I’m delighted to report that from a standing start less than six months ago, the Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN) is already achieving political recognition as the peak body for Australian women in small business.
I recently met with Steven Ciobo MP; Shadow Minister for Small Business, the Service Economy and Tourism, to discuss a raft of business-related issues identified by our community of 20,000 entrepreneurial women.
In addition, Advisory Board member Susan McGrath will shortly be meeting with Senator Chris Ellison, Shadow Minister for Immigration to discuss the lengthy delays in processing employer-sponsored and skilled migration visas, which are defeating the purpose of the programs – that of supporting Australian business by alleviating skills shortages.
In April, the ABN was approached directly by the Australian Government’s Office for Women to obtain members’ views on the trade experience of women in small business; and we have been invited by the Productivity Commission to provide comment on its Inquiry Into Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave.
This month, we wrote to all sitting Federal Parliamentarians, introducing the ABN and providing an overview of our members’ concerns; and as the year progresses, Susan and I will be setting up a series of face-to-face meetings with Ministers and their advisors to pass on our members’ concerns and lobby for action on them.
On that note, I’d like to take this opportunity to invite all our members to contact us with any issues that you would like us to include in our lobbying program – the more input we get, the more effective and relevant herVoice will be.
