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.