History
Background Info: Australian Chinese General Chamber of Business
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Founded in 1994 by two Corporate CEOs and a QLD Parliamentary Secretary for Trade, the Australian Chinese General Chamber of Business has within the last 17 years represented Queensland in the following key areas: |
Corporate & Bilateral Trade
As well as assisting corporate and medium-sized businesses with breaking into the Chinese market, the Australian Chinese General Chamber of Business has an excellent working relationship with the Australian Institute of Company Directors; Chinese Consulate General's office; QLD State and Local Government.
In 2007, the ACGCB gave a lecture on Chinese culture to CEOs and members at the Australian Institute of Company Directors (peak body for company directors) prior to AICD's Shanghai Conference. In the same year ACGCG organised the China National Day celebration for the Chinese Consulate General's office at the Brisbane Sofitel Hotel.
For the last 17 years ACGCB has been giving advice and offering consultation to local councils in QLD on trade and economic issues involving China.
Queensland Olympic Council
In 2006 the Queensland Olympic Council (branch of the Australian Olympic Council) established the Beijing Olympic Sub-Committee, a fundraising and education body run by the Australia Chinese General Chamber of Business.
Leading up to the Olympics ACGCB organised events such as the 100 days to Beijing dinner at the Stamford Plaza Hotel that was attended by numerous foreign diplomats. On the education front ACGCB taught basic Chinese to Olympic athletes destined for Beijing at a lecture organised by the Queensland Academy for Sports.
Post-Beijing, ACGCB is looking forward to working with the Queensland Olympic Council during the 2012 London Olympic Sub-Committee.
Chinese News Media
The Queensland Asian Business Weekly is the oldest Chinese newspaper in Queensland. Founded two months after the Australia Chinese General Chamber of Business in 1994, the newspaper is a weekly free community newspaper with over 300,000 readers.
Regional QLD Chinese Community
Since 2007 the Australia Chinese General Chamber of Business has appointed regional administrators in Cairns (Northern Queensland), Rockhampton (Central Queensland) and Ipswich (Western Queensland) to assist the rural communities in developing sustainable business in order to trade with China.
In Central Queensland ACGCB recently secured $22,500 from state and local governments to pay for the structural repair of the Rockhampton Chinese Community Centre, a building vitally important for the preservation of national historical artefacts and the promotion of Chinese culture in regional Queensland.
In Northern Queensland ACGCB is a sponsor of the Cairns Chinese Community's New Year celebration. Additionally the organisation is working with the local Chinese community to build the Cairns Chinese Cultural Centre that will house 19th Century Australian-Chinese artefacts, recognised by the Queensland Museum as being of national significance. ACGCB is also working with Channel 7 Productions to produce a documentary on the 160 years of Chinese settlement history in Northern Queensland as part of the overview to document and preserve the region's historic artefacts.
ACGCB has excellent working relationships with the Cairns & District Chinese Association, the Rockhampton Chinese Association and the Ipswich Chinese Association.
QLD Chinese Youths & University Student Community
In 2008 ACGCB established a youth wing to support and nurture young people in Queensland. The youth wing consists of the Chinese student associations from the University of Queensland (UQ), QLD University of Technology (QUT) and Griffith University. Recently the Brisbane Chinese Scouts became the fourth member of the youth wing.
As result of the new youth wing a soccer team (The Red Dragons) was established to provide leadership, sportsmanship and mateship training for university students. In addition the soccer team is part of ACGCB's promotion of having a healthly and active lifestyle. ACGCB is also helping the Brisbane Chinese Scouts raise money to support the Scouts' outdoor camping and leadership activities.
Organised Crime Prevention
ACGCB is the co-organiser and brainchild behind the Chinese Business Crime Prevention Seminar series, that works hand in hand with the QLD Police Service to provide educational classes for businesses aimed at tackling crime.
Started in 2007, ACGCB has co-organised these seminars in Brisbane and the Gold Coast that have provided an opportunity for the police to bridge cultural gaps and gather essential police intelligence on local organised crime - i.e. Fraud and Extortion.
Joint Committee on Visa 457
In 2008 ACGCB with the Department of Immigration, QLD Police and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) established a joint working committee to tackle growing social and criminal abuse from migration agents using the Visa 457.
The committee gathered and shared vital intelligence on illegal activities conducted by migration agents and employers who are associated with Visa 457 workers. In addition, the committee is committed to assisting Visa victims to find new employment in Australia and help recover withheld wages.