As we head towards the next global Climate action milestone with the COP27 event in November, the ARA is focused on delivering a raft of new member support services in the sustainability space.

We will be supporting small businesses on their sustainability journey through a new partnership with clean-tech start-up Greener. Together, we will co-design a new digital solution called Greener Businesses, to help small businesses understand and prioritise the steps they can take to reduce their carbon footprint. We look forward to sharing more information with members in due course.

This partnership is one of the initiatives highlighted by the ARA in our Climate Action Plan and will help retail and hospitality businesses start to deliver on the ARA’s Net-zero Roadmap for the sector. Stay tuned for further announcements soon.

The National Day of Mourning to be held next Thursday, September 22 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II has seen a range of trading hour responses around the country.

Trading conditions will vary from state to state, and the ARA has been seeking urgent clarification on what that means for retail businesses. So far, there have been announcements from Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. We’ll keep members updated as soon as the other jurisdictions confirm their arrangements.

While we respect the Prime Minister’s decision to honour the passing of the Queen with a public holiday, we appreciate this creates some complications for businesses with staff scheduling challenges and additional costs.