Skills shortage top of mind for new head of Canberra Business Chamber

New Canberra Business Chamber CEO Greg Harford has swapped one capital for another without missing a beat.

The former head of New Zealand’s peak retail body in Wellington also had several stints working in government, which makes him a good choice for advocating for business in a city where government is its reason for being.

But he wants to shift the persistent view from outside Canberra that politics and the public service is the only game in town.

“There’s a lot going on in the business world that’s not apparent to many people from outside and I think Canberra has a bit of a bit of a reputation around Australia as being the place where politicians go, but what’s not clear to many people is the depth of private sector activity here,” he said.

“I think that’s a really interesting thing about the city. That’s a story I’m keen to be telling.”

Expect the rest of Australia and the world to hear more about Canberra’s business success stories and a push for the government to raise the national capital’s profile even more.

That’s not simply promotion for its own sake from Mr Harford’s point of view, because he identifies attracting skills and talent to Canberra as a major challenge in growing the economy.

“We seem to be woefully short of the people that business needs to develop, thrive and grow,” he said. “And ultimately, we need governments, both governments, to come to the party in terms of supporting the marketing of Canberra as a destination for people searching for work, but also making it easier from an immigration point of view.”

Mr Harford said Canberra needed to find a way to retain its skilled workers, particularly those coming out of the universities, but also to make the city more known to people interstate and overseas.

“Canberra doesn’t necessarily have a high profile, particularly in international markets and if you were offshore thinking about moving to Australia, you might not understand the opportunity that’s available,” he said.

To fulfil the promise that business in Canberra clearly shows, it does need to work with and be supported by governments, Mr Harford says.

He said there was a lot of concern about red tape, compliance and the cost of doing business here, as well as for government agencies to speed up their payment of invoices.

Businesses would also like better infrastructure and greater access to government contracts.

“I am hearing stories about businesses that they can’t access government procurement or aren’t being taken seriously by government agencies as they seek to become involved in business for government work,” he said.

“Part of that is around upskilling business to be better able to respond to government tenders. Some of that is around the need for for governments both federal and territory to really to take local businesses seriously.”

These are all issues that the ACT’s recently announced Small Business Strategy endeavours to cover and Mr Hartford is keen to sit down with Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Business and Better Regulation Minister Tara Cheyne to work further together on them.

Mr Harford believes the government could better understand the challenges of doing business, and that means a cultural change within the public service to be aware that decisions need to be made within a holistic framework.

“We really need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to free up business to be able to get on to do its work, because ultimately that drives economic prosperity for the territory,” he said.

The Chamber will continue to push for the long-called-for new convention centre, which the government hopes to combine with an entertainment pavilion on land near City Hill.

It is one of a number of projects it hopes will attract Commonwealth funding under the recently announced National Capital Investment Framework.

Mr Harford said there were a lot of major conferences that can’t come to Canberra at the moment and it would provide the infrastructure required to host significant events.

“I think everyone should be working together to try and secure some federal support, not just for the convention centre but other infrastructure projects that are lacking as well,” he said.

Mr Harford will also be working to broaden the Chamber’s coverage across the business community so it can be as strong a voice as possible.

“I think most parts of the economy are represented in our membership but I’m definitely keen to open the door for people who perhaps haven’t been involved in the Chamber to date to come along and get to know us,” he said.

“We do a whole lot of really interesting things in the business networking space and workplace relations support space, and of course in the advocacy space, and we really need everyone in the Canberra business community to be getting in behind us to make sure that we’re lobbying in the best interest of businesses here in Canberra.”