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Fantastic cover Sincere thanks to Keith Platt and everyone at Business Times for the fantastic cover article in your first issue. We thoroughly enjoyed being interviewed and photographed for your magazine (kudos to Keith for making us all look so glamorous on short notice!) and were thrilled with the results. Congratulations on launching such an informative and topical magazine. We truly believe that there are great things happening and even greater things to come - on the Mornington Peninsula. The fact that the first edition of BusinessTimes was so jam-packed with genuinely interesting content just proves it. We look forward to reading more Peninsula business success stories in the editions to come. Thanks and keep up the good words! – Mel Gleeson and Belinda Fraser Co-founders, endota spa
BusinessTimes / ISSUE 3 / AUGUST 2010 TONY MURRELL KEITH PLATT MARG HARRISON DAVID HILET MELANIE LARKE SIMON BROWN Design MARLON PLATT
Publisher / Director Editorial Director Sales Director Managing Director Material production / Prepress
3. 4.
Email: General: inquiries@businesstimes.net.au Editorial: news@businesstimes.net.au Advertising: sales@businesstimes.net.au Artwork: production@businesstimes.net.au Internet: www.businesstimes.net.au
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BusinessTimes (Frankston/Mornington Peninsula) is published 11 times a year by BusinessTimes Pty Ltd and printed by Galaxy Print & Design, 76 Reid Parade, Hastings, Victoria 3915. Postal: PO Box 428, Hastings, Victoria 3915 Tel. 035979 7744 Fax. 035979 7944
Are you in BusinessTimes? For advertising, contact Marg Harrison on 0414 773 153 or marg@businesstimes.net.au Make sure every business knows your business.
Looking forward Well done to all concerned – you have cause to feel proud. BusinessTimes looks terrific. The editorials and photos are great; looking forward to many more editions – it can only grow from here. – Dereen Wallace Senior Accountant MBA Business Solutions
DISCLAIMER: Information in BusinessTimes contains general advice only. No article or column has been prepared taking into account any individual reader’s financial situation, investment objectives or particular needs. Readers should personally consult professionals for advice on any matter, including investment, health and the law. While all care is taken, BusinessTimes accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions in the published material. Views expressed are not necessarily those of BusinessTimes Pty Ltd.
Not just a great golf course Long Island Country Club also offers Corporate Facilities: Corporate Golf Days Staff Training Rooms Catering Options Available Inclusive Packages Ample Parking T: (03) 9786 4122 F: (03) 9786 7717 info@longislandgolf.com.au Dandenong Rd, Frankston VIC 3199 www.longislandgolf.com.au 2 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
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contents / AUGUST 2010 Silver Linings: Decor: Engineering’s Tim Dash takes a shine to Terminator and a friend.
Features
10 32
That IT word : Carolyn Kruger’s Melbourne IT Solutions has expanded into larger headquarters in Carrum Downs.
Office in paradise: Sumatran surfaris
That IT word: Computing success
Cover : Christ Scurrah, doing surfing surfari business aboard his boat off the coast of Sumatra
Working in a vacuum
Departments Busy Bites Election News Infrastructure Local Government Contributions Networking Media
bbp
Columns 6 8 9 17 18 20 24 30
Managing: Hamish Petrie Law: Danielle McCredden Market: Richard Campbell Health: Mike Ellis Motoring: Ewen Kennedy
Also: Cloud computing (Technology P.35) and commercial real estate properties in Carrum Downs, Somerville, Mornington and Dromana (P.34).
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Driver help Mornington Peninsula Shire has a new road safety program, called ‘L2P’, to help learner drivers under 21 years who must have a minimum of 120 hours supervised driving experience before applying for their probationary licence. Clare Aston, the shire’s L2P program coordinator, said some young people find it difficult to get their hours up through lack of a car or a supervising driver. Under L2P learner drivers can get seven professional driving lessons and log the rest of the hours with a volunteer mentor driver. Also, The program provides participants with a vehicle. The Mayor David Gibb said council was committed to improving the safety of drivers on peninsula roads through a three-pronged approach to road safety: safer roads, safer vehicles and safer road users.
NBN in Melbourne Melbourne will be the site of the National Operations and Test Facility for NBN Co Limited, the company established to deliver the National Broadband Network. NBN Co’s Docklands centre will monitor and manage the NBN network and facilities, order service connections and fault repairs, and allow telecommunications companies using the network to test their services before rollout. Chief Executive Officer Mike Quigley said up to 425 people would be employed at the centre when fully operational. NBNCo has leased 4000m2 of office space over four floors in the Digital Harbour development. “Retail service providers will need to test their services before integration with the network, and the new centre will provide a facility where they can access a simulated live network environment,” Mr Quigley said.
Telco complaints drop TELECOMMUNICATIONS Industry Ombudsman Simon Cohen has reported a drop in the number of complaints to his office. In the first three months of 2010, the TIO received 52,730 complaints from consumers and small businesses around Australia. This is compared with 54,287 in the December 2009 quarter, and 61,248 in the September 2009 quarter “During the TIO connect.resolve campaign we worked closely with telecommunications providers to help them improve their customer service and complaint handling. It is therefore pleasing to see this trend,” said Mr Cohen. “However, complaints remain at very high levels and I welcome the renewed focus and commitment across the telecommunications industry on better customer service and complaint handling”.
Mr Cohen has encouraged telecommunications customers to speak up when things go wrong with their services. “My message is that if you have a complaint about your telecommunications or internet service provider, you should first try to resolve it with your provider. If that doesn’t work, then the TIO may be able to help.”
ACT govt adopts social tendering A CONFERENCE on social tendering in Canberra in June had an immediate effect when the ACT Government issued guidelines to all departments instructing them to favour social enterprises in purchasing decisions, wherever possible. Social procurement (or social tendering) means considering the additional social benefits from using government purchasing to support social enterprises and businesses that offer employment to disadvantaged people. In short, greater bang for the public buck can be achieved by factoring in the social outcomes that can be achieved through smarter procurement – less dependency on welfare, breaking the poverty cycle, social inclusion and economic participation. By awarding contracts to social enterprises, public expenditure can still obtain a quality product or service while providing a greater return-on-investment by helping provide sustainable employment and training opportunities for disadvantaged people. The Public Money for Public Benefit conference was organised by the ACT Social Enterprise Hub, an initiative of Social Ventures Australia. Social Ventures Australia worker Jane Speechley said “the results were significant and quickly apparent”. “The following day Chief Minister Jon Stanhope announced that the ACT Government would develop and issue guidelines to all
6 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
departments to change tender processes and favour social procurement.” Mr Stanhope said the government was taking the extra step of making it easier for social enterprise organisations to win government contracts and provide their staff with employment security ACT Greens issued a media release arguing that the government should go even further and commit to a set percentage of contracts being awarded to social enterprises; and that Housing ACT should consider a social enterprise cleaning and maintenance venture, along the same lines as the successful project established between NSW Housing, Spotless and Fair Repairs which was presented as a case study at the event by Marc Manion. Manion outlined how NSW public housing tenants are employed as sub-contractors to maintain public housing properties. Event host Kevin Robbie said that when used correctly, social tendering could deliver quality procurement outcomes while also providing much-needed opportunities for disadvantaged Australians. Mr Robbie’s organisation, Social Ventures Australia, provides funding and strategic support to non-profit partners, as well as offering consulting services to the social sector more broadly, including philanthropists who are endeavouring to be more strategic in their approach to giving.
The problem with grievances Australian business, mainly NGOs and smaller operators, are often clueless when it comes to managing grievances in the workplace, allowing seemingly trivial complaints to fester and escalate into bigger problems. According to employment law and mediation experts, The Resolution Centre, these problems can range from low morale and productivity to lawsuits and long-term damage to the company’s reputation. “We often spend more time at work with our colleagues than our own family and friends, and the mix of personality types and stress can make crossed wires and conflict inevitable,” says CEO of The Resolution Centre, Katherine Graham. “It’s how and when you handle those conflicts that are the difference between a healthy workplace and one that eventually breeds contempt.” Want to irritate your work colleagues and get the boss off-side? Research and conflict management training conducted by The Resolution Centre has found the most common “annoyances” among workers are colleagues who: • Allow someone else take the blame for their shortcomings • Take information and manipulate it so it reflects poorly on someone they don’t like in the office • Exclude staff members they don’t like from group lunches and social events • Exclude others from essential communications
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on projects in which they are involved. • Groom another colleague and then say disparaging things about them to others behind their back When dealing with complaints, Graham advises organisations to follow the principles of procedural fairness: confidentiality, timeliness, the right to be heard and the right to respond. A mistake often made by business, adds Graham, is not maintaining and communicating the company’s complaints and grievance policies. Organisations will do a clean sweep and train staff after a serious incident or investigation, but then fail to conduct routine training, missing new employees. They also often fail to reiterate to staff what is and isn’t acceptable in the workplace. “Larger organisations are more attuned to their responsibilities and they also have in-house legal support guiding them, but it’s quite surprising how many businesses, such as NGOs and smaller operators, still don’t have a clue,” Graham says. “And in turn, these organisations seem quite surprised when we inform them about their responsibilities and liabilities in relation to staff grievances.” Resolution Centre CEO, Katherine Graham has more than 15 years’ experience in HR and recruitment. The Resolution Centre is an Australian owned and operated human resources consultancy specialising in workplace mediation, conflict investigation, and dispute management and resolution.
A business expo for ‘hot’ deals HOT Deals Expo 2010 is giving regional businesses the chance to offer ‘super deals’ while promoting themselves at an exhibition at Frankston Arts Centre on August 17. Ninety exhibitor spots are available at the Frankston Business Chamber’s latest business booster. The chamber, buoyed by the success of last year’s Business to Business Expo, has booked a bigger venue. “We want businesses to demonstrate the vast range of trades, services and wonderful products being offered locally,” said chamber president Sorin Ionascu. “The public, as well as businesses, will have the opportunity to win prizes and purchase packages or discounts that offer great value – in other words…hot deals,” Ionascu said.
“There is a plethora of amazing businesses available in this area and we want to showcase the wonderful innovations at our fingertips.” All facets of business and related services are invited to be on display, providing attendees with the opportunity to meet the business operators and get the best information direct from the source. Priority is given to chamber members, however spots are available for all other local business from the Mornington Peninsula and surrounds. The expo is from 5 to 8.30pm. For more information, call Allison at the Frankston Business Chamber on 9781 1422 or go to www.frankstonchamber.com.au to download a registration form.
Port Phillip Estate Winery, designed by Wood Marsh, has won the Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for Commercial Architecture in the 2010 Victorian Architecture Awards. Award organisers said that winners had set a new benchmark for style and sustainability. The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre scooped four of the highest honours at awards announced June 25 in Melbourne.
Buying solar power Australia’s peak clean energy body has produced a guide to help householders make an informed choice when buying solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. Clean Energy Council Policy Director Russell Marsh said the guide will help consumers find the right system to suit their needs. “The guide is a general introduction to solar PV systems. It includes a list of sensible questions to ask when inquiring about solar power to ensure the installer and type of panel you choose is up to scratch,” Mr Marsh said. The Clean Energy Council runs an accreditation program for solar PV designers and installers to ensure a high standard of installation quality. To qualify for Federal Government subsidies, solar PV systems must be signed off by an accredited professional who has completed training in the design and installation of solar power systems. The new consumer guide to buying solar panels and a list of accredited installers can be found on the Clean Energy Council website at wwwcleanenergycouncil.org.au
August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 7
ELECTION
The debates that weren’t australia votes
2010
Saturday, August 21 Greater Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula areas are covered by two federal seats, Dunkley and Flinders, both held by the Liberal Party and unlikely to change hands after the August 21 poll.
Dunkley Covers Frankston, Seaford, Carrum Downs, Karingal, Skye, Langwarrin, Mt Eliza and part of Mornington. Candidates: Bruce Billson (Liberal), Helen Constas (ALP), Simon Tiller (Greens). The situation: Bruce Billson (Liberal) has held the set since 1996. In the 2007 election, Billson won comfortably even after his vote dropped 5.7 per cent, to 49.8 per cent of the primary count (59.4 per cent after preferences). Labor’s Graham McBride polled 38.2 per cent of the primaries and gained a swing of 4.6 per cent. This time Billson faces Helen Constas who he defeated in the 2004 poll.
Flinders Covers Mornington Peninsula and around Western Port Bay to Phillip Island and Cape Woolamai. Candidates: Greg Hunt (Liberal), Francis Ventura (ALP), Bob Brown (Greens). The situation: Greg Hunt has held the seat since 2001 and won easily against Labor’s Gary March in 2007. Hunt’s primary vote dropped but he won outright with 54.5 per cent of the vote (61 per cent after preferences). He is the outright favourite again.
Elections are a mostly a depressing time for investors – this time even more so. First we had the prospect of a 28 per cent corporate profits tax, but when it is was pointed out that the Super Profits Tax was not only economically destructive but administratively unworkable, a substitute was quickly rushed out to give us a one per cent cut from three forms of extraction taxation and an administrative mess trailing behind. Treasury’s assumption that both volumes and prices will hold up by 2012 to pay for cut in corporate taxes may be justified but who knows? The government’s cover story was that Treasury assumptions were conservative but how conservative we have not been told. Given that these were the same people who thought miners of limestone and phosphate were making “Super Profits” just like iron ore and coal miners, scepticism is required. We can’t quantify how many off-shore investors now view Australian with suspicion, but anecdotes suggest that now many view us in a new light – a quirky, unreliable place and not the safe haven for investing it was once reputed to be. Treasury and the Treasurer failed to notice that 40 per cent of Australian oil and mining companies have an operation or project in Africa alone. It appears that Canberra doesn’t understand the realities of the current century or even our own assets. Australia does have vast reserves of iron ore and coal, but many other resources are increasingly difficult to find or, when found, are deep and costly. That is why places like Peru, Bostwana and Niger have appeal. Then there is the carbon issue. Big statements and thousands of committee hours have produced inconsistent and often misleading policies. Many have lost tens of thousands of dollars assuming a policy was solid, only to find it was not. Certainly the carbon issue is very difficult, but rather than turn a negative into a plus to build a low carbon economy, both major parties have all but vacated the stage or jumped at half-baked solutions. Underground carbon storage is feasible in some locations but at great cost and with much future uncertainty. Business owners looking for an explanation of the cost benefits of super fast National Broadband
[Nominations for both seats closed after this edition went to press].
8 | BusinessTimes Frankton Peninsula | August 2010
By Richard Campbell*
Network might welcome specifics. Meanwhile, the coalition wants to scrap it and replace it with something more modest, but what? The idea of NBN has enormous appeal in the suburbs but like the Super Profits tax concept, the costings are still in the ‘pick-a- number’ category. Super fast broadband will be a very useful thing for pharmacists and a whole host of professionals but whether they will be prepared to pay for big bills for split second downloads when five seconds is OK is another thing. This is policy in a dense fog. The missing carbon debate is both critical. It will define future living standards but it is a complex suject. We have discovered a massive amount of energy in NSW and Queensland coal seams, but the salt water extracted in the process has to be weighed against the export revenues this endowment will create. Given that our reserves of crude oil are steadily disappearing, this gas endowment has huge balance of payments implications, but a national fleet of gas-powered cars? Not on the agenda. The list goes on. Our private debt per head is among the highest debt in the world but the debate is deflected to public debt which is exceptionally low. Then there is water, traffic congestion, the absence of fast rail and the poverty of our skills and technical training. Our universities have been cheapened by money-grubbing courses that undermine our reputation. It is a dispiriting period. It is difficult to recall a period when so many were so disappointed by so few issues genuinely tackled. Richard Campbell is Executive Diretor of Peninsula Capital Management. Email rcampbell@peninsulacapital.com.au
PM makes headlines internationally JULIA Gillard’s elevation to prime minister made headlines in Malaysia, a country with which Australia has sometimes had a prickly relationship. The New Straits Times used half of its front page for a picture of Ms Gillard and pointed inside to where two articles filled a full page: “Australia gets first woman premier” and “Rudd: I have given it my all”. Mr Rudd was quoted as saying he had been elected to “bring back a fair go for all Australians”.
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COVER STORY
10 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
Mikumba II. Picture: Aki
WORDS/IMAGES: KEITH PLATT
T
he most obvious face of Australia’s multi-billion dollar surfing industry is easy to recognise. Clothing fashions, surfboards and shop fronts are filled with recognisable brand names. Surfboards and the lifestyle they represent are used as props by a list of manufacturers from outdoor vehicles to energy drinks. Make no mistake, surfing is big business. At the heart of the industry is the activity itself, surfing. But the number of surfboards being ridden at the local break is just the tip of the marketing iceberg. Over the past decade the number of companies offering surfers perfect waves overseas has risen in direct proportion to the drop in airfares. Surf charter boats and surf land camps are a lucrative industry add-on, with companies operating at exotic surf locations around the world. While Bali was the target dream of Australian surfers in the 1970s it has almost become regarded as no more of an experience than going interstate. Surfers horizons now have no boundaries and “exploration” is being done using Google Earth and fast boats. No place is too remote. The string of islands off Sumatra is a growing destination for surfers, with a thriving charter boat industry already operating out of the bustling south coast port city of Padang and surf camps on some of the offshore islands, mainly in the Mentawai group. Mt Eliza man Chris “Scuzz’ Scurrah has been running surf charters from Padang for the past 13 years and has learnt to operate in a commercial environment that is very different from the tightly-regulated one here in Australia. Scurrah was in the forefront of the surf boat charter industry and this early immersion in the Indonesian way of doing business is one of the biggest assets of his Sumatran Surfariis. But he would be the first to admit that every day can hold a surprise, a new challenge. It is many years since he learnt the art of dealing with jam karet (literally: rubber hours), which means you need a lot of patience to achieve an outcome. This can apply to anything from deliveries to
stamps of approval and signatures on official documents. Padang, a city of almost one million, is a long way in both distance and attitude from Jakarta, the political and financial capital of Indonesia. In a nutshell, the aim of surf charter boats is simple: take surfers to good waves. But realising that aim in another country can be fraught. “We try to make their trip hassle free,” Scurrah says of the eight to 10 “guests” each trip who pay him to take them surfing. “We guarantee we’ll be on time to pick them up and take them back to the airport. “Indo runs on jam karet - rubber hours - and we try to make sure that doesn’t happen.” The drivers who pick the surfers up at Padang’s Minangkabua airport, the office girls and the boat crews are all directly employed by Sumatran Surfariis. Scurrah knows what westerners on a short break want and says his boats carry “one or two” more crew than the minimum needed to make sure everyone is catered for. The travel details sent to every customer after their initial booking list all official extra charges they will be hit with so there are no surprises. Scurrah has seen many people who would like to set up business in a tropical paradise. They have had a holiday and think “this is the life”. The reality is more confronting. Knowing the language is a big help and without it almost a given for failure. “Indonesia’s a wonderful place for holidays, but it gets hard once you do business here. “You must be willing to work here and speak the language.” His tips for success include making more than one visit before investing and speaking with expatriates who already
live and work in the country. “Anyone thinking of setting up business here should spend six months looking before signing any contracts and find some Indonesians you can trust as business partners. “People who fail, spend their money too fast.” His tip for investment in Indonesia?: “Lombok [an island near Bali] will be the next big thing. Bali is overrun and celebrities are starting to move there.” Regulations and business practices are another challenge. “Taxes are not standard or black and white. You pay less, but there’s an expectation that you to cook the books so you pay in other ways.” Scurrah says some businesses have run into trouble by making special payments to “grease the wheel to people who don’t get a good wage but hold quite a high position”. Some forms of business etiquette can be discovered only after people get into trouble. “There are Australian laws that make it illegal for any Australian business people to be involved in corruption. “We pay taxes and health insurance for our crews. As a foreign investment company we do an income tax return.” As a business person on a working visa Scurrah says he now has to pay 2.5 million rupees (Australian $300) every time he leaves the country, but this may be abolished with the possible introduction of new personal income tax laws. Hiccups along the way could involve customs, visa laws and, for boats, maritime regulations. Trouble can also be sourced back to jealousy or business rivalry. “You’ve always got people opposed to what you’re trying to do.” August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 11
Picture: Aki
Sumatran Surfariis was was dealt a severe but not fatal blow some years back after Scurrah’s original Indonesian partner involved another family member who did not have the same business principles. A split occured and Scurrah managed to keep just two of the company’s four boats. “That partnership ended acrimoniously after nearly eight years and we lost assets, boats, licences and fuel tanks.” In May 2009 a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Sumatran Surfariis’ office, then based in the historic Hotel Batung Arua. The fire bomb ignited the front steps and Scurrah thinks it may have been a form of intimidation, although his own and police investigations drew a blank. More recently, a break-up in the partnership has led to “bitter business problems”. Nothing that could not happen to a business operating in Australia, except that the dispute unfolded in Indonesia and coincided with a tip-off to police that led to a dramatic drug raid of a boat as it left harbour. “There are a lot of vultures seeing us being successful and they know it could be a weak time [for us] and a good time to attack. “Someone alleged we had a kilo of drugs on board. Five speedboats came from all sides, videos, spotlights and cameras. “They boarded the boat, locked every room and did a three-hour search before realising we were clean. “But we were ordered back to port because of a tiny licence problem with one of the crew. “The issue is still not resolved and so they have made us carry two police on the last two trips.” Scurrah is confident the police will return to their land base as soon as a way can be found “for them to save face - they don’t know how to end it”. Ironically, this brush with the law led him meeting with Australian diplomats seeking his co-operation in tracking people smugglers. 12 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
Picture: Aki
Picture: Aki
“I contacted the Australian embassy when I feared we were being set up. “But I’ve now been asked to keep an eye out for people smugglers. About 90 per cent of the Australian embassy budget seems to be focussed on people smugglers. “They travel from Malaysia along the west coast of Sumatra and need to refuel before going onto Australia and I know where to get fuel in the islands.” Scurrah says he has never knowingly seen any people smugglers: “We see cargo boats but never go too close.” In recent years surf boat operators have been divided over efforts to get them to join an association that could effectively see them barred from operating
unless they paid fees to resorts through a middleman. Scurrah and 21 other boat operators have formed their own group, preferring to pay locals directly or make donations to villages. He compares this system to “killing a goat and sharing it among the village” rather than the money going to a source that may not share it among the community. It is also one reason he employs locals and buys their produce whenever possible. Sumatran Surfariis has shares in two boats and leases two others. Surfers from Australia make up about 75 per cent of guests, followed by the United States (20%), and the rest coming from Japan,
Picture: Aki
United Kingdom, New Zealand and Brazil. When the Australian dollar was low some years back the ratio of Australians to those from the US was reversed, but now many Americans are seeking waves south of their border in Mexico. Six or seven of Sumatran Surfariis trips each year are filled with surfers from the Mornington Peninsula. A core of regulars coming from the US and Australia are aged over 40. Scurrah plans to target European surfers, persuading them to spend at least part of their winter in the warm “empty” waters of Sumatra December through to February. “We try not to sell the waves, and that’s why we don’t name the surfing spots,” he
says, referring to the company’s website. “We sell the mystery and a chance to surf alone, without crowds.” Scurrah’s stamina for business has also been tested by the natural forces that beset the Pacific’s “rim of fire” which places Sumatra and its hundreds of islands close to its unstable epicentre. He was the first to land on some of the islands with vital supplies after the disastrous 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Three months later, on March 28, 2005, an earthquake centred under the Nias group of islands added to the devastation and death toll. Scurrah was at sea and out of touch during the Boxing Day tsunami, but within
days of learning about the tragedy was filling the hold of his boat Southern Cross with food and medical supplies. While aid agencies and governments throughout the world were being overwhelmed by the destruction in Sumatra’s Aceh province, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Africa, Scurrah knew no one had thought about the small islands off Sumatra. They too were out of touch and isolated when the wall of water came through. In October 2009 Padang itself was hit by an earthquake, with Sumatran Surfariis’ staff fleeing their new downtown office just seconds before it collapsed. The news coming back to Australia was grim, although no staff lost their lives and Scurrah was able to turn his house into something of a relief centre “with people sleeping everywhere”. Sumatran Surfariis has now moved into another office, but still operates under the threat of another tsunami which experts predict could effectively wipe Padange off the map. Ironically, the 2004 tsunami has led to a change in Scurrah’s ability to do business while at sea. Telecomunications towers have been installed on each island group, making it possible to use mobile phones from almost anywhere. Previously, boats heading off to remote surf spots could only communicate with ship-to-shore radios or from some rare phone-access “windows”. Despite the obvious tests to doing business in Indonesia Scurrah says he has no plans to permanently return to Australia. Sailing past an island in the Mentawais he points to the shore where he has bought some land, “my superannuation”. The land is opposite a good surf break, but one he’s sure is going to get better “because were overdue 50 years for an earthquake which, when it comes, should lift the reef, making it a very good wave”. Basically, he’s banking on an earthquake, and staying on good terms with the Indonesian national he’s bought the land with! August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 13
NEWS
Housing finance fall Housing finance commitments fell for the seventh consecutive month in April following interest rate hikes and the end of the federal government’s first home owner ‘boost’, according to peak building and construction organisation Master Builders Australia. Peter Jones, Master Builders’ Chief Economist, said rising interest rates and the hangover from the ‘boost’ scheme would threaten the housing recovery. “Critical for the housing market will be a period of stable interest rates to engender confidence and encourage upgraders and investors to fill the gap left by the reversal in demand from first home buyers,” Jones said. “Loans for the building or purchase of new dwellings have also come back in recent times but remain well up on the low point in late 2008, which means there is a solid pipeline of new building work yet to be done.”
Black spot work TWO Frankston blackspots will be fixed after council received nearly $450,000 from the State Government as part of its Auslink Blackspot Funding program. Council received $259,000 to improve safety on McClelland Drive, Langwarrin between Darnley Drive and Quarry Rd, where there have been 10 casualty crashes in the past five years, mostly caused by cars veering off the roadway. Council will seal the shoulder to provide a recovery area for driver error, instal tactile edge lines – which drivers can feel if they drive across – and widen the culvert at Boggy Creek. Council also received $188,000 for works on Quarry Rd, Langwarrin between McClelland Drive and Lexton Drive – a road used by more than 4000 vehicles a day. Five casualty crashes in the past five years have been reported on this section of road.
Council delays push up house prices: MBA A Master Builders Association survey reveals that lengthy planning delays in Melbourne’s outer suburbs are pushing up house prices by an average $50,000. The latest building trends survey has found residential builders in the outer suburbs are waiting 29 weeks on average to secure a planning permit. The statutory time limit for a council decision is 8.6 weeks. Frankston Council said that while statistics were not available specifically for residential applications, the average time for a planning decision in the previous financial year was 105 days (15 weeks). Frankston’s general manager of development Jane Homewood said that in May and June the average time was reduced to 74 statutory days and council expects these lower figures to remain the norm. “On average, council receives 73 applications a month, however it should be noted that with the introduction of the Wildfire Management Overlay, the number of applications is increasing, and applications are required to be referred to the CFA, whose response must be received before a planning decision can be made.” Niall Sheehy, acting manager of statutory planning at Mornington Peninsula Shire, said the majority of applications were processed within the statutory time limit. On average, the process could take around 10 weeks. “While the shire always strives to meet the timeframe it’s not always possible due to the complexity of the issues with some applications,” Sheehy said.
“The shire continuously reviews its statistical information with regards to application trends in addition to reviewing its own internal practices with a view of providing a more efficient and effective process. “This has in the past included a restructure of the unit to address the demands faced. “The shire also liaises with local industry professionals and meets regularly with the HIA to share information.” Master Builders Executive Director Brian Welch said the building trends survey demonstrated that outer suburban councils were failing the community on housing affordability. “Each week of delay increases residential project costs such as interest on loans, land holding costs, legal fees and keeping staff on-hand,” said Welch. “Instead of encouraging home ownership, councils are making homes more expensive for Victorian families. “Sadly, there has been little improvement on the 2009 figures. Council delays continue to hold up the development of new homes which equals fewer jobs and weaker economic growth.’’ ‘“Our members consistently report that local planning is the biggest obstacle to improving housing affordability. Builders want fast action from councils so they can get on with the job of building solid and affordable homes.’’
Mt Eliza Village to get community cank Mt Eliza residents and businesses have committed the minimum share subscription for a community bank in the village. The initial target of $740,000 has been achieved with 165 locals now shareholders in the community venture. Chairman Paul Andrews said raising the share capital was a momentous occasion for the community. “To raise $740,000 is no mean feat,” Mr Andrews said. “The people of Mt Eliza have faith in the community bank model, their community and Bendigo Bank, and we look forward to now
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working towards the branch opening .” Now that Mt Eliza Community Bank branch has been confirmed as a starter, the local company will continue to sell shares, hoping to attract more investors. With 165 shareholders and the share offer still open, directors of the local company hope to reach 200 shareholders by the close of the prospectus. The closure date is yet to be determined. For details, call Paul Andrews on 0418 378029.
Sandhurst: business and pleasure, too
Christmas is a special time at Sandhurst Club with individually tailored functions for business and social events.
celebration, the facilities cater for corporate meetings, engagements, weddings, special birthdays, cocktail parties, and christenings. The main function rooms overlook the practice range and North Course, with natural light and and a full suite of facilities. The main function rooms are guaranteed to suit business needs – be it a boardroom for 14 or a function room for 200. Sandhurst Club provides flexible function rooms that can be tailor-made to suit any business or social requirement. Christmas is a special time at Sandhurst:
with all the yuletide trimmings it’s an ideal place to combine a day of golf with a Christmas event. Executive chef Ray Morrow says he will tempt you with special menus as you relax with staff or friends. Sandhurst Club offers an attractive spot to build not just a home, but a more relaxed lifestyle. The club is out to fulfil expectations – whether it’s living along rolling green fairways, hosting a day out on the greens or the annual Christmas party.
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WALK through the lobby into the fire-warmed lounge of Sandhurst Club, Skye, and there’s the feel of a five-star hotel. It’s a world away from the busy roads of Melbourne CBD, but in reality it’s only a 40-minute drive away and only five minutes drive to Port Phillip Bay. Opened in 2003 the Sandhurst Club has become a destination for families looking for a place with a difference to settle. It has become a magnet for keen golfers and the corporate market. A combination of excellence in dining and meeting facilities is set amid two Peter Thomson designed golf courses, and 310 hectares of environmentally-sensitive greenbelt with views to the Dandenong’s. The tranquil environment provides an ideal venue to concentrate on business, letting Sandhurst’s team attend to every requirement so the event runs smoothly. Suitable for an executive retreat or
MOBILITY SOLUTIONS FOR ALL KINDS OF BUSINESS. A reality of running your own business is that some decisions can’t wait till you get back to the office – that’s if you even use one. Optus Business Mobile Broadband lets you access emails and the internet from just about wherever you are, so you can respond immediately. Optus has a full suite of smartphones like the BlackBerryTM Bold 9700, Nokia E72 and Samsung Galaxy S, so talk to us about creating a solution that’s right for you. We’re right behind business.
Call the Optus Business Centre, Mornington Peninsula on 1800 119 969 or email solutions@obdirect.com August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 15
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NEWS
Wright on for commercial property KEVIN Wright knows a lot about who is moving where and when on the Mornington Peninsula and beyond. He started working in the real estate business at Mornington 15 years ago and now specialises in selling commercial properties. Spend a bit of time with him and you get a potted history of which businesses are on the move. He can also make an assessment on their success or otherwise. After being a partner with a couple of established firms, he set up Kevin Wright Commercial Real Estate 18 months ago and now estimates “I’m probably selling more businesses on the peninsula than any agency based here or in Melbourne”. There are 80 businesses on his books, in commercial centres from West Melbourne to Portsea and Flinders. Wright says his staff (see picture) were recruited for their experience in small
Ready for business: Tanya Scagliarini, Kevin Wright, Russell Murphy and Gary Ralph.
business rather than for having a real estate background. Wright said although many shops changed hands within three years, he had a waiting list for clients wanting space in Main St, Mornington. Wright is expanding his offices to accommodate accountants, solicitors and financiers: “We do a lot of businss with them already and this will be an extra service for our clients.”
Uni friends start law practice Carroll Goldsmith Lawyers had its genesis when peninsula local Joel Carroll recognised that the growth in commercial
activity created the need for a law firm with a commercial focus and suggested to his former classmate, Richard Goldsmith, that a seachange would be a great idea. Richard had worked at larger city firms and welcomed the challenge. “Carroll Goldsmith Lawyers has set out to create an accessible firm the local business community knows it can rely on for accurate and practical legal advice,” Goldsmith said. Before Carroll Goldsmith, Carroll worked at a Frankston law firm. He said few local law firms focus on the business community exclusively. “Richard and I both hold the view that local business will appreciate having a law firm located on the peninsula that identifies itself as a commercial law practice,” Carroll said. The practice is in new commercial premises at 315 Main St, Mornington. Call 5975 7588 or email Joel Carroll: joel@carrollgoldsmith.com.au or Richard Goldsmith: richard@carrollgoldsmith.com.au
Equipment Finance Specialist. Servicing the Mornington Peninsula. Working with business and individuals to tailor tax effective finance solutions for the purchase of any plant & equipment. WE TAKE THE PAIN OUT OF FINANCE We can offer an extensive range of finance facilities and services to suit your needs servicing the sole trader through to large publicly listed companies; we are accredited with over 40 major financial institutions enabling us to quickly locate the most competitive funds available for your needs. This results in the most effective finance options which include, however are not restricted to, Finance Leases, Operating Leases or Rentals, Commercial Hire Purchase, Chattel Mortgage, Letters of Credit and Lease in Escrow.
Money Resources Group South East 9787 3205
A Paris Group firm
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Ron Chowanetz 0412 534 503
If you are thinking of selling or renting your property ring the girls at Honor Baxter Real Estate for a free market appraisal.
What does MBA mean?
Simply the best and nothing less
Accounting
Modest But Awesome? Financial
More Business Acumen? Taxation
Mornington’s Brightest Accountants?
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342 Main Street, Mornington 3931 342 Main Street, Mornington, 3931. Contact Jason Beare, Dereen Wallace, Amy Bignell or Email Irenateam@mbabusinesssolutions.com.au Lioudvigova on 03 5970 8100 Tel 59 70 8100, email team@mbabusinesssolutions.com.au
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Accounting team members - Jason Beare, Dereen Wallace, Amy Bignell and Irena Lioudvigova.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Reshaping Frankston’s train and bus interchange into a bustling, lively social hub with apartments, offices, shops and cafes is part of an ambitious dream the council will try to sell to the State Government. Announcing the concept, mayor Cr Christine Richards asked residents to join council in asking the government to fund a business case for the project, and then act on the outcomes. “Frankston is one of six central activity districts identified by the government as a transport hub and growth centre, but we’ve never received even nearly the levels of government funding given to other CADs,” said Cr Richards. “In the past five years Frankston has received about $16 million compared to $290 million that another CAD received. “In the lead-up to the election we are asking political parties to commit to funding a detailed plan for the Heart of Frankston and to funding a share of an aquatic centre that will be the centrepiece of the Heart of Frankston project,” the mayor added. As well as the Frankston aquatic centre, the project would include: • Overhauling Frankston’s transport interchange to improve public transport accessibility and allow train and bus passengers as well as drivers to move safely and efficiently, meaning easier travel by public transport and getting rid of the Young St bottleneck.
• Housing and parking for residents including tertiary students, young families, older couples and more, bringing vibrancy and change to Frankston. • New commercial and retail activity meaning more businesses, greater diversity, longer trading hours and more local jobs. “The Heart of Frankston is a big, ambitious plan. First we need to lock in government funding support, then we’ll roll up our sleeves to begin the hard work of nutting out the detail and making it happen,” Cr Richards said. Heart of Frankston is the latest in a string of proposals over the past 35 years for the station’s redevelopment. When Frankston MP Ray Meagher quit politics as transport minister in 1976, his legacy was to be a multi-storey development for Frankston’s “modal interchange”. In later years there was to be a Readings cinema complex as part of an ambitious development spanning the tracks. Cr Richards said research conducted by council earlier this year showed that people were tired of just hearing about Frankston’s potential. It was time to get something done.
Car ferry progress MORNINGTON Peninsula Council is ready to pursue a planning scheme amendment for the proposed Stony Point-Cowes car ferry The shire is awaiting Bass Coast Council’s endorsement of the June 2010 draft plan before it also gives the plan ‘in principle’ support. At its July 26 meeting Mornington Pninsula council agreed that once it gets the nod from Bass Coast, it will seek authorisation from Planning Minister Justin Madden to prepare and exhibit an amendment generally in accordance with the draft planning scheme amendment documents. Council has agreed that submissions in response to the amendment should be forwarded directly to Planning Panels Victoria for consideration. Planning Panels Victoria will be asked to pre-set panel hearing dates for the amendment. The council wants in principle support for the plan from the Department of Sustainability and Environment under the Coastal Management Act 1995.
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Council believes its best chance for success comes this year with the federal and a state elections. The mayor said ongoing involvement would be the key to success. “We’ve already convened a community reference group to make sure we get it right.” To join the campaign, stay in touch and find out more, use the Heart of Frankston link at council’s homepage: www. frankston.vic.gov.au
August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 17
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Sorrento and Portsea golf clubs will pay rates totaling more than $54,000 to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council in 2010-11. The next highest contributors of the 29 ratepaying clubs are Rosebud Country Club ($13,572) and Mornington Racing Club ($13,161). The club with the smallest rate bill is Western Port Angling Club ($234.85). Council will collect $120,313 from clubs this financial year, part of total rates of $104.2 million.
Tick from Treasury TREASURY Corporation Victoria (TCV) has given Mornington Peninsula Council a tick for its borrowing processes and debt management. TCV has reported that council’s current level of debt and proposed borrowings, outlined in the strategic resources plan are financially sustainable;
Boarding house A former child care centre will be converted to an 11-room boarding house at 28 Petrie St, Frankston. The site is close to Frankston Central Activities District and Chisholm Institute. The applicant has told Frankston City Council that tenants from welfare agencies will have first priority. The revamped property is to be managed by Southern Homeless Network.
City calls on expert for climate change briefing SENIOR Frankston Council officers and councillors this month will be briefed by a nationally recognised coastal expert about possible impacts of climate change on beaches. They believe an assessment from James Carley, from the Water Research Laboratory at University of New South Wales, would better equip council to determine coastal development proposals like the re-tendering of Frankston marina proposal, redevelopment of Frankston Yacht Club, Long Island west bank, Central Activities Distict development adjacent to Kananook Creek. Carley’s expertise is in rising sea levels, storm surges and coastal processes. The requirement to plan for 0.8 metre sea level rises (expected by 2100) under the Victorian Coastal Strategy 2008 may be revised up to 1.1 metres in accordance with more recent Federal Government predictions released on July 12. The Federal Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency ‘First Pass National Assessment of Climate Change Risks to Australia’s Coast’ outlines three scenarios of rising sea levels for the year 2100: low 0.5m, medium 0.8m and high 1.1m. A coastal digital elevation model of Port Phillip and Western Port produced for the Department of Sustainability and Environment in January shows the region from Mentone to Frankston is especially vulnerable to rising sea levels. Large sections of the low-lying stretch from Mordialloc to Seaford – the old Carrum Carrum swamp – is between zero and one metre above
SHOUT OUT LOUD
sea level, so under the most conservative of estimates large tracts could be inundated within 90 years. Some scientists claim rises could be as high as two metres if land ice melts faster than current predictions. Both predictions exclude thermal expansion of oceans as temperatures rise. James Carley is expected to provide council with an overview of how natural processes and climate change could effect beaches as well as foreshore and coastal hinterland development. Carley holds a Master of Engineering Science degree in Coastal and Water Engineering and has 17 years experience in coastal and water engineering and physical modelling. The Frankston Beach Association continues to raise concerns about the potential impact of the marina on Frankston’s beaches. The association has asked council to undertake physical sand modelling over a 12-month period to provide more certainty. Council has acknowledged that one of the greatest risks with the proposed marina is its potential effect on Frankston, Gulls Way and Daveys Bay beaches. Modelling has been incorporated as a planning requirement before any marina development.
IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING SELLING OR LEASING
IndustrIal • CommerCIal • retaIl 18 | BusinessTimes Frankton Peninsula | August 2010
Dredging the mouth of Kananook Creek.
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August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 19
CONTRIBUTIONS
Old world charm with today’s technology Long Island Country Club is a golfers dream come true – one of Melbourne’s hidden gems. Located at the gateway to the beautiful Mornington Peninsula Long Island offers the challenge and pleasure of a true traditional “sand belt” golf course. Established in 1938 the clubhouse retains the charm of yesteryear with its Tudor-style architecture and an interior that still reverberates with the beat of the foxtrot and long past dinner dances. That charm is reflected in the service and warmth you will experience. However, it’s not all about the game. Long Island is rapidly gaining a reputation as an outstanding corporate events venue. The club provides excellent corporate facilities with fully equipped training and meeting rooms. The grand dining room is the perfect backdrop for Christmas parties, dinner dances, business breakfasts, trivia nights or just for business lunch (bookings essential). Corporate golf days combine a day of golf with food and service – all while discussing the business at hand. Trained staff are on hand to ensure the corporate experience you expect. Here is outstanding value and arguably the most enjoyable, rewarding and social golfing experience in Victoria. For bookings or information call Tim George or Elizabeth Leenders, 9786 4122; Fax: 9786 7717.
30 years on the peninsula and counting
Staff of Flinders Partners at their refurbished offices at 405 Nepean Highway, Frankston.
A safeguard for clients The accounting profession is littered with individuals who describe themselves as qualified when, in fact, many fall well short. While other professions, including medicine and law, have titles that can only be legally used after specific knowledge is attained, the title of “accountant” is Flinders Partners principals are Allan Williams not protected and is open (left) Greg Waterland, Timothy Perceval and for use by anyone who Mark Taylor. considers themselves worthy. A safeguard for clients is provided by the two professional associations that exists in the accounting world: The Society of Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) and The Institute of Chartered Accountants (CA). Anyone who is a member of these organisations has had to complete extended learning and be assessed at various stringent levels. A minimum experience level is required before full status is bestowed. Members are required to continually operate in accordance with a strict code of conduct, including being subject to compliance audits and maintaining a minimum level of ongoing professional education and development. Ask your accountant if they are CPA or CA? Allan Williams B.Com CPA MBA is a Partner at Flinders Partners Group Accountants and Advisors.
Flinders Partners Group Accountants and Advisors has become a Mornington Peninsula institution over 30 years in Frankston. It provides services to clients locally and, with the help of technology, throughout Australia and overseas. Partner Allan Williams said the focus is on up-to-date professional, tailored advice. “Flinders Partners’ team works with clients over the long term to help them achieve their ambitions and navigate through complex issues. We are proud that many of the individuals, families and businesses have been with us from the beginning,” Mr Williams said. The firm is locally owned and consists of four Partners and 20 staff. “The partners recognise that our people are what enable the business to maintain highest standards in service and, in line with this, an emphasis is placed on formal education and ongoing training. “Our size means that we can provide a level of expertise that people often travel to the city for, while still offerig personalised service. The business has a fee-forservice financial planning division. The practice holds its own Australian Financial Services Licence. “Flinders Partners is involved with community groups, charities and projects.”
20 | BusinessTimes Frankton Peninsula | August 2010
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COMMITTED TO CLIENTS, TRANSPARENCY and INDEPENDENCE Taxation Consultants
Strategic Wealth Management
Business Advisors
Investment Consulting
Superannuation including self management
Super & Pension Strategies
Auditing & Corporate governance
Self Managed Superannuation
Budgeting & Cashflow
Personal Risk Insurances
Bookkeeping & Payroll
Estate Planning & Business Succession
Tel. (03) 9781 3155
Level 1 405 Nepean Highway Frankston PO Box 430 Frankston, Victoria 3199 Facs. (03) 9781 4859 Email: info@flinderspartners.com.au Web: flinderspartners.com.au August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 21
THEATRE
Putting some fire into Twelfth Night DIRECTOR Lee Lewis (Love Lies Bleeding, Stoning Mary) retells Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night against a background of our fire-ravage world in which Viola has lost her twin brother following a natural disaster. She and her fellow-survivors have taken shelter in a community centre for the night, and discover a copy of Twelfth Night. To help Viola get through the dark hours until she can resume the search for her brother, they use salvaged belongings brought with them to enact the play.
In rehearsal for Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of Twelfth Night.
Win two tickets to see Bell Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, courtesy Frankston Arts Centre and BusinessTimes. Send your name and address on an envelope to: Twelfth Night/Business Times Competition, Frankston Art Centre, PO Box 490, Frankston, 3199, or drop your entry at the Box Office, or email your contact details to competition@frankston.viv.gov.au Add “Twelfth Night/Business Times Competition” in the subject line. Closing date: Friday 13 August; draw Monday 23 August. Please indicate if you do not wish to join our mailing list.
ABOVE: An embrace by Elan Zavelsky (Orsino) and Andrea Demetriades. ABOVE RIGHT: A word to the wise – Max Cukken (Feste) has the ear of Kit Brookman (Olivia). RIGHT: Andrea Demetriades. FAR RIGHT: Elan Zavelsky rehearses lines for his character Orsino.
Bell Shakespeare
Twelfth Night By William Shakepeare
Directed by Lee Lewis
August Thursday 26 @ 1pm* & 8pm* This new production by Bell Shakespeare brings a bit of magic and a surprising twist to Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy of mistaken identity, deception and desire – the sort of thing that can happen when a man looks a little too much like his sister. Orsino is head over heels with Olivia, but she’s too busy mourning her dead brother to notice. Meanwhile, her steward is trying to run a strict household while grappling with sexual frustration, and her boozy old uncle is chasing the maid and generally causing trouble. Into this mayhem enter the twins – one male, one female – equally lovable but a little too hard to tell apart... With Adam Booth, Kit Brookman, Max Cullen, Andrea Demetriades, Brent Hill, Ben Wood and Elan Zavelsky Frankston Arts Centre Tickets & Enquiries: 9784 1060 or www.artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au * Captioned performances
Supporting Regional Communities
22 | BusinessTimes Frankton Peninsula | August 2010
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NETWORKING
DIARY AUGUST
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BUSINESS CHAMBER
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FRANKSTON Business Chamber’s June Networking night was hosted by recycled plastic products manufacturer Replas in Carrum Downs. Replas was celebrating a national recycling program involving Coles and schools throughout Australia. 1.Kevin and Carolyn Johnson, of CMJ Solutions, Max Coulthard, acting program manager, Monash University, Repas owner Peter Patterson (dressed for the occasion), and Russell Martin, postal manager of Seaford Business Centre. 2. Edy Wilfling, of Pragmatic Training, Ashlee Banks, of Fairfax Media, and Ron Chowanetz, of Money Resources Group. 3. A smart trio with their copy of BusinessTimes, Richard Uglow, of Coles, Jonathan Reichwald, Frankston CAD Place Maker, Frankson City, and Eiji Fujihara, managing director of Wolter Steel, Seaford.
‘TIMES’ AWARD TAMARA Reid (RIGHT) has won Mt Eliza Secondary College’s top business student award presented by BusinessTimes and Monash Peninsula Business Associates. The award was presented on July 20 by BusinessTimes managing director David Hilet (right) and Peter Krueger, Deputy Head, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Peninsula Campus. Tamara received $200 from BusinessTimes in the school awards organised by Monash Peninsula Business Associates. Tamara also received tickets to Twelfth Night, courtesy Franston Arts Centre.
Hot Deals Expo Tuesday, August 17 5 – 8.30pm Frankston Arts Centre 35 Davey Street, Frankston *(FBC) Managing Legal Risks in Business: Keith Hanslow, Partner, Millens Lawyers. Tuesday, August 24 Breakfast: 7am – 8.30am Brooklands of Mornington 99 Tanti Av, Mornington Call Tony Woods, 0418 374 330 **(PBN)
SEPTEMBER Networking Night Tuesday, September 21 5.30 – 7.30pm Brooklands of Mornington Tanti Av, Mornington (FBC) Email Marketing: Sue Pejic @ Just Ask Sue Tuesday, September 21 10.30 am to noon Benitos 1196 Nepean Highway, Mt Eliza Call Tony Woods, 0418 374 330 (PBN)
OCTOBER
FLINDERS PARTNERS
FLINDERS Partners (ABOVE) had a professional development day at Melbourne Business School, Mt Eliza, on July 21. At morning break are Mark Taylor, Carolyn Heale, guest Marianne van Dorslar, Ann Massina and Michael McCarthy.
FRANKSTON ROTARY
MARTIN James, president of the Rotary Club of Frankston (LEFT), with guest speaker Cecilia Witton, of the Western Port Biosphere Reserve, at Frankston International.
Corporate Golf Day Friday, October 15 11.30 am Long Island Golf Club 161 Dandenong Rd, Frankston (FBC) Networking Night Tuesday, October 19 5.30 pm Frankston High School Towerhill Rd, Frankston (FBC) Human Relations Made Easy for SMEs: Robyn Anderson, HR Navigation Australia Tuesday, October 19 6-7.30 pm Frankston International, 389 Nepean Highway, Frankston Call Tony Woods, 0418 374 330 (PBN)
NOVEMBER
The Mornington Peninsula’s Commercial Lawyers Professional expertise distinguished by personalised service
www.carrollgoldsmith.com.au
24 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
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5975 7588
BUSINESSTimes and Galaxy Print and Design graphic artist Melanie Larke and managing director David Hilet at Mornington Peninsula Gourmet’s award night. Galaxy was a sponsor of the awards.
Networking Night Tuesday, November 16 5.30 pm Le Mans Go Karts 11/55 Waterview Close, Dandenong South (FBC) AGM & Christmas Break-up Tuesday, November 16 6 to 8.30 pm Frankston Lifesaving Club Call Tony Woods, 0418 374 330 (PBN) *(FBC) Frankston Business Chamber **(PBN) Peninsula Business Networking
MEDIA
Toiling toward health Michelle Blake, of The Sports Injury Clinic, presents the first of a two-part series on developing a healthy workplace , as well as strategies to improve the culture of health and wellbeing. A workplace health and wellbeing program should aim to improve the general health of workers, both for the benefit of the worker and the business. Programs differ in cost and size and this simple guide is a basic approach which is easy to introduce without great expense. Productivity and profitability Employing workers means relying on human resources for productivity and profitability. This is an imperative for all business. We rely on individuals for the ongoing operation of our business and this requires an investment to promote a motivated happy, healthy environment. Getting Started A healthy workplace requires commitment from both management and workers. A program or initiative supported by management is more likely to see greater engagement and involvement from workers. Commitment from both staff and management contributes to a positive culture. Management should openly support the program and ‘walk their talk’. Also, staff members must understand the rationale behind and work health initiative. From a management perspective, the objective might be about improved productivity and positivity, while for the workers, the
Carley Advisory commenced on 15th May this year when after 21 years with what was the final machination of Marriott & Jennings, now Flinders Partners Group, I began life as principal of my own accounting practice. I have been joined by several former employees of Flinders Partners Group and we are continuing to work in the areas of Business Management and Consulting, Corporate work including all ASIC related matters and all aspects of Taxation including preparation and lodgement of returns.
objective may be about having a better lifestyle and better work/life balance. Any program should target both objectives. Workers should be involved from the start so that programs are inclusive and relevant. This approach will also help to engage the maximum number of participants. Make sure workers understand why the program is valuable. Visual cues like posters and emails that stay on message can help. Encourage the involvement and ideas of workers to determine what initiatives are important to them and explain how the program will operate. A 2007 survey of 100 businesses identified that 76 per cent of workers believed work intruded on their ability to have a regular exercise program. Subsequently, workers had a negative attitude to health and fitness in the workplace. A shared vision with simple strategies promoting exercise can help change work place attitudes to health and fitness. Management’s contribution might be as simple as committing some time to getting started. Workers can help with a staff survey identifying program preferences. Along with an understanding of staff issues, an audit of workplace facilities like showers and kitchens and policies (such as flexible work time) will help identify changes likely to be embraced by staff. It is important to keep it simple, with strategies tailored to your organisation’s needs, workers’ interests and available resources. Such a program might involve
Meryl, Belinda and Debbie are all known to clients and for those of you who have been clients since I arrived on the Peninsula Meryl has been a constant over all those years. We are hoping to continue with our many loyal clients and grow the Practice with your help. We are currently sharing offices with PPR Recruitment, a recruitment consulting firm, located on the first floor at 405 Nepean Highway Frankston. If the address sounds familiar it is as we are adjacent to the offices of Flinders Partners Group.
just one or a combination of inexpensive strategies that link to the issues identified in your workplace. It could include: • Educational material and other information on health and wellbeing issues via email, posters, notice board, newsletters. • Information sessions on ‘how to’ engage in a stretching, back strengthening program as well as items in the workplace to help reduce muscle tightness, pain. ( wheat packs, trigger point balls, fitballs, pilates mats) • Encourage before and after work onsite exercise sessions, like a lunchtime walking group or a simple ‘pedometre challenge’ Identify issues, establish benchmarks and follow up Survey information obtained from employees is used to identify issues across the employee group. Support for staff to identify individual issues (formal health checks) can be done as part of the program (in a confidential environment with trained professionals). Follow-up employee surveys every six to 12 months is a way of evaluating progress. This evaluation will help you to continually improve program content and make sure it is making a difference. Programs can also be evaluated using other measures, including sick leave, absenteeism, medical assessments, fitness testing or progress against a workplace audit tool. • The second part of this series will explore assessing the workplace as well as establishing a checklist to manage a healthy workplace program. *Michelle Blake is an experienced physiotherapist who has worked for 20 years in Private Practice at The Sports Injury Clinic.
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With clients throughout Australia and South-East Asia, we are able to advise on international issues along with domestic matters. Corporate Governance is also an area where we are happy to look at closely held corporate entities, not for profits, and unlisted public companies. We are only a call away on 03 9783 5899 or email michael@carleyadvisory.com.au
August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 25
Advertising feature
Shares and tax
ATO warns on super tax dodge The Australian Tax Office has warned it has looked at self managed super fund (SMSF) trust deeds that include clauses seeking to avoid excess contributions tax. Excess contributions tax is payable when an individual’s super contributions in a financial year exceed certain thresholds known as contributions caps. Under the arrangement a clause is inserted into the SMSF trust deed to restrict the trustee from accepting all or part of a contribution if it would cause the member to exceed a contributions cap. If the trustee does accept the contribution the trust deed directs the trustee to hold the contribution in a separate trust, even though the amount has been treated as a contribution and mixed with other assets of the super fund. Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo said the ATO considers that these amounts represent super contributions. “These clauses are an attempt to avoid the excess contributions tax if they exceed the relevant cap, even though the amount in question was clearly intended as a contribution and was treated as part of the super fund by the trustee,” Mr D’Ascenzo said. “The ATO has reviewed these arrangements and considers that they are ineffective. The member may still have to pay excess contributions tax on these amounts, even if the trustee repays the amount back to the member. They may also have to include the amount repaid to them in their assessable income for the year. “Anyone involved in or considering these arrangements should be aware that they face close examination by the ATO.” Mr D’Ascenzo said.
Training our future hospital professionals Something new is coming to Frankston. The Old Cinema Restaurant (as part of the Boulevard Events Centre) is joining forces with Pragmatic Training to open a community focused training cafe - the OCR Training Cafe. The OCR Training Cafe is a new initiative for Pragmatic Training, which will provide local residents the opportunity to gain the experience and skills required to make a career in the hospitality industry. Teaming with local community organisations and companies, Pragmatic Training is increasing access for local residents to training and job opportunities in Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula. Undertaking a 12-week intensive training course, participants in the program will gain first hand experience in commercial cookery and kitchen operations, while providing them practical and direct experience working in a commercial kitchen, customer service and events environment. The students will be required to undertake theory and practical classes, developing experience for food preparation, a broad range of cooking styles, food service, barista techniques, responsible service of alcohol and customer service within a fully functioning cafe and restaurant environment. On completion of the training students will gain a Certificate II in Hospitality and Certificate II in Kitchen Operations, providing them the tools to become highly effective and successful hospitality employees. On completion, students will be encouraged to participate in further studies in cooking apprenticeships within the local region. Initially opening for lunch on Thursday and Fridays from August 12, the OCR Training Cafe is a relaxed and inviting space. Patrons will be able to indulge in a quick dining experience to fit in with busy lunch breaks with a choice of gourmet sandwiches and baguettes, or dine at their leisure and soak up the ambience of the cafe by enjoying a sit down meal. The menu will focus on providing great value, quality food that will be constantly updated to match seasonal produce and the learning outcomes of the students. Pragmatic Training’s vision is for the cafe to become one of the key training and learning steps for professional hospitality staff on the Mornington Peninsula. For further information or to book a table call Pragmatic Training on 8796 0111 or visit www.pt.edu.au/cafe. Pragmatic Training is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) delivering nationally recognised Training qualifications throughout Australia since 2003. The training strategies utilised by Pragmatic Training engage and challenge students in their learning, while providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary to fulfil relevant industry roles. Pragmatic Training has over 35 qualifications on scope in hospitality, business services, training and assessment, community health care and children’s services. The registration number of the organisation is No. 121391.
people people people people people people people
in in in in in in in
03 9781 4442 | www.ppr-recruitment.com.au dolphin house | 405 nepean hwy frankston victoria 26 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
finance & accounting manufacturing logistics & warehousing transport sales & marketing administration property & law
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TAX issues associated with owning shares can at times be mindbogglingly difficult to understand. But a new book offers the promise of being a practical guide to unravelling all of the umpteen taxation rulings that you’ll need to comply with the moment you start buying shares. Building Wealth and Loving It explains in simple terms core tax principles with numerous tax tips, potential traps and practical case studies to reinforce the learning process. It provides all of the key share taxation information that traders and investors need to know to successfully and profitably manage their share portfolios Written by Jimmy B Prince, a fellow of the CPA, the book references taxation publications, tax rulings and tax determinations that tax professionals use to solve specific problems Prince is also a university lecturer and author of several investing books, including Tax For Australians For Dummies
managing
Towards leadership What does it take to be a great leader? What should I do to prepare myself to be a senior business leader? These are key questions often asked by aspiring students as they struggle with decisions needed to shape their qualifications towards their future dreams. These questions remain key dilemmas throughout careers as there are many crossroads where choices must be made. These crossroads arise more often than many people would like, but at each crossroad a choice is made that will significantly impact on your potential for senior leadership positions. In my experience this was a question that remained unanswered for too many years and, in a major global corporation, had too many conflicting opinions. After a year of discussion and debate among our global executive team, the conclusion was that there are five specific areas of assessment to evaluate each individual’s potential for executive leadership. Obviously, this was in the context of a global corporation with over 120,000 employees in over 50 countries, but the principles behind this leadership model are very easily adapted to the small business context here in Australia. The five aspects of our leadership model were: • Delivers outstanding results • Personal attributes • Business acumen • Experience • Learning There is an old adage that “tomorrow’s power comes to those who solve today’s problems” and this is still very true today. While your personal track record of achievements and results will be a major part of the final evaluation, it is increasingly important to also understand how those results were achieved. Clear success in leading a process with substantial complexity to deliver an exceptional result is most valued today. Personal attributes are those characteristics that are developed very early in a person’s life and are influenced greatly by their family, their schooling and their social experiences as a teenager. They include personal values, cognitive intelligence, and emotional intelligence. Work ethic and desire to do the very best are very important as is willingness to take risks.
Hamish Petrie* Business Consultant
‘Ideally, future leaders will be given the opportunity to gain experience in many aspects of business in their early careers.’ These early characteristics usually stay with the person through the rest of their lives so it is very important to ensure that these are understood and accurately evaluated. Business acumen is learned through study and experience and is usually the focus of advanced business degrees. Customers are the starting point for any business and obsessing about their needs is a critical skill. Understanding financials with a focus on cash flow, the bottom line and the balance sheet are important. Non-financial parameters are critical in today’s businesses so it is important to understand safety and environmental indicators, employee wellbeing, and even the societal impact of your business. With well developed business acumen you can sift through the many dimensions of a business and choose the critical variables that will support your strategy and deliver the key outcomes that you need in your nominated timeframe. Experience has no substitute. To be a great leader today, a variety of experiences can lead to better results as you are more likely to understand how to motivate your people to satisfy the needs of your key stakeholders, including customers, owners, suppliers and financiers. Ideally, future leaders will be given the opportunity to gain experience in many aspects of business in their early careers. If you can combine experience in manufacturing, sales, and functional support areas with experience in different business niches then you will be well equipped to understand all aspects of any business. Getting the right opportunities
early in a career can be very difficult, but the early development of a successful track record will help, even if this is derived from experiences outside the business world. How a person learns is a major point of differentiation between individuals, yet it is often overlooked. There are many competency models used to evaluate people for leadership positions and most consultants have their own versions. However, many of these do not include learning styles. Usually, younger people are prepared to step outside their comfort zone and take a risk, but this appetite to learn often diminishes with time, although it can be restimulated by a new assignment. Motivation for learning can be driven by external events but the best results come when the person has the internal drive to learn. A person who can learn to stimulate an organisation’s creativity as they learn is heading towards becoming a great leader with a positive learning shadow. Living your life outside your comfort zone is, by definition, uncomfortable, but it is the path to maximise your learning and growth. So you see that most of these dimensions are in the control of the individual, but it does require support from someone in their organisation’s leadership group to take a risk to give them an opportunity to learn and grow. Coaching and mentoring are useful processes to help younger people accelerate their learning and many businesses today are using these processes to great effect. The toughest part of building a great career is having a family situation that is supportive and willing to accept the consequences of your career choices.
Action planning questions: • Have you developed an intolerance of mediocrity and desire to be the best? • What gaps do you have in your business acumen and how will you close them? • Do you enjoy being uncomfortable as you learn because of the knowledge that you are growing? • Can you identify and help a high potential person in your business, today? *Hamish Petrie had a 37-year corporate career including 29 years with Alcoa Inc. His last position was as VP–People and Communication for the global Alcoa corporation based in New York, NY. He can be contacted at hamish@nitroworld.net or on 0404 345 103.
August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 27
LAW
Caught in the web of unfair preference Any small business may have to face the situation where one of its customers becomes insolvent and is placed into liquidation. Adding insult to injury, the liquidator may then demand repayment of monies received from that customer before the liquidation. The law states that where a creditor receives payment towards a debt within six months before a company being placed into liquidation, that payment (or payments) may be recovered by a liquidator as an unfair preference payment. The principle behind the law is that if a company is insolvent and can’t pay its debts, then all of its creditors should share equally in whatever money is available. If all of the available assets are paid to some of the creditors shortly before liquidation, then those creditors have received a preferential benefit as against those creditors who did not receive payments. If a preference claim is made, a business may rely on a defence if it can prove that
Danielle McCredden* Lawyer
the payment was received in good faith in the ordinary course of business and without any suspicion that the company was insolvent at the time that the payment was received. The defence can be difficult to prove, as any evidence that the company was having trouble paying invoices on time is arguably an indicator that the creditor knew or ought to have known that the company was insolvent. Payment of invoices outside of terms, payment by instalments and demands or other enforcement efforts by the creditor
may all point to a suspicion of insolvency. Unfortunately, in many industries and businesses, many of these elements are a typical feature of many credit relationships. However, if you are facing a demand for repayment of a preference, the situation is not hopeless. There are factors which you can rely on to argue that payments received were not preferences or to reduce the potential amount which might be claimed as a preference. This includes situations where the business relationship operates as a “running account” with debts and credits over the course of time, or for example where cash on delivery payments form part of the arrangement with a debtor. If you receive a letter of demand or a court process in relation to a preference, it is important to get immediate legal advice so as to maximise your prospects of a good outcome. Most preference claims are settled by negotiation and, even if you are likely to be unable to rely on the defence, a significant discount on the claim may be available. *Danielle McCredden, Partner, White Cleland Lawyers. djm@whitecleland.com.au Tel: 9602 4022
Securing digital certificates and keys for online transactions many companies securing their online transactions use public key cryptography – digital certificates and a pair of unique ‘keys’ identifying a business or individual involved in a transaction. This is the system used by the Australian Tax Office when tax documents are submitted electronically. Digital certificates and keys provide a strong degree of security for electronic business. However, as with any security device, they can be compromised if not protected properly. When using digital certificates, a major concern is to make sure that only the person or business they identify can access and use them. For instance, if the key issued to a user is simply stored as part of their email program, anyone with access to their personal computer (PC) will be able to send or tamper with emails. If the machine is connected to the Internet, this might happen even if someone doesn’t have physical access to the machine. A basic method of protecting stored keys is to assign them with 28 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
a password. When a user wants to sign a message, they enter the password to make the key available. However, a skilled hacker might be still able to read the key from the PC without knowing the password. A more secure method of protecting a private key or certificate is to lock it into an electronic smart card which can be accessed on a PC through a smart card reader. A smart card is usually password-protected as well, so that simply having possession of the card does not enable anyone to use it. This is costlier because it needs a smart card reader added to the PC. A similar approach uses a hardware ‘token’ which plugs into the USB (Universal Serial Bus) port found on most modern PCs. These tokens are compact and because most new PCs have a USB port they don’t need a separate reader.
who does not already understand the code. Encryption - The process of applying cryptography to an email message or document so that it can be safely transmitted over networks such as the Internet. Digital certificates - An electronic file that contains information which uniquely identifies an individual or business when using online services. Public and private keys - For maximum security, digital certificates are used in conjunction with public and private keys. When a message is encrypted, the system uses both a public key (which is freely supplied to anyone who needs to receive information from the sender) and a private key (which is known only to the sender, and ensures that messages from that sender can’t be forged by others).
Cryptography - Converting information into a secret code, using complex mathematical algorithms, so that it can’t be read by anyone
From e-businessguide website: Department of Broadband Communication and the Digital Economy.
Terms you should know
MARKETS
Search for durable earnings
manufacturing practice and extended sea experience began to converge. It found itself the biggest in aluminium sea craft, particularly large ferries. Its design strengths grew as it had to deliver long life capability, speed, rapid loading and shallow water agility. It so happened that stable, fast conveyance of commuters and buses was not so different from US defence requirements for transporting companies of marines, armoured vehicles and all-weather helicopters. Hulls designed for quick crossings were precisely what the US Navy needed for hunting down cocaine smugglers and heavily armed pirates. Now that the Russian fleet is in moth balls the “Littoral Combat Ship” class is so central to US defence thinking that the US Navy is planning to deploy 50 or a sixth of its entire fleet and is about to announce the winning tender for a group of 10. The competing bid is a speedy Lockheed mono hull, but Austral’s sinister looking trimaran not only offers equal or greater speed, but greater fuel economy in all conditions. A win will see Austal in the headlines, but in any event the longer term investor should take the broader view. Austal’s two operating LCS vessels have won rave reviews and the US army is after 12 of its own. Other navies are also interested. Civilian orders are running at $1.4 billion and cash stands at $93million. Those are not bad ingredients for long range growth: big clients, cash, innovation and diversity of business.
In an increasingly short term world, the long horizon investor is always on the hunt for durable growth stories. They may not be big organisations, but ideally they must have an entrenched market share, a superior brand or a capacity for innovation and renewal that provides good margins as well as earnings endurance. Apple and Google are currently obvious giant examples, but scale can create its own issues. Kodak was once dominant in film globally, but arrogance or perhaps timidity delayed a shift to digital imaging. It is now a shadow of its former self. Until the Gulf disaster BP was a fast moving and innovative colossus, but it is – or was – too clever by half. Corners apparently were cut well before the “Deepwater Horizon” disaster and now the damage may be fatal all down the supply chain. Global mastery doesn’t even require a big home base. Finland’s Nokia tried its hand at many things: rubber boots, copper cable and electronics until a minor item, a communication device it devised for the Finnish army offered wider potential. Today Nokia is the world leader in mobile phones and “convergent devices” – well ahead of Apple – and it absorbed Motorola’s phone division just weeks ago. Local examples are thin on the ground, but we have a few. Cochlear commands 60-70 per cent of the hearing implant market globally, but even with this lead it still spends 12-15 per cent of revenue each year to maintain its lead. Computershare, the global leader in electronic share registry management, may seem to have a
Richard Campbell* Stock Analyst
Austral’s LCS – Littoral Combat Ship
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less technological mastery than Cochlear, but it still pours big dollars into R & D as, surprisingly perhaps, not all countries handle share and security exactly as we do. One size doesn’t fit all. A relative newcomer to this category is the WA ship-builder Austal. Over the past 20 years it has built more than 200 aluminium leisure craft and high-speed ferries and is now on the verge of generating a long stream of earnings that could earn it a place in conservative portfolios. For years Austal essentially built one-offs, but gradually a set of skills around design, aluminium welding,
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August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 29
MEDIA
‘‘
QUOTES
‘Even if he stands to make a buck at it, your average used-car salesman won’t sell some working father a car with wobbly brakes, then buy life insurance policies on that customer and his kids. But this is done almost as a matter of routine in the financial services industry where the attitude after the inevitable pile-up would be that that family was dumb for getting into the car in the first place. Caveat emptor, dude!’ – Matt Taibbi, writing of fraud charges against US bank Goldman Sachs over the sale of collateralised debt obligations. The Age, April 25, 2010.
‘We are ready to act. If I get a call on Monday on a $US10 billion deal and I like it, I’ll say yes.’ – Warren Buffet, CEO Berkshire Hathaway, talking to an investors’ meeting. The Age, May 4, 2010
‘Australia is on the brink of an offshore population explosion that threatens to change almost every aspect of our lives for the next 40 years. It may well decide who will own our country in centuries to come’ – Colin Fraser, article Empty Country a lure for the masses, Weekend Australian, July 10, 2010
‘...I carried you through the whole 1984-1987 parliament, insisting you look like the prime minister, even if your staff – the Manchu Court I called them – were otherwise prepared to leave you in your emotional hole.’ – Paul Keating, of Bob Hawke, replying to Blanche d’Alpuget’s book about her husband, Hawke, The Prime Minister. The Australian, July 15, 2010.
A play on words that saw Julia’s star ascend The Execution A Play in One Act, by Tony Murrell Characters: Kevin, a leader under pressure Julia, a deputy leader, getting more excited as the moments pass. Setting: June 23, 2010, Big Office, Parliament House, Canberra. Act One. Scene One. (Kevin and Julia sitting. They are sizing each other up across Kevin’s impressive leader’s desk. The head-counting by the leader’s hubristic acolytes earlier in the day clearly has given Julia the hump. She is impassive. Kevin is red in the face, slightly flustered) Kevin: Julia, I’m working towards an October election. I know that issues like climate change need to be sorted out. Julia: (Non-commital) Yes, Kevin. Kevin: Julia, I am now indicating to you that if, closer to the election, polling shows I am an impediment to the reelection of the government and if leading Labor figures like John Faulkner agree I am impediment, I will then voluntarily step aside and hand over the leadership to you before the election. Julia: (a little excited) I agree that this offer is sensible and responsible. Kevin: (sensing Julia’s excitement) Give me a moment to brief a couple of colleagues. (To himself) I think we have a deal here. (Kevin leaves and Julia, smiling, dials her mobile) Julia: How are the numbers? Right, right. Yes, got that. The Right’s right. Righto. (Kevin reenters. Before he has a chance to speak, Julia stands.) Julia: Kevin, I’ve change my mind about that alleged sensible and responsible attempt at a deal. I have been informed by my colleagues that you don’t have the numbers in caucus and I am going to challenge you for the leadership anyway. Kevin: Oh, Julia. (Snap to black). Later the same night the leader goes on television and says there’ll be a leadership spill in the morning and he’ll he recontesting his position. The capital’s commentariat is already squawking “Rudd is gone”. June 24 dawns and Kevin, presumably after doing a recount with his ever-decreasing circle of
30 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
supporters, does not contest the leadership and Julia emerges as PM designate. What really happened behind closed doors in Parliament House that Wednesday night will remain unknown unless participants in the discussions decide to talk. This little play is based on the words used in questions that veteran Canberra journalist Laurie Oakes put to PM Julia Gillard at the Canberra Press Club on July 15. It was vintage Oakes, dropping a “bomb” during a live broadcast where the PM least expected it and was left no room to “spin”. The old adage among journalists is never ask a question unless you know the answer. After 46 years in the game, including covering almost 20 federal elections, Oakes has the ears of most of the heavyweight poiticos and is generally considered to have nailed the scenario that saw a monumental power shift in Australian politics. It’s a scenario that drives home a point made repeatedly about Gillard’s driving ambition. Those watching the Press club theatrics saw a new leader cool under fire. The PM was never going to answer the question, but that not was the point of the Oakes’ probe. She replied: “I am going to disappoint you by not looking back. I’ve made it very, very clear that I will never be speaking publicly about my discussion with Kevin Rudd on that night. I think that’s an appropriate mark of respect between colleagues so it’s not my intention to canvass any matters that were discussed in that room.” Then Gillard quickly got back on to the Moving Forward mantra, already dubbed “MoFo”.
Oz iPad app ‘no. 1’ NEWS Limited CEO John Hartigan was ebullient about the launch late May of The Australian’s iPad app, describing it as “an enormous success – immediately hitting number two on the iTunes app chart”. The Australian’s app is the first dedicated iPad app for an Australian newspaper and it is the first News Ltd publication charging subscribers to read online. Hartigan was very upbeat with staff about the future of quality journalism and the willingness of readers to pay. “The value of good journalism has never been greater and demand for high quality news from credible sources is growing, not declining,” he said.
health
Damn cold, isn’t it? Biting southerly winds that go straight through to the bone. Frosty night air that creeps relentlessly into the bedclothes. In Chinese medicine thinking, cold is the enemy. Its chilling effect slows down metabolic activity, consumes the body’s fuel, and renders you more susceptible to invasion – by viruses and other winter pathogens. Your energy retreats deeper inside; you feel less outgoing, more inclined to hibernate. The bottom line is: life is warmth and activity. Death is cold. After all, fire is what began everything. Science’s prevailing view of the universe is that it all started with the Big Bang – one almighty explosion of fire and light that sparked everything. Without the universal “fire” that the Big Bang generated, and our sun continues to provide, existence would not be possible. The universe would remain an inert, black, empty, cold, dead place. In Chinese medicine philosophy, life – and health – is all about maintaining one’s “fire” and defending against the cold, right to the end. That’s why Chinese medicine is uneasy about many aspects of modern culture. Trying to translate a Chinese medicine concept into biochemistry is usually unwise, but it is possible to think of the oxidation processes that occur at cellular level and produce metabolic warmth in the human body as something like Chinese medicine’s concept of the life “fire”. In the digestive system, this metabolic fire enables us to break down and transform our food into a state capable of being absorbed through our gut. Many foods – and medicines – work against the digestive fire. Oral antibiotics are one example. Chinese medicine holds them to be very cold substances.
Cold is the enemy to see one about damage by cold. Maybe that’s because fire can kill you quickly; cold is a creeping enemy. (It’s kind of interesting that the very first clinical manual of Chinese medicine, which appeared about 200 AD and concerned itself with treating epidemic disease, was titled “Damage by Cold”.) Like medicine, many foods are energetically cold, too. By “energetically” I mean the effect that they have on your body – on those cellular metabolic processes. Ice-cream is an obvious one – it is cold in both temperature and energetic effect. In effect, it’s cold slime. In fact, most raw food – including fruit – is also cold in effect. Actually, in Chinese medicine we think fruit is grossly overrated as a health food, for this reason. It might be loaded with nutrition, but only if our gut has sufficient digestive “fire” to transform those nutrients into a usable form. At any rate, the earth does not produce fruit in the winter months, our bodies do not need the cooling and moistening effect that fruit provides in summer, therefore we should not eat it now. When the environment is cold and damp, we should be extra careful to guard our inner fire. Instead of fruit, we need to eat warm, cooked, nourishing foods, like stews, soups and baked vegetables, and to add spices to our meals like ginger, cinnamon, spring onions and chives. That way we can survive this freezing winter in good health and minimise the damage by cold.
Michael Ellis* Chinese Herbalist
They counter inflammation and infection (that is, pathological fire) but indiscriminately also damage the healthy, desirable heat-producing metabolic processes in the digestive system. Therefore they tend to cause cold-natured side effects: enzyme deficiency, poor absorption, loose stools, not to mention a weakening of the cellular activity that defends against other invading pathogens. Of course, in severe febrile diseases, where the body may be damaged by the raging temperature of pathological “fire”, antibiotics are powerful tools that can save lives. But they have been over-prescribed for lesser illnesses where their cooling effects are as damaging to health as they are beneficial to clearing acute symptoms. Virtually all of medicine’s pharmaceutical armoury is anti-inflammatory – that is, puts out fire. It tends not to consider cold as a problem. Even the centrepiece of our medicine – its tremendous skill at surgery – involves patients lying for perhaps hours virtually naked in a cooled operating theatre, while blood flow is restricted in the target tissue, inviting the onset of a cold syndrome. I’m not setting out to take pot shots at Western medicine, merely to point out that while we are relatively expert at guarding against damage by heat, we do not think much about cold. We see health campaigns about the risk of over-exposure to the sun, but we’re yet
• Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza. www.mtelizaherbal.com
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August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 31
feature
it
That Carolyn Kruger’s business has traced a steady growth curve since 1984 when she decided to “promote, not just depend on word of mouth”. She is the driving force behind Melbourne IT Solutions which began in 1986 on foundations laid some years before when a company employing her went into receivership.
By Keith Platt
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word
Using the driving analogy is no a cheap pun, as it also refers to Kruger’s love of cars, especially Nissan Skylines for which she formed and heads a club. “Petrol is in my veins,” she says. Kruger has five Skylines, including one that has a pedigree dating back to Bathurst 1986 and which is still being driven around the racetrack. She says making the right staff choices is a key to success in business as much as making sure whoever is behind the wheel of her racing Skyline is an expert. The evolution of Melbourne IT Solutions closely follows the dawning of the age of computers and their accessibility to small business and the home. After the failure of her earlier employer Kruger continued “doing data entry”, employing a few extra staff along the way. “People began to ask more about computers, so I morphed into that part of the business.” Since then it seems there may be no end to the services listed by Melbourne IT Solutions. “We offer everything in computers from supplying and installing the machines and their software to printer cartridges and running preventative maintenance contracts,” Kruger says while standing in her Carrum Downs office. The office - a module built inside a factory in Silkwood Rise - is home to 12 staff, including technicians and a customer help line. The technicians work on a variety of electrical equipment, including laptops, computer hard drives, televisions and car radio systems. They are carrying out repairs and readying equipment for installation. The rate of expansion has been so great that Kruger has split the business in two: one part concentrating on computing and the other dealing with audio visual. “Three years ago I bought the assets of two audio visual repair companies. They were doing warranty repairs for TVs and electrical goods and it’s been very lucrative.” Audiovision Electronics and Melbourne IT Solutions now run side by side and “compliment each other”. The secret to succeeding in each area is “hiring the right people”. “We’re not retail, and although they’re not our core business, customers can come in to buy a TV,” Kruger says. Melbourne IT Solutions also sells factory seconds on a wide range of products. A mainstay of the audio visual side of the business is repairs and
Carolyn Kruger in front of Melbourne IT Solutions’ new headquarters at Carrum Downs and (below) the workshop offering repairs for computers and audio visual equipment. PHOTOS: Keith Platt
customer after sale service for national clients including Target, Repco, Jensen car audios and Thomson Audio Visual. Customers of those two brands who need help find themselves speaking with someone in Carrum Downs rather than an offshore call centre. Kruger cheerfully volunteers the service is “not the cheapest”, but believes it has saved her clients much more than it costs. She realised that foreign-based call centres (the services of which have become the currency of comedians) are not popular with the public. “We fix problems for customers of Target and Repco - we’re their consumer help line - and as such have carved out a niche for our business. “It was clever of those companies to realise that Asian-based call centres are a real problem. “If customers don’t have a good after sales experience, they won’t buy from you again. It’s all about after sales service. “We do it right and have very good technicians who are able to make sure what we repair doesn’t come back.” Melbourne IT Solutions has changed premises four times in the past five years, each time gaining more space to keep up with its growing needs. The warehouse section of the new Carrum Downs factory is
fitted with shelving stacked with electronic goods. Space has been left to house entire containers. Kruger runs to a five-year plan aimed at achieving a $10 million a year turnover and to be recognised “as a dominant IT provider”. The choice of business name - Melbourne IT Solutions - is seen as one that “stands out as being professional, one that attracts business”. August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsua | 33
TECHNOLOGY
FlyBuys on iPhone FlyBuys has become the first loyalty program in Australia to launch its own iPhone application, giving its 10 million cardholders a new way to monitor their FlyBuys point balance and select rewards. FlyBuys General Manager Phil Hawkins said the application enables members to check their points on the go and click on a “bonus boost” button to see what special offers are available. It also features maps showing members the location of their nearest participating FlyBuys brand outlet, as well as a full list of FlyBuys’ 800-plus reward offerings. FlyBuys is Australia’s largest shopping rewards program and the fifth biggest coalition loyalty program in the world.
Web-based sales talk VIDEOVISIT, a web-based service extending professional quality live video contacts from purposebuilt videoconferencing rooms to everyday contacts, has been launched in Helsinki. VideoVisit is the first professional web-based videoconferencing solution on the market enabling connections between basic web cameras and highdefinition telepresence systems. Developed by Finnish company Netpresence Ltd, VideoVisit is positioned between phone and email contacts and face-toface meetings. VideoVisit will be marketed as a service that combines the efficiency of contact centres and the stronger brand and service experiences created through visual contact. Time slots for VideoVisits are booked through a “Book VideoVisit” widget placed on an organisation’s website. Once confirmed via an email booking note, the connection is opened at the agreed time simply by clicking on a link included in the email.
Head in clouds over computing directions Cloud is a metaphor for the internet but, when combined with the word ‘computing’, the meaning broadens like the heavens. A narrower definition of cloud computing is accessing virtual services over the internet. At the other extreme it is anything beyond your firewall. A clearer picture of cloud computing emerges when you consider IT requirements like greater capacity and adding capability without added infrastructure investment. This is where businesses enter the realm of cloud computing – and it extends to licensing and even training issues. Cloud computing is any service delivered in real time over the net which extends your IT system’s existing capabilities – whether it be free, subscription-based or pay-per-use. Wikipedia defines cloud computing as internetbased computing “whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid”. The online encyclopedia explains that cloud computing is the latest paradigm shift following the move from mainframe to client server in the early 1980s. “Details are abstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure ‘in the cloud’ that supports them. “Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the internet, and it typically involves over-the-internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the internet,” Wikipedia says. “The term ‘cloud’ (evolved from the) cloud drawing used … to represent the telephone network and later to depict the internet in compter network diagrams as an abstractions of the underlying infrastructure it represents. “Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online that are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and dats are stored on servers. Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access
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for all consumers computing needs. Major cloud service providers include Microsoft, Salesforce, Skytap, Amazon and Google.” In May American Dr Werner Vogels, vice president World Wide Architecture and chief technology officer of Amazon Web Services, addressed the phenomenon of ‘cloud computing’ at Web Forward, CeBIT Australia’s 2010 Information and Communications Technology conference in Sydney. He talked about the technology and the opportunities it provides businesses and governments. Cloud technology, he explained, allows users to store data not on a physical server, but on third party computers with access via the internet from anywhere in the world, anytime. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers. In the past, businesses were constrained by the limitations of their server, meaning that big business would essentially need to purchase a physically massive computer in order to contain a server big enough for their data spatial needs. With Amazon cloud computing, said Dr Vogel, customers can expand and decrease their space as needed, with a pay-as-you-go service dependant upon levels of usage. He said cloud computing eliminated the need to build complicated architecture which could be both costly and time consuming. And with automatic scalability in the higher end Amazon services, there is no need for worry about sudden spikes in usage, Dr Vogel was reported as saying. CeBIT Australia lists itself as the leading business event in the Asia Pacific region for Information and Communications Technology driving business strategy. CeBIT Australia is a platform for local and international manufacturers, service providers, distributors, retailers and buyers of Information and Communications Technology to meet and talk business, finding out how to achieve long and short term savings through technology-based business solutions
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Industrial acreage Nichols Crowder Property Solutions is offering a rare opportunity in today’s market – the chance to buy 68,795 m2 or about 17 acres of prime Industrial 3 zoned land by way of expression of interest. Marketing Agent Michael Crowder said that the property and 10 Speedwell St, Somerville, is one of the last englobo industrial land opportunities for sale on the Mornington Peninsula. Crowder said the client had prepared a tentative plan of subdivision showing 52 lots ranging in size from 982 m2 to 3854 m2 (STCA). The recently started Peninsula Link is five kilometres from Somerville which means that businesses should be able to access the freeway within eight minutes from the property. For further details, call Michael Crowder, 0408 358 926
Freeway and fancy A TWO-level office and factory in the heart of Carrum Downs is being offered for sale or lease by Crabtrees. The 1972 m2 premises are behind secure motorised gates and contain about 235 m2 of offices over the two floors. Features include ample hardstand and canopy area plus multiple RSD access. The premises are close to Eastlink, cutting travelling times to Dandenong, the city and the northern suburbs. Call Andrew Smith, 0418 358 700, or Tony Aminian, 0413 516 193, for details/ inspections.
Mornington milestone Price reduced for quick sale SITUATED in one of the most beautiful positions on the Mornington Peninsula in McCrae, this busy pizzeria fully licensed restaurant is sizzling along like the pizzas hot from its oven. With seating for 100 patrons and a long term lease, this business is priced for a quick sale. The restaurant has an extensive fit out and is situated in a unique strip. Sale price on application. $400,000 + SAV Contact Kevin Wright, 0417 564
This prime retail space at 60 – 62 Main Street is arguably in the best part Mornington’s main street is being offered by Kevin Wright Commercial Real Estate. It is the best building in the town with possibly the top business as a long term tenant. On all levels it is a fantastic opportunity to add a mjor freehold to a property portfolio or super fund. A market review is due in February 2011 and then every five years with CPI increases annually. The property has about 885 sq. m. of lettable area and a 13 x 10 x 10-year lease which started in November, 2007 Returns are $348,816 a year, plus GST and outgoings. The sale price $6,800,000. Call Kevin Wright, 0417 564 454 August 2010 | BusinessTimes Peninsula Times | 35
FEATURE
Tim Dash works in a vacuum to make what the client ordered. WORDS/IMAGES: KEITH PLATT
W
orking in a vacuum is not usually the best phrase to illustrate an outward looking business. But economies of scale bring some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers knocking on the door of Tim Dash’s Seaford factory, and the vacuum principle is one of the attractions. Being able to utilise the principles of a vacuum as well as produce the shiny, reflective bits of a car that attract customers to one model over another will ensure the motor men keep coming. Although he does work for them on a regular basis, Dash vividly remembers showing some executives the door. They have been back since, order books in hand, no grudges held. It may sound a bit twee, but Dash’s reflections on the company he and his wife Natalie bought four years ago provide an insight into a business that succeeds because of its intellectual knowledge: A knowledge he wasn’t keen on sharing with the car company’s representatives even though his dealings involve them showing him new model designs before they are released. Decor Engineering specialises in silver linings, or chrome plating. But the method used – vacuum metalising – requires just electricity and a few grams of pure aluminium. Gone are the cyanide based chemicals and large amounts of water traditionally associated with the chrome plating process. The technology that has been around for more than a century involves placing items to be be given a reflective surface 36 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | August 2010
in a reinforced metal chamber, extracting the air and then atomising a pure metal so that its minute particles settle, covering them completely and evenly. Dash likens the coverage to “moisture covering a cold window near a steaming kettle”. The technique is ideal for small volume items, which is where the car companies again enter the scene with such jobs as rebadging vehicles for specific markets.
The most obvious use of the “chroming” is for light reflectors, although the list also includes coffin handles, plastic surrounds and ornamental strips on car doors, candle holders, anything that requires a bright reflective surface. Unlike traditional chroming the vacuum technology does not require heat and is a “green” process that does not use chemicals or contaminate water as highlighted in the 2000 movie Erin
Brockovich starring Julia Roberts. Dash has silvered a Terminator and mannequin head “to see what they would look like”. He says his vacuum method can be used to apply a thin film of any pure metal. Branching out on his flight of fancy is not the indulgent pastime it seems. Knowledge of his product and ability to coat seemingly any item may lead to other income streams. While the motor industry has been good, Dash is also wary of its volatility and the unpredictable twists and turns of such tier one companies. While big volume jobs have been taken overseas the economies of scale dictate it is cheaper to stay in Australia for small runs. “But it’s wise not see the automotive industry as my mainstay,” Dash says. “Rising petrol prices had me looking for other things, even before the global financial crisis.” The GFC was an unknown that hit Decor Engineering just a few years after it was bought by Dash and his wife. “It was like everything else, you don’t know until you’re in - it was a learning curve. “But we got some new products. You’ve got to, it’s sink or swim. That’s why I’m pushing the technology further.” From this writer’s perspective Dash needs to be congratulated for (a) reading a book titled “Reactive Sputter Deposition” and (b) admitting he reads it at night, in bed. “It’s my bedtime reading and I can adapt things in it to move forward. I don’t really care how many atoms hit the plastic, I’m more interested in the outcome. “The research and development is great, pure science. We have to scale-up lab-based systems for use in the factory. “You can’t buy off-the-shelf for what we need. If you do, it’s a black box which you can’t decode because its intellectual property.” Dash is also working towards attaining compliance with European Union standards RoSH) to enable him to export products in the UK and other European countries. The regulations implement an EU directive which limits the marketing of electrical and electronic equipment containing specified levels
“...it’s sink or swim. That’s why I’m pushing the technology further.” of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. “We’ll be able to help Australian companies piggyback into Europe. The only thing we’d export directly would be masks and stencils.” Decor Engineering also specialises making intricate, long lasting metal masks (reverse stencils for covering sections of parts that do not need
painting) for hand painting or manufacturing processes using robots and precision batch painting. But it is the vacuum metalising that shows Dash’s go ahead attitude, even though some of his research and development ideas may not have the desired marketing bite: “In the end, everything can be silvered. We thought about doing a surfboard but, on reflection, decided that making such a big fish lure might not be the best idea.”
August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 37
NEWSWHEELS
Elegant, but snarly big cat Big sports machines are one important area in which the Brits can challenge the Germans and the Italians without feeling in any way embarrassed. Take the subject of this month’s road test for example. The Jaguar XF R – the ‘R’ tells us it’s from the high-performance division of Jaguar that tackles BMW’s M Division, Mercedes’ AMG and Audi’s RS head on – has just been fitted with a new heart. For 2010, the already good 4.2-litre engine from the previous XF R has been replaced by an all-new supercharged 5.0-litre V8 punching out 500 horsepower, 374 kW, and a very satisfying 625 Nm of torque. This stunning powerplant propels the big XF R saloon from rest to 100 km/h in a mere 4.9 seconds. Not so many years ago there were pure bred sports cars that couldn’t get off the line with that much alacrity. Acceleration like this makes overtaking ridiculously easy and ultra safe. The engine also makes a mockery of the low speed limits with which we are lumbered in Australia as it’s obviously keen to run at normal motorway speeds of 130 to 140 km/h. It’s not just the big push in the back the new Jaguar V8 provides that makes us smile when sitting beside this engine. Being supercharged means you don’t get the irritating lag that plagues turbocharged units. Put your foot down in the big Jag and it responds virtually instantly – you want the car to go faster and it does. Perhaps it’s the control freak in me, but I like it like that. Then there’s the exhaust note, a real cat-like snarl that’s big in quality as well as volume. The feel of this supercharged 5.0-litre is something you have to experience to really understand what it’s all about. This engine has the slight roughness in its
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Ewen Kennedy Motoring Journalist
throb that’s made V8s the preferred engines among muscle car enthusiasts since the 1930s. Jaguar’s engineers could have smoothed their engine out to the extent that you would barely have realised that it was there – but because they have a deep understanding of what V8s are all about deliberately chose not to do so. We love it. Sitting behind the new engine is a version of the ZF six-speed automatic transmission that we have admired in so many other cars – including our own home-grown Ford Falcon. This auto has been re-tuned to suit the needs of the sporting driver who wants to get the best from an R Jaguar. This results in very fast shifts that really get the best from the blown engine. Those looking for silky smooth shifting may be disappointed, that’s because some sacrifice has been made in shift quality in order to get maximum power to the road as soon as possible. For those who like having ratio control, the XF features F1 style paddles on the steering wheel. One on the left for downshifts, that on the right for upshifts. As is often the way, the paddles are set too close to the steering wheel, so you can’t get a proper
Lines of the R version of the Jaguar XF have been subtly modified from standard. This is one tough machine.
Then there’s the exhaust note, a real cat-like snarl that’s big in quality as well as volume.
grip on the wheel for the full 360 degrees. You don’t get this sort of performance without using extra fuel, but the engineers have done a pretty good job in the efficiency stakes. Expect your big supercharged Jaguar to use about 14 to 17 litres a 100 kilometres around town and when pushing it on your favourite stretch of winding country road. This will drop dramatically in easy motorway running and in gentle weekend cruising on the open road, expect petrol consumption to be as low as nine to 11 litres a hundred. The big Jaguar does not sacrifice ride and comfort for handling. The big cat grips, and grips hard no matter how hard you push it. The Adaptive Dynamics System monitors body movements 100 times a second, and wheel positions 500 times a second to instantly adjust for optimum handling and ride. There’s also active differential control which limits slip between the rear wheels. This British sports saloon really inspires driver confidence, but before pushing it to extremes always remember that physics will win in the end. Jaguar XF R is relatively conservative in its appearance. Its alloy wheels are 20-inch, and there are revised bumpers and lower front air intakes, sill extensions, bonnet louvers, four tail pipes and boot lid spoiler. There’s a ‘leaper’ – a chromed leaping Jaguar – on the middle of the boot. The grille and steering wheel centre feature the ‘roarer’, the roaring Jaguar emblem, leaving you in no doubt of the marque you are driving. The new Jaguar XF R is scintillating in its performance, but this is at little cost to comfort. The ride is slightly firm, but luxuriously comfortable, even across uneven country roads. This Jaguar is just as at home on the open road as in the suburbs. Although it’s perfectly comfortable in peak hour traffic, its real forte is eating up the miles on highways.
AT A GLANCE MODEL RANGE XF R 5.0-litre supercharged petrol four-door sedan: $204,990
FEATURES
There’s also active differential control which limits slip between the rear wheels
ABS Brakes, Air Conditioning, Auto Transmission, CD Player, Central Locking, Cruise Control: Dual Front Airbags, Front Side Airbags, Stability Control, Traction Control
SPECIFICATIONS (Jaguar XF R 5.0-litre supercharged four-door sedan)
ENGINE Capacity: 5.000 litres Configuration: V8 Head Design: DOHC, four valves a cylinder Compression Ratio: 9.5:1 Bore/Stroke: 92.5 mm x 93.0 mm Maximum Power: 375 kW @ 6000-6500 rpm Maximum Torque: 625 Nm @ 2500-5500 rpm
DRIVELINE Driven Wheels: Rear Manual Transmission: Not offered Auto Transmission: Six-speed Final Drive Ratio: 3.31:1
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES: Length: 4961 mm Wheelbase: 2909 mm Width: 1877 mm Height: 1460 mm Turning Circle: 11.5 metres Kerb Mass: 1891 kg Fuel Tank Capacity: 69.5 litres Towing Ability: 1850 kg with braked trailer
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES: Front Suspension: Double wishbone Rear Suspension: Multi-link Front Brakes: Ventilated disc Rear Brakes: Ventilated disc
PERFORMANCE: 0-100 km/h Acceleration: 4.9 seconds
FUEL CONSUMPTION Type: Petrol 95RON Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 12.5 L/100km
GREEN VEHICLE GUIDE RATINGS Greenhouse Rating: 4/10 Air Pollution Rating: 6.5/10
WARRANTY Three years/100,000 km
August 2010 | BusinessTimes Frankston Peninsula | 39
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