees and National Council with the top issue still being labour and workforce. Other priorities include speed of visa processing for both workers and tourists, cost of insurance, the need for quality infrastructure for high yield visitors, housing affordability for our staff, particularly in regional areas where so much housing stock has been lost to short-term letting as opposed to long term residential among many things discussed. I have herd so many examples where our members can find someone but the shortage of housing stock means that they cannot commit to any long-term employment.

We congratulate the new government for specifically pledging $48M for the following:

• $10 million for marketing strategies to attract workers to Australia’s tourism industry
• $10 million over two years towards expanding ‘The AAoA Hub’ and supporting bespoke training and upskilling.
• $10 million to help tourism businesses get back into the international market. This funding will assist wholesalers and exporters to attract more international visitors to Australia, through a range of activities including expos, development, and marketing.
• $8 million for the Quality Tourism Framework to help small businesses.
• $10 million in grant funding to support upgrades to caravan parks.
• Ensuring tourism and accommodation providers can set their own price when guests contact them directly to book. (Price Parity)
• Including the Business Events Sector in international and national visitor data sets, while also committing to the continuation of the successful BidFund program

I am confident that as we move out of the COVID shadow, our industry will thrive despite the challenges we currently face, and I encourage you as our members to be active and let us know what is affecting your business

Kind Regards,

Richard Munro

RECRUITMENT & TRAINING

August saw the commencement of the Jobs Victoria Program, which saw 17 participants developed into new talent for the industry.  The new talent attended 5 days of training at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne developing entry level skills and knowledge to commence their careers. 

By Bassel Tallal, National General Manager for Advocacy and Public Policy

The Association has been remarkably successful in advocating for our members and industry in the last quarter. The Association is working hard everyday with government and industry to come up with solutions to the skills and workforce crises that our members are facing. Our recent win in Victoria of $5.6 million to train new talent to join our industry is underway in Victoria and we’re already seeing incredible results. This comes on top of our recent significant achievement with the new Federal Government to provide $10 million dollars to expand the ‘The Hub’.

The Association has also been busy meeting with the new federal government, key executive members of the Association flew to Canberra to sit down with new government members of Parliament to discuss the current issues facing our members.

We are also so pleased to have been invited by the Tourism Minister, Senator Don Farrell to participate in the Tourism Jobs Summit being held on the 30^th of August. The Summit will be an opportunity to speak about our ideas directly with the tourism minister, departmental officials, and other industry groups. The objectives of the summit is to generate new ideas for addressing workforce challenges in our industry and gather visitor economy perspective to feed into the Jobs and Skills Summit and Employment White Paper process.

The Accommodation Association has also submitted our ideas for consideration to the Federal Government as part of the Jobs and Skills summit. Our key proposals centre around increasing participation and skills of Australian workers by:

• Decreasing workforce casualisation by implementing the Hospitality Award flexible part time provision across all awards
• Increase the capacity of women to return to the workforce by ensuring affordable and available childcare
• Assist Australia to meet its 43% 2030 emissions target reduction by using the AHA NSW world first aggregated renewable energy PPA to brief other sectors
• Increase the mobility of workforce mobility of younger Australians by expanding “gap year” schemes
• Increase opportunities and income for mature aged Australians:
• Increase the level of employment income for the age pension
• Pilot new regional “place-based” approaches
• Initiate an awareness campaign amongst the mature aged highlighting the transportability of their “soft skills” to sectors such as hospitality and accommodation
• Fix the employment service provider model
• Implement workplace internships for the most disadvantaged
• Boost adult apprenticeships
• Implement a more incentivised apprentice scheme

And using migration to fill gaps where there are shortages of Australian workers by;

• Clear the backlog of visa applications
• Increase the cap on skilled migration
• Ensure Australia’s visa system is competitive against global competition
• In the short term, retain the current temporary pandemic initiatives
• Provide employment opportunities for refugees with low English language
• Decrease worker shortages in metro areas by expanding the PALM scheme

Regards,

Bassel Tallal

Employment Relations Update - Reminder

Confirmed Changes – Hospitality Industry (General) Award

Annualised Salary Arrangements

From the first full pay period that starts on or after 1 September 2022 changes to the annualised wage arrangements come into to affect. New outer limits will restrict the number of overtime or penalty rate hours that can be covered by an annualised wage arrangement.

When employees work hours in excess of the outer limits, in addition to receiving their annualised salary, employees will be entitled to be paid extra for the additional hours.

Award Wage Increases

Award wage rates will increase from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 October 2022.

Two-pronged increases will apply – For wage levels 3 and lower, the increase will be $40 per week (38 hours). For higher wage levels, an increase of 4.6% will apply.

Proposed Changes – National Employment Standards

The Federal Government has introduced a bill proposing an increase in paid family and domestic violence leave from 5 days to 10 days per year.

Enquiries from members about these changes are very welcome.

Phone 02 8666 9015 or [email protected]

Noel Teskey

"Don't be blindsided by old PPSR registrations

Most businesses will have various security interests registered on the PPSR against their operating entities by secured parties such as financiers, stock suppliers, equipment suppliers, etc. The PPSR is a register to let people know if personal property or company assets have security interests against them. 

Financiers will register security interests as part of the security for any collateral under financing arrangements. Stock suppliers will often register security interests to protect their rights under the retention of title arrangements until the stock has been paid for in full. Businesses that lease out equipment or provide equipment at no cost (e.g., a coffee supplier providing a coffee machine at no charge, as long as the business purchases their coffee beans) will also register a security interest.

When the arrangement no longer applies, these registrations are not automatically removed from the PPSR. The secured party needs to register a release, and if they don't, then the interest will remain in place. Often these are forgotten about at the end of an agreement, and only come to attention when a company is selling its assets or re-financing. Whilst most secured parties are fairly prompt to release interests that are no longer current, some can be slow, and other issues can arise if the secured party has changed its name or is no longer in business.

As a matter of good housekeeping, business owners should regularly search the PPSR to check for registrations against their companies. 

Our banking and finance team recently had a matter where a settlement was put at risk because a company had an old interest registered in favour of a financier that had been de-registered for some time – see our article about this.

Upcoming Events

In spirit of the Accommodation Association and AHA / TAA amalgamation, the decision has been made to co-host events in 2022. We invite our members to attend the following:

• HICAP ANZ 2022 – 31 August – 02 September 2022
• Association Leaders Symposium -05 September 2022
• NoVacancy Expo - 07-08 September 2022

Date Savers:

• Big4 National Conference 06-08 September 2022
• ACT Hospitality & Tourism Awards – 19 September 2022
• SA Awards for Excellence – 18 October 2022
• AHA National Awards for Excellence – 28 November 2022

Other events to include Hotel Market Update’s in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne.

If you are interested in hosting one of our events or would like to suggest topics or speakers, please contact us via email to [email protected]

Hostplus Balanced (MySuper) Option Delivers Positive Returns to Members in Volatile Year

Hostplus was pleased to deliver a positive 1.57% return to members in our Balanced (MySuper) option for the 2021/2022 financial year. This great result occurred in a year where the industry median return for balanced options was negative.¹ According to SuperRatings, Hostplus Balanced ranked as the #1 top-performing option over 1, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 years to 30 June 2022.¹

Read Full Article Here

¹Source: SuperRatings Accumulation Fund Crediting Rate Survey - SR 50 Balanced (60-76) Index, June 2022

This information is general advice only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if this information is appropriate for you in light of your circumstances before acting on it. Please read the relevant Hostplus Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), available at hostplus.com.au before making a decision about Hostplus. For a description of the target market, please read the Target Market Determination (TMD), available at hostplus.com.au.​​​​​​ Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Issued by Host-Plus Pty Limited ABN 79 008 634 704, AFSL 244392 as trustee for the Hostplus Superannuation Fund (the Fund) ABN 68 657 495 890, MySuper No 68 657 495 890 198.

The Top Three Hospitality Industry Challenges Hoteliers Must Resolve to Fully Optimize Business Performance & Reputations

For hospitality-based businesses, the industry has seemingly been hit by one crisis or challenge after another in recent years vying for the increasingly stretched attentions of hoteliers. From attempting to navigate the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic to addressing rising guest expectations over what counts as a satisfying stay experience, hoteliers have more than enough issues requiring a need to revise business strategies and operational procedures.

Read the full article here.

After surviving two of the most difficult and volatile years in trading history, businesses are now facing a raft of new financial challenges - including a massive increase to energy bills



Learn more about ways businesses can combat rising energy prices.

If you have nothing planned for Housekeeping Week, we’ve got you covered. From running your own Housekeeeping Olympics to one-off team building activities to unite your housekeepers, read our Top 8 Activities for Housekeeping Week.