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WA employment growth continues to lead nation
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) latest release of jobs data shows WA’s monthly employment grew by 1.8 per cent or 28,000 people in May, leading the nation. Over a 12-month period, total employment remained strong, growing by 75,000 additional jobs and reaching a record 1.62 million for the first time. WA’s unemployment rate also fell...
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Prisoners enlisted to guide puppies in special training program
The Corrective Services have partnered with Guide Dogs WA (GDWA) to deliver a special training program to raise and train assistance dogs for people living with low or no vision, a disability or illness. Minimum security prisoners at Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women will be given instruction from trainers at GDWA and use the skills...
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Women and girls falling behind on financial literacy skills
SBS News reports a lack of knowledge in financial literacy leads to poorer economic outcomes in life with this lack of knowledge affecting more females than males disproportionately. The findings are based on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — which measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their maths, science, and reading skills and...
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Mutual banks announce intention to merge
P & N Bank and Beyond Bank have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) intending to merge. The customer-based banks collectively have 450,000 members and if the merger goes through, the new entity will create one of Australia’s largest customer-owned banks. Key components of the merger include the merged entity servicing a vast metropolitan and...
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Financial planning: associate to provisional adviser
The financial advice industry has faced many challenges in recent years due to the Corporations Amendment (Professional Standards of Financial Advisers) Act 2017 commencing and introducing reforms to the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), to raise the education, training and ethical standards of financial advisers. Although the industry faced teething problems in the beginning with...
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Cyber-hacked Medibank sued by privacy regulator
Health insurer Medibank is facing a possible maximum fine in the trillions of dollars as a result of a 2022 data breach. The Australian Information Commissioner filed proceedings against the insurer for failing to protect its customers’ data with the action welcomed by cyber security experts and former customers. The Office of the Information Commissioner...
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4-day work week in review
As reported in HR Leader, a hot topic in 2023 was a 4-day work week which many companies chose to trial. ESS Shipping introduced the 4-day week to eligible staff and followed the 100-80-100 model, effectively implementing a strategy in which workers receive 100 per cent of pay, for 80 per cent time at work...
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Funding for female-led and regional innovation programs
The WA Government has awarded $547,300 to six WA innovators, as part of the latest round of the X-TEND WA grants. X-TEND WA is a program within the New Industries Fund, that supports new and emerging innovative businesses across WA. Recipients in this round include organisations delivering five regionally based programs and a female-led company...
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Five generations in the workplace: Managing perceptions and challenges
A recent People at Work study by ADP has revealed that there are for the first time, five different generations in the workforce driving innovation and success at the workplace. The different characteristics of each generation are forcing HR leaders to examine and understand the differences between the generations while making use of their commonalities to ensure organisations...
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New procurement reforms to deliver better outcomes
The WA government, through its Safe and Fair Reform Package, aims to reform procurement processes for non-residential government building projects thus promoting a more sustainable building and construction industry in WA. The reform package follows recommendations from stakeholders in the building and construction industry and aims to support industry navigate a challenging environment with labour...
