Written by Chloe Atkinson

The solar solution for holistic business health 

As the world gets wise to the detrimental effects of climate change on the planet, Australian businesses are rightfully being told that they need to operate more sustainably. Meeting Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets is now a priority for many organisations. With solar, saving on operating costs where it counts can go hand in hand with competitive advantage. 

For more than 70 years, Solahart has helped businesses make the switch to renewable energy to access long-term cost savings while reducing their carbon footprints.  

After integrating a Solahart solar panel system, Factors Group, a supplements manufacturer and Certified B Corporation®, is set to save an estimated $33,400 annually and offset its carbon footprint by 28 per cent. 

Solahart is an IMPACT client. 

Face up: Bunnings breaches customer privacy 

Having only recently been announced as one of Australia’s most trusted brands, Bunnings has been found guilty by the Privacy Commissioner of breaching Australians’ privacy by using facial recognition technology in its stores. Hundreds of thousands of customers, who visited 63 Bunnings stores over the three-year period between November 2018 and November 2021, were recorded without their consent.  

Deployed to protect stores from violent and organised crime, Bunnings’s facial recognition technology recorded customers and assessed whether they fit existing criminal profiles. According to the retailer, 70 per cent of incidents in Bunnings stores were caused by the same group of individuals. Despite this, the regulator found that this was insufficient in justifying the impact on the privacy rights of regular shoppers. 

Oh Snap: contention over breadth of social media ban 

The Australian Government’s social media ban for children under 16 years of age is kicking off next week, with new laws entering federal parliament. But what does this actually mean for kids, and the platforms they use? 

While Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and Snapchat – are likely to be banned, apps predominantly used as messaging services may be exempt. This would include those such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.  

Crucially, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has clarified that children under 16 with existing social media accounts or parental permission to use them will still be banned from social media. The government is planning on a 12-month period of consultation to work out exactly which platforms they can and can’t use. 

The influencer dream 

Faced with cost-of-living pressures and a housing crisis, is it any surprise that career aspirations are changing for Australians? According to a recent survey of more than 1,000 Australian social media users of all ages, over half would quit their current jobs to pursue a full-time career as an influencer.  

A quarter of Australian social media users aged 18-44 already consider themselves influencers, and 33 per cent personally know someone getting paid to post online. As a career, influencing is rising in prominence as a lucrative way to earn a living without having to compromise on creative freedom.  

Male respondents aged 18-29 were the group most likely to aspire to make money through influencing. Already, one third of those aged 18-29 said they wanted to post on social media as a career – a shift which might spell drastic change for the Australian job market.