Author: Geoff Ebbs

One Westender reader will win a free ticket to see star cricket coach John Buchanan at the Yeronga RSL tomorrow morning! (more…)

Urging us to open our minds and listen to the facts, a collection of high profile environmentalists marshaled by film-maker Robert Stone are (more…)

Sunnybank was the site of Brisbane’s Moon Festival last weekend, with stunning lantern displays, traditional dancing and music. (more…)

To Divest or Not to Divest? What can fossil fuel divestment offer our climate, communities and economy?

Everyone’s talking about it. From Obama and Desmond Tutu to the IEA and Lord Stern. (more…)

West End businesses have significant levels of support when it comes to interfacing with government.

The West End Traders Association is a group of local businesses, mostly retailers in the strip shopping centres of 4101, banding together to support, organise and benefit from local activities. They meet at the Croquet Club in Musgrave Park on the 1st Thursday of the month. Westender is a long term member of the association. Founding editor, Kerrod Trott is a past president of the association,

Business South Bank has the tag line, well connected and lives up to its name, catering for the engineering firms, big hotels and glamourous businesses of South Bank. It provides a range of opportunities to network, lobby and promote the precinct between the river and the rail line to the rest of Brisbane.

There are three classes of membership starting with Bronze membership for businesses who rent their premises and have less than ten employees. Fees are available on application.

South West Chamber of Commerce services businesses between the River and the SE Motorway as far south as Acacia Ridge. Focused on small to medium enterprise (SME) it has sister relationships with international chambers such as the Philipine Australia Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Australia Business Associations; as well as local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland and West End Traders Association.

Annual fees start at $165 per annum for a business membership. Westender is a season sponsor of the Chamber and regularly covers the Chamber’s business breakfasts.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland offers considerable depth of resources including advice on Industrial Relations, Occupational Health and Safety and other regulatory and compliance issues. Their motto is powering business potential and they hold regular city-based training and seminars.

Entry fees depend on the number of employees and start at $360 a year for companies with less than four employees.

The Brisbane City Council offers a range of services to small business, including the Lord Mayor’s Business Forums and the Digital Brisbane hub to help business in Brisbane take advantage of online services. Lord Mayor Quirk has outlined a range of services provided by the Council for business, but there is not a single point of entry into council for business services. The various Chambers of Commerce offer a valuable service in providing this interface.

The Queensland Government operates a portal business.qld.gov.au which provides a neat interface to its range of services for business. One of the services available here is an Australian Business Account which provides a one stop local, state and federal government advisory service for business. This is a real boon for business and well worth the rather small amount of effort required to get on board.

Clive Palmer ran his election campaign on a Mister Nice Guy platform that failed to mention one of the biggest environmental battles of our time, the coal miners versus the farmers and environmentalists in the Galilee Basin.

Palmer’s vast China First coalmine was given clearance to go ahead by the Newman government during the election campaign. Now the federal environment minister has the right to sign off on the project.

It is only one of a number of coal mines in the Galilee Basin, however.

Gina Rinehart’s Alpha Coal is in court this week to argue against Coast and Country Association of Queensland’s objections that the impact on water has not been properly assessed.

Local farmers and community group Coast and Country Association of Queensland claim that the evidence for impact on water has been swept under the carpet and only  the “best case scenarios” presented as likely outcomes of the mine impact. The objections will be presented to the court by a Melbourne-based QC, who has given his time for free (no Queensland barrister was prepared to put their neck on the line opposing coal mining companies).

You have the chance to get involved in this court action along with hundreds of other opponents of the expansion of coal mines at the expense of farm land and water this Wednesday,

When: Meet 9AM sharp, Wednesday the 18th September. Stay longer to hear landholders giving evidence in the court room from 10AM.
Where:  Meet Outside the Land Court of Queensland, 363 George St, Brisbane CBD
What: A respectful but playful act of solidarity with the landholders and other objectors to the Alpha mine to help attract media attention and show landholders our support.
Dress smart. Whether you’ll be attending the court hearing afterwards or not.

Who: Lock the Gate Alliance is coordinating the event with support from a number of groups. Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/235457349938248/

You can hear local environmentalist, Jo Bragg on the ABC Radio discussing the challenge at http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2013/09/cost-of-appealing-planning-decisions.html

Many Westenders are actively involved in the case, or in groups that have been mounting long term opposition to the ripping up of the Bimblebox Nature Reserve to build the world’s biggest coal mine, but the action comes right to the middle of Boundary St this Sunday with a fundraiser at Lock ‘n Load.

When: 4.30pm, Sunday 22 September 2013
Where: Upstairs at Lock n Load, 142 Boundary St, West End
Cost: $10, including a free drink
RSVP: via the facebook event here:https://www.facebook.com/events/163939023803661/?fref=ts or email bimbleboxactionbrisbane@gmail.com