News

The recession has well and truly hit Gordon Ramsay where it hurts – his pockets, as his restaurants in Britian have suffered a 90 percent drop in profits.

A local Australian small business has beat hundreds of competitors from all over the world, to win the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year award.

More than 100 workers from top-tier law firm Allens Arthur Robinson have chosen to take voluntary redundancies, in order to avoid being sacked from a firm-wide forced redundancy program.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry, Richard Marles, last night congratulated the winners of INNOVIC’S International Next Big Thing Awards.

Confidence among business and community leaders in regional areas is strong, according to HR Coach managing director Louise Broekman.

St. George Corporate and Business Bank research has revealed a growing number of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are taking steps to protect and strengthen their business against the challenges of the economic crisis.

The Fair Work Act which came into force 1 July, will have a deep impact on the franchising industry, says Mark Fernandez, WA state manager for leading consultancy, Franchise Alliance and franchisers will need to be aware of the implications for their business and their franchisees.

The retail industry has been in party mode this week, celebrating the demise of the Federal Government’s Grocery Choice website.

The services sector has expanded for the first time in 15 months, as a result of rising consumer confidence fuelled by the Federal Government’s stimulus payments.

3 Mobile has announced they will launch the new iPhone 3G S in Australia on Friday 17 July.

Delivering a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra last night, News Limited CEO John Hartigan said that print journalist will survive the digital age, but must adapt to remain relevant.

Scammers have found a new way to con money out of people – SMS. The latest round of attacks dubbed “smishing” and “SPASMS” con users into believing they have won $123,000 but must reply to the message with their email address for instructions on how to claim the money.

The Federal Government has announced a scheme to help unemployed Australians find work again, through a government-subsidised training program.

The World Bank has announced it donated a record $US58.8 billion ($A72.98 billion) in the 2009 fiscal year to help struggling countries cope with the global economic crisis.

With spam and phishing on the rise, small and medium businesses are becoming particularly vulnerable to attacks. Internet security is paramount, so Veritech Corporation, in collaboration with European developer Endian, has developed a Unified Threat Management system which allows small to medium sized businesses to balance internet security while cutting down on costs.

Australian SMEs are putting their hiring plans on hold as they focus on surviving the economic downturn, says recruitment and HR service provider Randstad.

eBay.com.au and ServiceSeeking.com.au have joined forces to give eBay’s more than 5 million monthly Australian visitors the opportunity to access a unique tendering platform that connects them to more than 11,000 businesses.

The Federal Government’s unit pricing Code of Conduct has now come into effect, and supermarkets have until 1 December 2009 to display unit pricing on food based grocery items.

The new financial year is upon us, and as a result the Australian Tax Office have said they will be keeping a watching eye on over-zealous taxpayer claims.

Well the Bruno movie is officially out in cinemas tomorrow, and Bruno himself, the gay Austrian fashion journalist (a creation of English comedian Sasha Baron Cohen) has been in town this week doing a bit of promotion for it. He made a particular funny appearance on Rove last Sunday night, pushing the boundaries of social decency (with hilarious results) using a lot of shock tactics to get laughs out of people. (Rove in a naked suit anyone?)