What better way to say I love you Mum with a beautiful piece of Australian Furniture? Australian made furniture will last and last, doesn’t your Mother deserve a gift like that? Our web site has a list of the Australian Furniture Association Members, to help...
The Australasian Furnishing Association (AFA) is continuing to push for stronger legislation since the announcement of IKEA’s alert re toppling furniture and subsequent child deaths. This issue is not exclusive to the IKEA incident, and the AFA is aware of a number of...
Each Australian State and Territory has occupational health and safety (“OHS”) legislation which imposes certain obligations on companies. In any workplace OHS is a significant issue because when an accident or injury occurs there can be serious reputational...
The new business.gov.au is coming in May! The website you see in May will continue to grow and change based on the needs of businesses in Australia. It will include: Coloured icons throughout the site so that you’ll quickly see related information. Most...
AFA CEO, Patrizia Torelli, has been reappointed to the Federal Government’s Furnishing Industry Reference Committee. By way of background, the AISC was established by agreement of the Council ofAustralian Governments Industry and Skills Council to provide effective...
A new public consultation has been launched in relation to the R&D Tax Incentive Programme. AFA Members are strongly encouraged to take a few minutes to complete the survey. R&D Tax Incentive Review Report You are invited to comment on the review report of the...
This week the Federal Minister for Education and Training announced a new VET loan system to replace the flawed VET FEE-HELP scheme. The VET Student Loans scheme includes: Limiting courses eligible for VET Student Loans to those that align with industry needs and are...
Manufacturers, Importers, Agents and Retailers were in attendance at the recent AFA Seminar on the Review of the Mandatory Standards for Bunk Beds and how they will be affected by these changes. The Australian Furniture Association hosted this exclusive AFA Member...
Tamara Glick was one of our 2016 ACE Student Design Winners. Recently she collaborated with Aine Dowling to create another one of her clever designs for Hollywood Primary School, their own Bench. The bench’s varying heights and colours are a nod to the...
TV show Kochie’s Business Builders is set to produce a series of videos to help you spot and protect yourself from dodgy phoenix operators. What is a phoenix company? A phoenix company is one that closes up by going into liquidation. It then starts trading...
The project manager of Western Australia’s first eco-village, partly built with hemp, believes the finished product will add weight to the growing push for it to be widely used in the construction industry. Which could see it roll out into mainstream furniture...
Good news for Members, Roy Morgan Research’s Business Confidence rose again in April (up 6.4% to 123.1) and has now risen 12.5 pts over the last three months since a 2016 low of 110.6 in January. The rise in Business Confidence comes after more improvement on...
TARGET PRACTICE The 2016-17 Federal Budget is a budget of targets – broad targets to boost business and innovation and the narrow revenue targets of the wealthy and multi-nationals. It’s a big, long-term crafted budget designed to give enough pre-election glow...
All AFA Members who employ staff on a casual basis should know that their entitlements including their dismissal rights, change over time. Casual employment is becoming increasingly popular in Australian business with a whopping one in five employees classified...
REACH OVER 40,000 READERS WITH A SPECIAL OFFER for all AFA Members and Subscribers. Be a part of the next edition of Australian Furniture & Furnishing. With FURNITEX & design 2016 just around the corner, we’re filling the last available spots in our...
First, it was Melbourne now Sydney with plans for an an old car park at Sydney Olympic Park to be transformed into an artificial surf beach by surf park developer Wave Park Group and Perth-based architecture practice MJA Studio. Wave Park Group has announced it...
This year’s Red Dot Awards for Product Design received more than 5,200 entries the highest number of submissions ever in the 61-year-old design competition—across 31 categories spanning lighting products to fashion accessories to finish materials. Among...
The Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter has announced the shortlist for the 2016 Victorian Architecture Awards. From 198 entries, 14 juries carried out an extensive schedule of site visits and have shortlisted 70 individual projects across 15...
Senator Nick Xenophon will open the 2016 Furnishing Futures Conference where the hot topic will be the impact of VET Reform to Industry. The annual event features a number of high profile industry experts, both local and international, who will present across a...
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has suggested that the Fair Work Commission is unlikely to recommend a reduction in weekend penalty rates. The FWC were tipped to make a decision last Sunday on penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors soon after the...
