Being an Ambassador for “Act for Kids” means that I get to promote the wonderful (and sometimes heartbreaking) work that they do. We should all share this common goal of wiping out child abuse, in all of its ugly forms, once and for all. Here is the latest “Act for Kids” television commercial. Please pass it on.

Continued support for small business in Cairns and surrounding regions

As you may be aware, the ATO recently undertook two weeks of targeted small business assistance in the Cairns region. We are writing to make you aware that we have staff based in Cairns who are available to provide assistance to small businesses at any time.

As a key partner of the Small Business Assistance Program, you may have members who will benefit from our assistance and we ask that you make them aware of our offer.

The ATO continues to support small business through our Assisting Small Business (ASB) measures. Businesses with an annual turnover less than $2 million may be eligible for:

• payment arrangements with no general interest charge (GIC) payable for up to 12 months
• deferrals of the due date for activity statement payments – we can grant up to two months for quarterly payers and up to one month for monthly payers.

Small businesses wanting to take advantage of these measures can contact us on 13 11 42. If their debt is less than $25,000 they can use our automated self help service to apply for a payment arrangement by calling 13 72 26. Our self help service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Free and confidential on-site visits are available. To register online for an on-site visit assistance visits for small business .

The ATO has also established online content specifically for small business. To access this information, your members can visit www.ato.gov.au/smallbusinesssupport .

I had a few people send me this link but I didn’t get around to looking at it till now. These images are truly amazing. I had no idea you got lightening strikes within a cloud of ash. Really worth taking a moment to appreciate the power of these images.

IMAGES OF THE ICELANDIC VOLCANO ERUPTION