The Orbost and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ODCCI) has voted to establish a new subcommittee to guide the long-term future of Orbost and its surrounding district, addressing a potential void in community-level planning.
The decision was finalised during a committee meeting on Tuesday, July 14, at the local CFA meeting room.
The chamber voted to form the new group under the interim name of the Orbost and District Community Development Committee.
The move comes as funding concludes for the Future of Orbost project.
Originally sponsored by the chamber, the Future of Orbost project focused heavily on job creation and building community resilience following the transition away from the native timber industry.
According to committee discussions, there is currently no organisational body tasked with longer-term strategic planning for the Orbost and district communities now that this project is drawing to a close.
A previous community planning process, which operated prior to 2020, was put on hold while the town prioritised immediate job creation following the timber industry’s closure.
Believing the chamber is well-suited to fill this planning gap, committee members passed a motion to officially form the new development body.
The chamber’s secretary has been tasked with identifying and approaching interested individuals in the community to join the subcommittee.
In addition to future planning initiatives, the meeting featured a presentation from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) manager Tarun Bajaj, who spoke on cyber safety and the growing sophistication of scammers.
Tarun presented national data from the 2024/25 financial year, noting that Australia recorded 84,700 reported scams with an average loss of $56,000 per incident.
The same period saw a 16 per cent rise in calls to the ASIC scams hotline.
To combat these threats, Tarun urged local businesses to adopt several key defensive measures, including:
– Verifying account changes: If a business partner or supplier requests a change in banking details, staff should call the business directly to verify the change before transferring funds.
– Email vigilance: Look closely at strange or irregular email addresses, avoid clicking on suspicious links, and ensure invoices are opened as attachments rather than downloaded directly.
– Refusing to be rushed: Avoid making rushed decisions to transfer funds, as a late payment is preferable to accidentally sending money to a scammer.
– Internal safeguards: Implement two-factor authentication, train employees on what warning signs to look for, and encourage staff to “speak up” or consult colleagues if they suspect a scam.
For CBA customers who believe they may have been targeted by a scam, Tarun highlighted the dedicated hotline number: 131998.
