Today, the South Australian Business Chamber, South Australia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will commence its campaign to hear from businesses operating within South Australia’s regions.
In launching the Regional Voice Survey, the South Australian Business Chamber aims to gain insights into the challenges faced by businesses outside greater metropolitan Adelaide.
The last comprehensive study of regional businesses was conducted in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the black summer bushfires. Many regional businesses experienced unique challenges at that time — from lockdowns to benefiting from South Australians enjoying ‘staycations’ during state border closures.
The South Australian Business Chamber Chief Executive Andrew Kay says, “The insights from our Regional Voice Survey will help us craft a comprehensive plan to advocate for improved business conditions across the state and allocate our resources to better serve the regional business community.”
The 2020 Regional Voice Survey identified challenges such as COVID-19 restrictions, limited access to community infrastructure and telecommunications, labour costs, lack of population growth, and red tape in council development applications.
“We expect many of these issues will remain, however we may see improvements in communications due to Elon Musk’s Starlink service. Thankfully, formal COVID-19 restrictions are a thing of the past,” Mr Kay added.
“We are very interested in understanding the day-to-day challenges faced by individual businesses. Identifying patterns of need will enable us to provide effective support and advocacy to address the issues.”
Key themes in the upcoming survey include skills and labour issues; population growth; WHS; mental health and wellbeing; taxes and insurance; and the impact of state government policy and regulation.
The South Australian Business Chamber Regional Voice Survey is officially launched today and can be accessed at business-sa.com/regionalvoice.
MEDIA CONTACT
Anthony Caldwell, Manager – Marketing, Media, Communications
Phone – 0421 508 075
Email – anthony.caldwell@business-sa.com
