Business stories

The Biggies: You can bank on volunteer firefighters

This article first appeared in The Australian newspaper on Monday 18 January 2021. A high-powered job in a bank can be stressful, but last summer a day in the office...

GrainCorp plants the seeds of growth for our regions

With this year’s winter crop harvest just around the corner, GrainCorp will bring hundreds of jobs to southern NSW with their harvest recruitment program, now underway. Currently, with a primary...

Pioneering ‘deliver on demand’ shopping service launched at Stockland centres a first in the country

Stockland, one of the largest owners and operators of retail town centres in Central and Far North Queensland, has a longstanding commitment to supporting jobs, local businesses and the community...

Support for the most vulnerable in our community

Self-isolation and social distancing has meant separation from loved ones and support systems for many Australians but as Veronica Hunt from the Salvation Army explains, home isn’t always a safe...

Officeworks doesn’t stand stationery when helping its community

As we line up for a coffee at our local cafe or buy meat from our local butcher, we are becoming more accustomed to social distancing practices within our community....

Chevron digs deep for its most valuable resource

As the impacts of COVID-19 began to hit, Chevron Australia quickly developed a $1 million relief fund to support one of the tightknit communities at the heart of the work...

Jemena powers up digital learning for struggling families in Victoria

Home schooling has proved a struggle for many families during the COVID-19 pandemic but without Australian energy company Jemena’s donation of more than 100 recycled laptops, it would have been...

From UberEats to UberTreats for vulnerable pet owners

During a time when many are feeling isolated, our pets have never felt more connected as we spend more time at home. But as we are faced with a restriction...

Shifting the balance of power in Busselton

When resources and structures company ATCO decided to extend their natural gas pipeline and open a depot in Busselton, Western Australia, they were surprised by how quickly local businesses wanted...

More options for Busso bargain hunters

Twenty years ago, Busselton locals started a petition to lure retailer Kmart to their coastal city. As Busselton in Western Australia’s south-west grew and gained a reputation as a tourism...

Giving Busso students the tools to success

With up to 400 applications for entry level positions at Bunnings Busselton, 17 year old Chelsea Smith knew she needed an edge. By being part of Busselton Senior High School’s...

Moving to Sydney's west to tap into opportunities

Six or seven years ago Tania Day saw a strong business opportunity to move her and her husband’s landscaping business from the Eastern Suburbs to Western Sydney. While the Eastern...

Giving Gayle the chance to hear the birds sing

For Geelong resident Gayle Sydenham, the “amazing technology” of a cochlear implant has allowed her to hear her four grandchildren. Ms Sydenham says the opening of the Geelong Cochlear Care...

How the workers of the Darling Downs made the Coopers Gap wind farm a reality

It wasn’t just the strong and predictable wind that made Coopers Gap an ideal place for AGL and General Electric to build the Coopers Gap Wind Farm. The ready supply...

Small businesses thrive in Toowoomba

A massive project to build rigs for Shell’s QGC business is helping Toowoomba sustain a diverse economy and offsetting the impact of the drought on local businesses. Local company Easternwell...

Universities look to the future of Western Sydney

Western Sydney University academic Andy Marks is in a race to boost digital skills in Western Sydney so the region can take full advantage of the jobs on offer from...

Critical infrastructure connects Stahmann Farms to the world

Toowoomba nut producer Stahmann Farms doesn’t only use the recently-opened Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport to export produce to Asia. It also boosts business using the airport to bring in potential clients...

P-TECH helps students with workplace learning

More schools should adopt innovative new approaches to help young people prepare themselves for the ever-changing world of work, says Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott. Programs that...

Bendigo Bank and Runway help startups take the global stage

A cutting-edge partnership between Bendigo Bank and Runway Geelong is helping up-and-coming entrepreneurs who want to take their startups to the global stage. Bendigo Bank has set up a pop-up...

Local heroes take the centre stage

Companies creating white-collar jobs in Geelong are fast becoming part of the fabric of the local community, raising funds for community charities and fast-tracking the revitalisation of the city. Energy...

A Quickstep into creating more high-skilled local jobs

High-tech manufacturer and supplier of parts to the world’s biggest stealth fighter jet program, Quickstep, has plans to expand its Geelong technology facility, creating more high-skill local jobs. Australia’s biggest...

Farm Foods ramping up export operations in Geelong

Geelong food manufacturer Farm Foods is advancing plans to ramp up its export operations, creating new local jobs, to capitalise on the booming global consumer appetite for organic meat and...

Construction spree will build Territorian skills

A tourism and education construction spree worth hundreds of millions of dollars will help keep skills in Darwin as the Northern Territory wrestles with the post-Inpex boom era. The completion...

Humpty-can-Doo attitude creates a splash

When Humpty Doo Barramundi started 26 years ago, a band of volunteers did all of the work. Fast-forward to today and the family-owned business is Australia’s largest barramundi farm. The...

No man-goes it alone

When Coles named one of its miniature collectables after Marie Piccone, the supermarket giant was celebrating a mango producer whose innovation has breathed new life into an iconic brand of...

Woolies goes bananas for colourful bunch

When Frank Sciacca says he has a lot of workers to produce the most environmentally friendly bananas in the world, he’s not just talking about the 18 staff on his...

Tourists urged to trade Cannes for Cairns as region thrives

With one in five local jobs depending on tourism, Cairns has stepped up its pursuit of cashed-up luxury holiday-makers with new investments that highlight the confidence in the strength of...

Starr shines at Bunnings

Larry Starr signed up to a job at Bunnings Warehouse in his 50s but defies the usual stereotype of the older worker staffing the floor of the hardware giant. While...

Young Guns in a league of their own

Brothers Scott and Trent Young were aspiring to careers in the cut-throat world of professional rugby league when they realised there was a “bigger opportunity” before them. "Without this partnership...

Game of Thrones' special effects grown in Adelaide

Students from the University of South Australia have been a part of the biggest show on earth that concludes tonight – the Game of Thrones. Rising Sun Pictures partnered with UniSA...

Western Sydney Airport to open up new horizons for Bathurst and the Central West

Communities in NSW’s Central West should begin planning now to take advantage of the enormous opportunities landing on their doorstep when the new Western Sydney Airport takes off and reshapes...

Electricity costs cripple Bathurst businesses

WHEN winter descends on Bathurst in NSW’s chilly Central West, local store owners rug up in their woollies and hope they can survive not just the cold, but taking a...

Small farms help employ thousands of workers

ANDREW Smith and Jeff McSpedden own small farms just outside of Bathurst but between them they help employ more than 100,000 Australians. They grow vegetables for local food manufacturer Simplot,...

Adelaide-based company makes their mark in space race

ADELAIDE-based Inovor Technologies is an Australian company making their mark in the space race. Their satellites can track objects in space, deliver earth images direct to clients, track fires, floods...

Local tradies first

GLOBAL insurance broker Aon has asked their insurers to put local tradies first as Townsville rebuilds following its worst ever floods, which will make sure extra investment benefits flow right...

Housing development a springboard for jobs

THE Townsville small business that constructed the first stage of Lendlease’s Elliot Springs didn’t just lay the foundations for roads, pipes and power, they established their reputation as one of...

Western Sydney Airport will give business a tailwind

EMPLOYERS and workers across Western Sydney are set to get a tailwind from the Western Sydney Airport when it opens in 2026, with hundreds of thousands of jobs planned for...

Western Sydney cranes a towering success

THERE are few local companies that illustrate Western Sydney’s impressive growth better than Borger Cranes, expanding from four workers and one crane four decades ago to 70 cranes today, 300...

'The success of small businesses is dependent on the success of big business’

“It's the biggest growth of any market we have in our entire network. So, it's phenomenal what's been occurring.” Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce Business leaders from tourism,...

Tourists love Mona but Tasmanians are proud of it

Tourism has become more important to Tasmania’s economy than any other states or territories in Australia, helping it grow at its fastest rate in a decade. About one in five...

Purple patch delivers green shoots for farmers

TOKYO has more Michelin stars than any other city in the world. For their asparagus in summer – they look to a tiny island, more than 8,500 kilometres away. The...

Australia's island state supplying ships to the world

HOBART shipbuilder Incat has gone from building local boats four decades ago to now supplying the world’s best and fastest ferries to markets stretching from Trinidad to the Canary Islands,...

'Tasmania's brand awareness unsurpassed'

WHEN Liferaft Systems Australia first started manufacturing marine evacuation slides and liferafts 26 years ago they had about six employees and a single local customer. Almost three decades later and...

Open for business sign beckons boom-times for Busselton

When mining giant Rio Tinto decided more than a decade ago to anchor one of its fly-in, fly-out hubs in the Western Australian city of Busselton, it revitalised the coastal...

Embracing change to create new industries and hope

Back when the car manufacturing industry was in full flight in Australia, small to medium-sized Victorian business Australian Performance Vehicles had three customers: Ford, Holden and Toyota. As a tier-one...

Western Sydney is transforming

About 40 per cent of residents in Sydney’s west are forced to drive 90 minutes each way for work, said former Business Council president Tony Shepherd. It is this absence...

Gladstone turns the investment tap on for jobs, skills and training

Gladstone is a magnet for business activity; a perfect illustration of the benefits that flow into a community when it attracts investment. Grant King, the president of the Business Council...

Vision and planning sees Toowoomba flying high

Nowhere does the adage of “build it and they will come’’ resonate more than in the southern Queensland city of Toowoomba. The garden city’s $100 million Wellcamp Airport, built by...

Rising to the challenge of technological change with lifelong training and skills

As far as career changes go, Jodie Auster’s journey from emergency department doctor to leading the Australian arm of one of the world’s biggest disruptors has been remarkable. She began...

Sun shines on Port Augusta investment

About 1000 kilometres from Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station or about 16 hours’ drive from the heart of Sydney lies an oasis surrounded by parched earth. The large truss of vine...

Luring talent back to business

If Jane Holt wasn’t already slightly nervous about the challenges of re-entering the workforce after an extended career break, she had to contend with her hot water service going on...

Families embrace booming Busselton

Unlike most working dads, Kelly Smith can often be found volunteering in the primary school classrooms of his two children on his days off. “The teacher will say: ‘You can...

Cadetship sparks a passion for business

When Noor Aljabury stepped into the Perth offices of Programmed, a door opened to a world of opportunities she had never before imagined. Gaining invaluable hands-on experience during a paid...

Determination, grit and united family ties

It’s the essence of a migrant dream: the type of multicultural success story that contributes to the diverse fabric of Australia. When Gaetano Ripepi left Italy for Australia in 1959,...