CONNECTING A UNITED PASSION TO GROW THE LOCAL BLACKTOWN ECONOMY

Well, it's official, we have entered the Christmas party season! Invitations to work Christmas parties, social gatherings and family affairs are well and truly filling up the diary. These functions can make it really difficult if you’re trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Christmas parties are a great way to unwind after a busy year and celebrate your business successes, but they are too often bulging with food high in fat, sugar and salt, and alcoholic drinks. It wouldn’t be too bad if we indulged in just one party, but the reality is we often attend several Christmas functions – our own workplace, our partner’s workplace, clients, family and friends, the list goes on.

Here are a few tips to consider to avoid the Christmas kilo creep:

• Don’t go to the party hungry. If you arrive starving, you’ll be likely to fill up on the high fat, high salt appetizers like chips, cheese, dips and spring rolls. Try a healthy snack before heading to your party, you’ll find lots of ideas here
• On that note, if you find yourself without willpower in the presence of a good cheese platter position yourself away from it. By engaging in conversation on the other side of the room or even just keeping out of reach you’ll be far less likely to over indulge.
• Limit your alcohol intake. Try having a non-alcoholic drink in between alcoholic drinks, for example soda water with fresh lime, diet soft drink or water with lemon. And avoid entering ‘rounds’ or ‘shouts’, you could end up drinking a lot more than you plan to.
• If your Christmas party is ‘bring a plate’, make sure you prepare something healthy. That way you can be certain there is at least one dish you can fill up on. If you need some ideas check out these healthy recipes 
• Resist the pre-dinner garlic bread or bread roll. Filling up on bread and butter before your dinner arrives adds a substantial amount of kilo-joules. Remember your meal is probably already higher in kilo-joules than you would normally eat due to the portion size, cooking methods, oil and sauces used in commercial cooking – not to mention dessert!
• Speaking of dessert, share if you can! Most of the time we eat dessert for the taste of something sweet, not because we are hungry, so halve the kilo-joules by sharing.

The average Australian spends a third of their life at work – that’s potentially a lot of time slouched at a desk and a few too many 3 o’clock sugary energy hits. As chronic disease rates sky rocket in Australia it’s time we think seriously about how workplaces could help reduce diabetes, heart disease, obesity and some cancers, by promoting healthy lifestyles. There are many low cost and low effort solutions workplaces can implement to keep employees healthy.

1. Make friends in high places

Making changes to workplace environments and culture needs executive support. Speak to management about the benefits of being a healthy workplace – improved staff morale, increased staff retention, improved productivity and reduced sick leave. To help build your business case and calculate the ROI for your business check out this workplace health savings calculator http://www.gethealthyatwork.com.au/en/BusinessRegistration/Workplace-health-savings-calculator.aspx

2. Be targeted

Any change you make will be most effective if it addresses a need. The same can be said for being a successful business, you have to have a target and meet their needs. Look at your workforce, what are their needs? Are they inactive? Eating poorly? Smokers? Stressed?

3. Start with a simple nudge

Creating a healthy workplace isn’t about removing all the ‘bad’ things, it is about providing more opportunities for the ‘good’ things and a little nudge for people to make healthier decisions. A few simple things you could try are – moving printers and copiers further away from desks, provide healthy food at staff BBQs, introduce standing or walking meetings, or introduce a few healthy snacks in the vending machine.

4. Walk the talk

Once you’ve started with a few simple changes it’s time to be serious – what can your workplace do to help people make big lifestyle changes? Consider things like purchasing standing work stations, providing a lunchroom fruit bowl, or providing facilities to support people to ride push bikes to work and even out to work related meetings. Don’t forget just because it’s there doesn’t mean it will be used, you’ll need to promote these new initiatives to staff and encourage uptake, behaviour change takes time and education.

5. Get support

Sign up for Get Healthy @ Work – this is a completely free government funded workplace health program. Get Healthy @ Work gives businesses the opportunity to work with an accredited workplace health provider who can provide 15 minute health checks to employees and develop a simple action plan to address healthy eating, physical activity, healthy weight, active travel, smoking or harmful alcohol consumption. Sign up today at www.gethealthyatwork.com.au

As part of the 2015 Sister Cities Australia National Conference being hosted by Blacktown Council, interested companies and individuals are invited to attend a FREE, ‘Doing Business in Asia’ workshop. 

Hear from leading industry and government experts about the latest trends, issues and opportunities relating to Australia’s largest, 2nd and 4th largest trading partners. 

Learn about:

- The current state of the Asian economies including key trends, growth industries and government policies in the key markets of China, Korea and Japan

- Trade and investment relationship between Australia and Asia

- Implications of recently-signed Free Trade Agreements

- Approaches to marketing, promotion and distribution

- Import and regulatory requirements

- Potential opportunities and risks for Australian exporters and investors

- Insights into Asian business cultures

- Government assistance available.

To read more click here

Steer your business to safety and prosperity with the Protect and Grow special event series.

Proudly sponsored by Telstra Business Centres West Sydney, Davies Collison Cave and KPMG.

With high calibre presenters this special event series has been designed to educate and entertain our audience.

You will take away exclusive insights and techniques to grow your enterprise and protect its value. 

Facilitator, Dr Jim Taggart is a respected business leader and Deputy Chairman of Regional Development Australia. Jim will bring his unique brand of business insights about networking and social capital.

Each event is held over 4 hours from 8.30am to 12.30 pm with optional lunch and networking afterwards.

Morning tea and lunch is provided.

Attendees receive a comprehensive work book.

This article is to update you on recent progress towards an airport for Western Sydney and provide information on the unique opportunities an airport offers.

A new airport has the potential to boost Western Sydney’s economy and liveability, providing a growing region with the world-class transport and employment infrastructure it deserves.

Please don’t hesitate to circulate this information within your organisation or to your members who may be interested in learning more about the proposed airport. Please email WSU@infrastructure.gov.au to add others to the distribution list.

Yours sincerely,

Western Sydney Unit

Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development   

tel: 1800 038 160 e: wsu@infrastructure.gov.au w: westernsydneyairport.gov.au

Latest progress      

Badgerys Creek officially declared an airport site

On Wednesday 26 August, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss visited the site with Federal Member for Macarthur Russell Matheson to mark the declaration of the site.

The declaration paves the way for key planning steps to be taken, including the determination of an airport plan for the airport, once the environmental assessment process concludes. It will also enable airspace around the site to be protected.

For up to date information about how the airport is tracking please click on the links below: 

·        Winter community update

·        Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan report card

·        Next steps in identifying a developer and operator for the airport

·         Airports Act 1996 amendments

So what next?

A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) is being developed and is expected to be released later in 2015.

The Australian Government is getting on with the job of planning for an airport for Western Sydney. The EIS is a key step in progress towards an airport for Western Sydney.

Community and business groups will have the opportunity to comment on the draft EIS, which will consider the environmental, social and economic aspects of developing and operating the proposed airport, when it is released. This will be taken into account before the EIS is finalised.

Better connections for a global city

A Western Sydney airport will help support economic growth and investment opportunities in the Western Sydney and broader NSW economies by providing Sydney with a 24-hour airport.

Curfew-free operation would better align Western Sydney businesses with key global trading partnersand sources of tourists visiting Australia, offering the region’s economy a competitive edge.

Melbourne Airport accommodates an extra two million passengers a year thanks to its curfew-free status, adding around $590 million annually to the Victorian economy through visitor spending. Brisbane Airport also operates without a curfew.

A Western Sydney airport would be a full-service airport, catering for all types of domestic and international passenger and freight aircraft. In its initial phase, starting in the mid-2020s, the Western Sydney airport will have a single runway of approximately 3.7 kilometres in length. This will accommodate all modern aircraft up to and including the Airbus A380.

The Australian Government is planning an airport for Western Sydney that will grow over time to meet increasing demand. By around 2050, an airport could require a second, parallel runway. 

An airport for the 21st century

As the first greenfield airport development of its scale in Australia for decades, a Western Sydney airport will be designed to take account of how we will travel in the future. Whereas existing airports are frequently retrofitted to incorporate new technologies and meet changing user expectations, a new airport could harness design innovations to improve the speed, efficiency and ease of use of terminals for passengers and airlines alike.

Transport for NSW is working with the Australian Government to identify a suitable passenger rail corridor for preservation in south west Sydney to serve a Western Sydney airport, the extended Western Sydney Employment Area and the South West Growth Centre. The Australian Government is future proofing for rail by planning for a rail corridor and station at the airport site.

At present, only Australia’s largest (Sydney Kingsford Smith) and third-largest (Brisbane) airports have dedicated rail links.

The Australian Government is taking a roads first approach to the proposed airport, with work already underway on projects under the $3.6 billion Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan. 

More information is available from Transport for NSW at http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects-swrl-extension-corridor-preservation. 

Find out more

This is the second GOAL 4 SPECIAL OLYMPICS AUSTRALIA Event after 16 Corporate teams took part in the Mini-World Cup format in the first one in July at Hensley Athletic Field. The event will raise much needed funds and awareness for Special Olympics Australia, to support Australians with an intellectual disability to participate in weekly sports programs. Click Here

With high calibre presenters this special event series has been designed to educate and entertain our audience. You will take away exclusive insights and techniques to grow your enterprise and protect its value. Facilitator, Dr Jim Taggart is a respected business leader and Deputy Chairman of Regional Development Australia. Jim will bring his unique brand of business insights about networking and social capital. For more information  Click here

The World Chambers Federation Congress is coming to Sydney in September 2017.  Uniting more than 12,000 Chambers, the Congress is the must-attend event for business networking..

To read more about the Congress, click here

Click Here for more information or to find out how to register.