September 2011 by Keith Platt

business & LEISURE: Frankston I Mornington Peninsula | Dandenong

SEPTEMBER 2011 | $4.95 (GST inc.)

Traveller Bringing buyers back home MANAGEMENT

REAPING THE REWARDS OF A CAREFULLY CHOREOGRAPHED RETIREMENT

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A BULLION REASON WHY THE THEREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ANOTHER GOLD RUSH

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CONTENTS

who/what/where

Features What to watch for in the coming year

SEPTEMBER 2011 | $4.95 (GST inc.)

Travelling:

Business Times / ISSUE 17 / SEPTEMBER 2011

Traveller

Tourism operators seek market share

FRANKSTON / MORNINGTON PENINSULA / DANDENONG

Bringing buyers back home MANAGEMENT

MARKETS

REAPING THE REWARDS OF A CAREFULLY CHOREOGRAPHED RETIREMENT

THERE’S A BULLION REASON WHY THE THERE’S ANOTHER GOLD RUSH

Your new management career starts here!

GROWING PAINS

PLANNING RULES DELAY BIG PLANS FOR CENTRAL FRANKSTON

Other courses available include: Advanced Diploma of Management Advanced Diploma of Management (Human Resources Management) Diploma of Project Management

COVER: Arthur Ross is the master of overseas missions as chief ambassador for a group of Mornington Peninsula tourism operators. Diploma of Human Resources Management (BSB50607) Diploma of Management (BSB51107) Nationally recognised qualifications from $375* * Cost of $375 is for eligible students. Delivered with Victorian and Commonwealth Government funding.

For further information, call Pragmatic Training on 03 8796 0111 or visit www.pt.edu.au Provider No. 121391

BIGGER PLANS PUT MARINA ON ICE: P9

Departments Bizzquiz Busy Bites Networking IT: Test your backup Arts centre: Opera for everyone Business Directory

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NEWS

Optimistic outlook

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DESPITE job cuts (BlueScope, One Steel and Telstra) recruiter Robert Walters predicts “increased hirings” in the third quarter “across most Australian markets and regions”. The consultancy’s Market Updates said “new financial year headcount approvals and budgets coupled with the progression of several major projects, will lead to increased hiring of professionals across a range of disciplines and regions, including accounting, mining, IT and sales and marketing”. Managing Director – Australia James Nicholson expects “candidate shortages” and warns organisations are “missing out on their preferred candidates due to lengthy recruitment processes and an assumption that a role will be accepted without any work to really demonstrate how the candidate will benefit from accepting the role”.

KARIN Hann bought a set of golf clubs and took lessons after 40 years with the Commonwealth Bank. On retirement she was manager at Frankston, where she was involved in creating paperless banking. She spent three months on the road in Canada and the United States before coming home for some serious time on the greens and fairways. However, that was all put on hold – no doubt to the collective sigh of relief from competitiors on golf’s pro circuit – when she was asked to head the Greater Frankston Business Chamber, where she has been executive officer for the past four years: “That’s why my golf is so bad.”

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FRANKSTON is becoming recognised as a host of major events. The latest win for the city will see Frankston used in all three legs of the Ironman Asia- Pacific Championship. The 3.8 kilometre swim is at the cleanest and friendliest beach (Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria Awards 2011); the 180km bike leg folows the city’s streets to EastLink; and the 42.2km For all legal services a business and its people need run goes from Frankston to St Kilda. The 25 March 2012 Est. 1954 Ironman joins the annual Sandsculpting Australia exhibition (98,000 visitors); www.whitecleland.com.au Christmas Festival of Lights (15,000); Waterfront Festival (25,000); Pets’ Day Out Level 3, 454 Nepean Hwy Frankston 9783 2323 Latin Fiesta (10,000); Ventana (6000); and the BMX State Titles (5000). Level 8, 256 Queen Street, Melbourne 9602 4022

AN old light pole from Lonsdale St, Dandenong, has been transformed into a work of art to celebrate the city’s revitalisation. Robbie Rowlands’ sculpture “invites the community to reflect on the past, the process of change and shared memories”. It will be displayed in the pocket park between Lonsdale St and Palm Plaza for the next two years. “Placing it in close proximity to its original setting allows the public to reflect on its previous life and the role it played,’’ Rowlands, pictured, said. Temporary public artworks are being used as part of the Revitalising Central Dandenong project to enliven public spaces and promote key pedestrian routes between the market and station. Rowlands has previously contributed to the project through the artworks ‘The Offering’ –at a historic church in Robinson St in 2009 - and the Depot project at Grenda’s in 2008.

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September 2011 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 5

BUSY bites

Electronic logbook A NEW portable electronic logbook system to modernise and transform company tax reporting is about to launch into the Australian market. TeleMatiXx, by FleetPartners, is aimed at fleets whose Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) payments could rocket under the new flat rate regime announced in the budget when the statutory formulae for assessing the tax rose in many cases from 7 per cent to 20 per cent. The device records all Australian Tax Office (ATO) reporting requirements for the vehicle and does not rely on a GSM network resulting in no monthly data costs.

Music or tears A STUDY showing the economic benefits of the live music industry to Victoria may give more muscle to venues fighting planning laws. Data showed in 2010 more people in Melbourne attend live music performances than AFL matches. The venues contributed $501 million to the state’s economy, attracted 5.4 million fans (4.3 million at AFL matches). The report made no recommendation on easing amenity laws, but its findings are bound to be used against complaints from neighbours who don’t want to face the music.

Long hours link to drink RESEARCH has proven the existence of the stereotype hard working, hard drinking worker. A study by researchers at New Zealand’s University of Otago, Christchurch, shows long hours of work and alcohol addiction go hand in hand for both men and women. In fact, working at least 50 hours a week triples the risk of alcohol problems. The study used data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study which followed more than 1000 people born in Christchurch in 1977 through to age 30. Dr Sheree Gibb says the study into the relationship between alcohol and work aimed to examine whether working hours were related to alcohol problems in early adulthood. Data from more than 1000 participants at ages 25 and 30 showed longer working hours

were associated with such problems as frequent alcohol use and alcohol abuse or dependence. People who worked 50 hours or longer a week were 1.8 to 3.3 times more likely to have alcohol-related problems than those who were not working, and about 1.2 to 1.5 times more likely to have alcohol-related problems than those who worked between 30 and 49 hours.

Ombudsman acts on callers’ complaints IRATE customers have complained to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about repeated and time-consuming contacts with telecommunication service providers to try and solve their problems. The TIO research paper, Resilient Consumers, reported on a survey of more than 500 consumers who lodged complaints with the TIO between July and August 2010. The survey found: 55 per cent reported contacting their service providers five or more times before ringing the TIO; 54 per cent said they raised the matter with their service provider at least a month before contacting the TIO, with 31 per cent stating they had made a complaint more than three months beforehand; 60 per cent had spent three or more hours unsuccessfully

trying to solve their complaint (20 per cent spent more than nine hours); 50 per cent had contact with more than three different departments. The most common reasons for complaining to the TIO were because there was no solution offered by the service provider or a promise to resolve the complaint was not kept. The report found that once these complaints were lodged with the TIO about 90 per cent were easily resolved when referred to the right contact within the service providers. The report found that once these complaints were lodged with the TIO about 90 per cent were easily resolved when referred to the right contact within the service providers. The Resilient Consumers report is available at www.tio.com.au.

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Watch for pay, tax changes SOME of the changes that will affect businesses this financial year include: Paid Parental Leave From 1 July, businesses are required to provide parental leave pay to eligible long-term employees who have or adopt a child from this date. Centrelink will contact you if you’re required to provide the pay to an employee. You will then be required to register for the scheme. Once registered, funds for the leave will be provided to you before your employee’s usual pay cycle. The employee can choose to receive parental leave pay before, after, or at the same time as employer-provided paid leave such as recreation leave and employer-provided parental leave. Increases to minimum wage As part of the annual review Fair Work Australia conducts on wages for employees covered by the national workplace relations system, there are new increases to wages that took effect from 1 July. The changes include increases to: • modern award weekly wages by 3.4 per cent • the national minimum wage for adults to $589.30 an week, or $15.51 an hour • allowances under applicable modern awards • minimum rates for juniors, apprentices and trainees. The wage increases must be paid from the first pay period on or after 1 July. For more information on the wage increases and who they apply to, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website. Flood levy A temporary flood and cyclone reconstruction levy (flood levy) will apply to individuals for the 2011-12 income year. If you have employees

with an income over $50,000 in this financial year, they will have to pay the flood levy. To help calculate how much tax you will need to withhold, the flood levy will be incorporated into the new withholding tax tables you use to withhold amounts from their salary or wage. If any of your employees are exempt from the levy they may wish to lodge a flood levy exemption declaration to lower their withholding. There are also tax tables available for you to use for those employees who are exempt and have lodged the declaration, or they can be refunded by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) of any overpaid levy when they lodge their 2011-12 tax return. For more information on the flood levy, visit the ATO website. Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 Employers should be mindful of amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act which took effect from 1 July. The changes prohibit discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities for both men and women in all areas of employment, and establish breast-feeding as a separate ground of discrimination. Employers need to make sure they introduce measures to accommodate the needs of breastfeeding mothers in order to comply with the new amendments. Other changes include prohibiting sexual harassment by the use of new technologies such as the internet, social networking sites and mobile phones. For more information on the changes, visit the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

Office space online BUSINESSES unsure of their requirements when seeking new premises can more efficiently determine their office space needs with an online device developed by Ray White Commercial. Leasing director John Skufris said the online calculator had been inundated with hits since being introduced in Sydney. “Not only is it helpful to businesses to get the right size office but it also is the latest tool to stimulate workplace environments. “You can calculate the required size of your next office based on key indicators including number of staff and whether you need reception, boardrooms, meeting rooms, partitioned offices, utilities and storage space plus kitchen and break out areas.”

Retirement life A poll released by PRDnationwide shows 38 per cent of those surveyed would consider moving in to a retirement village when they reach that stage of life; 43 per cent would not move into a retirement village; and 19 per cent were undecided. Research director Aaron Maskrey said security is one of the main reasons retirees choose to live in a retirement village. There were 374 ($9.9 billion) proposed aged care developments in the pipeline for Australia.

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NEWS

State may be best bet on big issues INCREASINGLY, developers are turning to Planning Minister Matthew Guy to solve their planning problem. Mr Guy may hold the key to Frankston’s skyline if he agrees at some stage to intervene in plans for two high-rise buildings in Frankston. While the government through VicUrban is overseeing the redevelopment of Dandenong, control of Frankston still rests with Frankston Council. Designated by the state as one of six central activities areas, Frankston is undergoing a review of its 2005 TAFE to the Bay structure plan as part of its plans to “renew” the city centre. This is being done in partnership with the government. The other central activities areas are Box Hill, Ringwood, Footscray, Broadmeadows and Dandenong. Developers have long made it clear that they believe getting even one major project underway would provide a catalyst for Frankston’s “renewal”. For years the marina has been regarded as the silver bullet to spur on the city’s prosperity, with real estate agents continually promoting their wares as if it was already built. Now, a lack of deep pockets has finally persuaded council to get back to the heart of the matter – its central activities district. The council has extended a freeze on seeking developers for the marina at the bottom of Olivers Hill and turned its attention to the city’s commercial heart. The latest high rise proposals include the 13-storey Ario apartment block in Davey St, 20 storeys of apartments and shops in Nepean Highway and the Deague

family’s renewed interest in spending $50 million turning its Peninsula Centre into a “corporate hotel”. The Davey St project is held up by an appeal to the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal and outdated planning regulations saw the council forced to reject the plan for 20 storeys along the highway opposite the Peninsula Centre. The Ario development’s owner Ross Voci had asked the council to request Mr Guy to “call in” his application while father and son Sean and Greg Farmer say they expect their proposal for a 20-storey building to eventually be decided by the planning minister. Mr Voci said the delay in VCAT was costing him about $1000 a day in interest payments. Sean Framer knew the current planning regulations would not allow 20 storeys: “You always do get knocked back [at first] and the next process is to go to the planning minister.” The 60 metre high building proposed by the Farmers includes 357 apartments in three towers. Planning regulations set a 20-metre height limit. Greg Farmer said his family’s proposal was “a fantastic thing for Frankston”. “This would change the whole nature of the place, making this a very attractive area, something Frankston could do with. “I think Frankston is overdue for some decent activity like this. It would bring more people in close to the shopping centre, living in a high rise between the highway and the beach.” Meanwhile, council’s decision to moth-

ball the marina follows decades of wildly varying cost estimates, now ranging from $80 million to $200 million. The official statement released by Frankston Council said it had “recently resolved to retain the Frankston safe boat harbour project on hold for the balance of 2011, pending a reassessment of market conditions in early 2012”. The reality is that council’s failure to find a cashed up developer has now forced it to extend the freeze on its search. The pause will strengthen calls by the anti-marina lobby for council to commission the collection of data needed to assess the project’s environmental effects on nearby beaches. It is estimated the studies will take about two years, and involve tracking the littoral movement of sand, wind strengths, wave heights and currents as well as factoring in changes as a result of climate change. The “modelling” was a requirement of a state government-appointed planning panel in 2003. Council has probably spent at least $3 million on planning for the marina, including hiring consultants. Experts have predicted the 300-berth marina – which can cover 22.5 hectares and includes a 600 metre breakwater extending into the bay – could cause loss of sand on beaches as far north as Mordialloc and silt up neighbouring Daveys Bay. “Based on discussions council has had with prominent marina developers, a local proposal isn’t economically viable at the present time,” the mayor Cr Kris Bolam said.

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September 2011 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 9

COVER STORY: Bringing buyers back home

Dealer in destinations

Words & pictures by Keith Platt

History books have shown there has always been a link between trade and travel. Archaeologists dig up artefacts that were clearly made somewhere else, proving some form of handover, usually trading one item for another. Arthur Ross has been on 25 overseas trade missions in the past six years, but bringing home the goods for him is seeing increasing numbers of international visitors on the Mornington Peninsula. He is a dealer in destinations. Ross runs Ashcombe Maze & Lavender Gardens at Shoreham, one of seven tourism operators being marketed under the Explore Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula banner. The Explore group is a co-operative, or bundle, of attractions

which pays for Ross’s trade missions to persuade Asian-based travel agents to include the peninsula on their clients’ travel itineraries. “We’ve spent six years trying to get on agents’ itineraries. When we started, 100 per cent of them didn’t know the peninsula existed,” Ross says. “From their point of view the peninsula is a second or third tier destination. “The Asian market is all about relationship building, it’s very different to Europe. “On my latest mission in July I’d met about half of the agents before and about 90 per cent of those are trying to get the peninsula on their itineraries. “We sell the peninsula as a mixed destination with attractions in close proximity to one another.” While the mix of peninsula operators in the Explore group has changed since it began, it now includes a range of attractions that can be visited in one day or include an overnight stay.

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STAY WHERE THE BUSINESS IS! You couldn’t be more central. 10 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | September 2011

W: www.ramadaencore.com.au E: res.dandenong@ramadaencore.com.au 50-52 McCrae Street Dandenong VIC 3175

MOUNTING a combined marketing approach to overseas visitors are, clockwise from top left, Rye Hotel, Box Stallion Winery, Moonlit Sanctuary, Peninsula Hot Springs, Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm and Cape Schanck Lighthouse.

The Explore seven are Ashcombe Maze, Moonlit Sanctuary at Pearcedale, Cape Schanck Lighthouse, Peninsula Hot Springs near Rye, Box Stallion Winery, Merricks North, Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, Main Ridge and Rye Bistro & Café. Ross calls the group Mark III, reflecting the change in membership. An earlier member dropped out during one of his missions, creating problems with travel agents he had already approached and spurring him to extend his own business by planting fields of lavender, a flower sought out by many Asians, and one that does not grow in humid climates. He is yet to recover the loss of tour groups from Taiwan which,

since that particular trade mission, head for the Yarra Valley. The impetus behind the Explore group was to provide day trips for international visitors to Melbourne, hitching a ride with the marketing pitch already being made by national and state tourism associations. These government-funded tourism authorities, in Victoria and outside of Melbourne promote the Great Ocean Rd, Phillip Island and Sovereign Hill. The Explore group exploits this by stressing the nearness of the peninsula to the city and how it can be easily be added to day or overnight trips by using the Sorrento to Queenscliff ferry or making a relatively small diversion when driving to Phillip Island. “The locals probably know we’re here but international tourists haven’t a clue,” Ross says. “And people won’t come out of Melbourne to visit just one attraction.” The marketing approach evolved by the Explore group has been picked up by Tourism Australia as an example of how businesses in regional areas can be bundled and sold as a destination of choice. Ross: “The peninsula hasn’t got a Sovereign Hill like Ballarat or Puffing Billy in the Dandenongs. We had the chairlift, which was part of Mark I, but since it stopped running that’s $60,000 to $70,000 a year not now being spent on advertising.” The group was started by Ross and chairlift owner Richard Hudson. The Explore group is in close touch with Tourism Victoria and Mornington Peninsula Tourism. When overseas Ross is usually part of a group including representatives of the government tourism authorities. His “mission” to China in June included visiting tourism agents in Shanghai and Chongqing, an inland city of 8.5 million people. “Chinese visitors are time poor, they do all the iconic things – the Great Ocean Rd, Phillip Island or Sovereign Hill – all on organised tours,” he says. “The Malaysian and Singapore market is our strongest, with a big percentage being self-drivers. They are a mature market – 84 per cent are repeat visitors – and probably first came to Melbourne on a tour. “I believe the Chinese market, 15 to 20 per cent, is big on visiting friends and relatives, often to see their kids who are out here studying. “The kids then like to take them off the beaten track. “Mornington Peninsula has always been Melbourne’s playground, but slower to develop [as an overseas destination] than other Victorian markets. “I believe Chinese will become very big in the self-drive market.”

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September 2011 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 11

COVER STORY: Bringing buyers back home Ross said the Explore group is trying to “avoid being seasonal. Peninsula Hot Springs and Moonlit Sanctuary – year-round products – have added depth to the group.” The Explore group has no formal agreement to limit its membership to offering different activities and there has been talk of “adding members to lighten costs, although that could spread potential benefits too lightly”. Promotional material is printed in seven languages, two Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German and English. A DVD has been created for agents and the media. Tour groups responding to the marketing usually number 20 or 30 while a few come from cruise ships. Overseas agents book flights, accommodation and some tours. A $55 attractions pass sold by the Explore group would cost $100 or more if the attractions were paid for separately. Ross says the pass was originally launched with the domestic market in mind but has been well received by overseas tourists. He emphasises the need for businesses wanting to attract overseas visitors to be “internationally ready”, especially with future rates. “We’re already quoting rates for 2012-13 and they’re [agents] always asking you to hold prices down. Once in you’ve got to commit to the long haul.” Ashcombe Maze has been operating 12 years and receives about 50,000 visitors a year, 20 per cent from overseas. The numbers coming through the gate have changed little in the past decade, although an increase in product – meals, jams, honey, teas, essential oils and beauty products – has increased the yield a person. “The long term view is to take the focus off the maze by adding more gardens,” Ross says. “Gardening is the biggest recreational activity in the world and people come here to look for ideas. “The maze is popular with businesses for team building activities.” The biggest proportion of overseas visitors to the maze come from Singapore, followed by Malaysia, China, Europe, New Zealand and the United States. “China has the most growth potential and people from Singapore are the biggest spenders. “The high dollar could be challenging this year.” Trying to get business from duty free shopping tours is not that easy as the shops subsidise the shoppers’ trips and do not want to see their customers spending time elsewhere. The tour guides can also be paid to recommend where they should spend their money.

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NEWS

Point of commercial opportunity OUTDOOR activities retail, restaurant and accommodation businesses are likely to get the chance to open up shop at some of Victoria’s best locations if the state government accepts recommendations of the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission. The VCEC’s report being considered by Treasurer Kim Wells recommends opening up national parks to commercial enterprises. Opportunities at Point Nepean near Portsea could be close to being top of any entrepreneur’s list, with plans already unveiled by Parks Victoria for a cliff top boutique hotel, backpackers’ accommodation and a range of eateries. Point Nepean manager Stuart Hughes said expressions of interest in developing a hotel in thge park would be sought once the draft management plan was approved. He hoped the plan being “appraised” by state government departments and politicians would be approved “soon, in weeks or months”. The Victorian National Parks says any development within national parks should “focus on sensitive improvement of existing buildings or infrastructure, not new stand alone developments.” Parks Victoria’s draft plan for Point Nepean sees accommodation being provided in renovated existing buildings as well as in new structures.

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September 2011 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 13

NETWORKING

Economic forum NAB’s Economic Forum Breakfast was held at Frankston Arts Centre on 27 July, attracting about 200 guests. 1. Jacqui Colwell, state general manager of NAB Business with Alan Oster, NAB’s group chief economist. 2. Norm Cleland, part owner of Peninsula Hot Springs, with Mark Westwater, of NAB Mornington. 3. Peter Skewes, managing director of Jacobs & Lowe-Bennetts Real Estate, Mornington, and Evelyn Carrick, relationship manager, NAB Mornington.

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1300 numbers LEFT: Peter BennettHullin, owner of Telstra Mornington, hosted an evening at The Tanti Mornington to promote 1300 Australia, the provider of phonewords and phonenames. Peter (third from left) and Andrew Monteleone, of 1300 Australia (second from left) are pictured talking to invited guests.

Monash ABOVE: Monash Business and Econmics Peninsula Campus associates seminar was held at Steeples Mornington on Thursday 28 July. Above:Linda Suttie, of Jot Copywriting, talks to guest speaker Jacki Mitchell, of Brandstorm Pty Ltd.

Before work LEFT: Peninsula Business Breakfast at Barmah Park, Moorooduc, on Tuesday 2 August. 1. From left are Edy Wifling. of Pragmatic Training, with Robyn Cocks, of NAB Frankston, and Frankston MLA Geoff Shaw.

Your own banking team THE TEAM: Darren Nelson, Business Development Manager, Scott Hine, Relationship Manager, Toni-Anne Licciardi, Assistant Relationship Manager. Our team works across the small to medium businesses sector in the South East of Melbourne with our office based in Robinson St, Dandenong. BACKGROUND: Darren Nelson has more than 15 years banking experience and has been with Bankwest for about seven months. He enjoys all sports but mainly AFL, cricket and horse racing. A passionate Melbourne Football Club supporter Darren has a young family of two children under three years. “So work outside the bank is always busy, but always rewarding,” he said. Scott Hine has 20 years banking experience (CBA14 years and Bankwest six years) and a further four years in funds management with Australian Unity.

Scott enjoys cricket, footy – a Tiger supporter, Scott says he likes “pretty much all sports, movies and camping with the family”. His outside interests include Warranwood Cricket Club player/committee member, Tinternvale Primary School Council member, and courier to three daughters with sporting commitments. Toni-Anne Licciardi has more than 10 years’ banking experience in numerous roles. “I take pride in my work as we help people achieve their goals by providing optimal solutions that help them grow and strengthen their business. Tonie-Anne is a Magpie supporter who enjoys gardening, horse riding, netball, travel, local community activities and spending time with family and friends at Bankwest. COMMITMENT: “We pride ourselves on our service proposition and taking the time to understand our customers needs and requirements to help them achieve their goals.” – Darren Nelson.

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September 2011 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 15

IT ISSUES

Backup strategy NOW don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking the approach of the door to door insurance salesman here, but the word disaster is going to be mentioned a few times below. Let me share the number one statistic that keeps me awake at night, 93 per cent of all companies that experience “significant data loss” are out of business within five years, according to the US Bureau of Labor. The fact is that I’ve visited a handful of new clients recently and none of them have a valid backup. It’s definitely one of the first questions we ask because it’s one of our critical responsibilities as an IT company. In recent times, the idea of changing an expensive tape every night is very quickly being replaced by inexpensive hard disks (under $100 each), or even cloud-based solutions that automatically whisk away a copy of your data to a secure location each night. These strategies are simple, affordable and fairly straightforward, but let me share a different statistic with you now: As much as 60 per cent of corporate data resides unprotected on PC desktops and laptops. This is where things take a twist. How good is a backup if the data you needed was stored on a laptop that was dropped or stolen? It’s an interesting thought and, if you’re like me, your mind is quickly auditing exactly what is stored where. The good news is that we are not in undiscovered territory here and that many ways exist to sensibly protect this data. It’s more an important point for consideration in any solid disaster recovery plan. If this has raised more questions than it’s answered, feel free to pick up the phone and give me a call.

The only guarantee is you LET’S assume for a moment that your business is a step ahead of many companies out there – you have already thought about and implemented a backup and recovery strategy. This may have included implementing a simple backup strategy, or may be more wide ranging by including other areas such as disaster recovery, workforce continuity, business resumption and contingency planning. During a recent study by Gartner, there were some quite terrifying statistics that really drove home one key fact – a backup and recovery plan is only worth having if it is tested. In fact, disaster recovery plans are as critical as the backup plan itself. Knowing that your regular backup is successful is certainly a key element, but knowing the backup is going to restore and be a viable option in a disaster is critical. Here are the outcomes of a few recent disaster recover surveys: n 28 per cent of all recovery tests were fully successful: This figure is staggeringly low. Over 70% of all business who have spent time, money and resource on implementing a backup and recovery strategy are happy to admit in a survey that their recovery testing failed. n 11 per cent of businesses who performed a recovery test admitted that the exercise was cancelled because problems could not be resolved: Incredibly, one in 10 recovery tests, according to Gartner, are a complete failure. Or thinking about it another way, one in 10 businesses which have invested valuable budget in a recovery plan are completely wasting their money. n 50 per cent of businesses said that the recovery exercise encountered problems:

Backup is good, but not without regular disaster tests.

Exactly half of all companies would be in a very dire situation if they experienced real life data loss. n The remaining 11 per cent were not sure how the exercise went. My guess would be not very well, and not knowing implies a false sense of security: The message is simple. Once you have implemented your backup strategy – whether using traditional tape or an online backup service – it is essential to perform regular disaster recovery tests to ensure that every single server can be recovered within a timeframe that has a minimal impact on your business. By Matthew Gordon, Managing Director, Solution One (03) 5987 1565.

Not your average IT Company Local Computer, Network & Internet Specialists Solution One - (03) 5987 1565 Email: team@solution-one.com.au – www.solution-one.com.au

16 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | September 2011

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MANAGEMENT

Working towards quality retirement I STARTED to write these articles at the suggestion of a friend of mine who decided to start this magazine after retiring from his career job. Tony Murrell is the managing editor of BusinessTimes and he had this business idea to create a niche magazine focused on regional business needs. It was a great idea and, with the collective efforts of a small-dedicated team, the magazine is going well in its second year. The focus of my contributions has been to stimulate the leaders of businesses in this region with management ideas and processes that I have experienced in my career over the past 40 years. This month, however, I am going to take a different tack to share some experiences in managing personal priority setting in respect to how to manage yourself as you age and grow towards retirement. I decided to retire after a 37-year corporate career, which led me and my very supportive wife on a merry chase through four Australian states, to two addresses in the United States and 28 houses. As I passed through my mid-50s I had to really start to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up. With grandchildren appearing on the scene, it was going to be tough to decide to try to stay overseas. Once we decided to head back to Australia there were a myriad questions to be answered. One of the toughest was what to do with my career. Do I follow the example of many friends and take board positions as a transition phase from

Hamish Petrie*

Business Consultant © Hamish Petrie 2011

a full time career or do I step away from business and develop a new set of life skills that will help me as I age? In my final corporate role I coached senior executives as they approached the end of their career to try to help them prepare mentally for the transition to retirement. Many of them loved their jobs and not having a job scared them. It wasn’t so much not having the income, but it was the loss of the status, social networks and privileges that went with senior executive positions. Nearly all of the executives choose to take board roles, part time work or consulting work. While this was beneficial in keeping them connected to their old networks, it often masked the real issue that they were struggling to find an identity based on their own personal preferences and desires outside work. As I was working through this phase,

I read a book called “It’s never to late to change your mind” by a Sydney researcher Dr Michael Valenzuela. It is a study of the collective knowledge about dementia and provides great insight to the potential processes that impact on the aging of our brains and bodies. It had a big impact on me as it drew some conclusions about how our daily choices of activities have a huge influence on how we age. He concluded that we should assess our choices against three criteria: 1 Are they good for our physical well being particularly our heart. 2 Are they good for our mental wellbeing. 3 Do they keep you socially connected? Valenzuela evaluates a range of activities to be good for aging people and concludes that the best three are: 1 Dancing, particularly where there are choreographed steps to be remembered. Continued next page.

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MANAGEMENT

Continued from previous page.

2 Tai chi, as there are thousands of moves to be remembered as you become more proficient. 3 Sailing, particularly if you own and manage your own yacht. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hard to recognise that there was a lot of sense in Dr. Valenzuelaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendations as my wife and I have had a long term passion for sailing. We have had seven boats, from a 12 foot Windrush and to a 40 foot Jeanneau. Owning a yacht and using it successfully requires diverse skills and it is the application of all of these skills that will help you age well. These skills include operation and maintenance of the multitude of systems on a modern yacht, managing a crew (whether racing or cruising), navigation, provisioning, voyage planning and of course, managing all safety aspects. This input cemented my direction so I opted to concentrate on building a new

life outside the corporate world. We bought a new Beneteau 57 and started to learn how to operate it successfully. Over the past few years we have sailed it more than 15,000 nautical miles and competed in such races as the Hamilton Island and Magnetic Island race weeks. This has acted as a focal point for our family and friends who join us on most voyages. Sailing has helped us build a dimension to our lives that will live with us for many years to come. Maybe this is why Tony is sitting in our cockpit as I write this in Port Douglas, as we plan our next few days sailing back out to secluded anchorages off the Great Barrier Reef. How you handle your transition to retirement is really important and it is the personal non-financial choices that present the greatest challenge. Start early with your retirement planning and connect your financial and personal plans together. Research, read, discuss and find alternatives that will keep

you and your partner eager to get out of bed each morning to get into the new day for the foreseeable future. Oh yes, we do dance on the back deck. Action Planning Questions: 1 Do you have a timetable and financial plan towards retirement? 2 Do you have a series of activities, hobbies and preferences that will create a new passion in your life? 3 Have you committed enough time to research and decide how you will transition from full time work to complete retirement? 4 Have you evaluated your retirement preferences against the criteria developed by Dr Michael Valenzuela?

*Hamish Petrie had a 37-year corporate career including 29 years with Alcoa Inc. His last position was as VPâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;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.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CEO set for record term at shire MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has reappointed CEO Michael Kennedy for a fourth term, with a salary of about $320,000 plus benefits, including a vehicle. At the expiry of this latest three-year contract Dr Kennedy will have served 16 years as the shire’s top executive. The appointment was made in the face of some ratepayer opposition, but councillors decided Kennedy should stay, without advertising to test the market for other talent. The renewal sees Kennedy becoming the region’s second longest serving and second highest paid CEO behind the City of Casey’s Mike Tyler. Casey is the only one of Mornington Peninsula’s neighbours not to have had a new CEO since 1999. Tyler was appointed the first CEO of Casey in 1995 following amalgamation and reduction of Victoria’s 210 councils to 79. The shire had

one CEO before Kennedy, Warwick Dilley, who served 1995-99. Frankston has had three CEOs – Jon Edwards, Steve Gawler and the incumbent, George Modrich, appointed in 2008. Kingston has had two chief executives – Rob Skinner (1995-2005) and the incumbent, John Nevins. Greater Dandenong’s three CEOs have been Warwick Heine, Carl Wulff (pushed out in 2006 after announcing his intention to leave for the City of Ipswich in Queensland and was replaced by an acting CEO, former City of Springvale boss Bryan Pryce)

and John Bennie, who took on the job in 2006. As Ipswich CEO, Wulff is paid $303,292 plus a vehicle, superannuation, annual leave and retention payment. Although the seemingly automatic reappointment of Kennedy was unpopular with some ratepayers, Mornington Peninsula councillors probably saved a bundle. They were told by a facilitator that searching for other candidates would cost about half of the CEO’s annual salary. Weeks before the decision was made to give Kennedy a fourth term the mayor, Cr Graham Pittock, rebuked ratepayers saying the decision on the CEO’s future would be made solely by councillors. He said council was “very satisfied” with Dr Kennedy’s performance and rated it as being “very good”. At least four councillors wanted to advertise the shire’s top position.

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HEALTH

Dream weavers unravelled EVER thought about what a strange thing is our ability to dream? When you think about it, the dream mechanism in our minds is really bizarre. Why can’t we just enjoy a deep, still, black sleep while our body repairs our cells and rests our weary bones? What’s with the weird dreams? Evolution never produced a dud ability yet (that survived), so dreaming must be important to our health. As with most things, people in the West have some strange ideas about dreaming. A fully fledged therapy – dream analysis – became quite trendy in the 1970s and involved writing down your dreams upon waking then trying to make sense of them. As it turns out, a thoroughly pointless and misleading exercise. Every night, it’s like we’ve all got this great, private theatre in our heads. Showing in that theatre – in vivid technicolour – are replays and interpretations of the dramas, events and feelings of the conscious world. Rarely, however, are the events in our dreams rational. They are surreal. Dream events are usually not even physically possible in the conscious world. Dream sequences do not obey timelines or the constraints of physics. No sooner does some bizarre tangential thought pop into the dreamer’s mind than wham, it’s happening in the dream. That is because dreaming is a mechanism to protect our emotional health. It is the domain of the emotions. Every day in the conscious world we experience many things – encounters, conversations, conflicts, desires – all

Michael Ellis*

Chinese Herbalist

of which can generate an emotional “charge”. I like that term “charge” because that’s what emotions are like. They’re like a little packet of energy in our body-mind that we need to discharge. Often in the conscious world we can discharge those packets of energy as they arise – something sad happens we cry, dispersing some or all of that “charge”. But when the emotion is intense, or it’s not possible to express it, we need some other mechanism that helps us to do so. That’s when our internal movie theatre opens for business. Dreaming is a mechanism for maintaining mental health. It’s our attempt to discharge unresolved feelings and emotions. But here’s the rub when it comes to analysing dreams: They are the domain of the subconscious, not the rational mind. They are not “meant” to be remembered – or recounted – by the conscious mind. When we’re woken in the middle of a vivid dream, there may be a “snatch” of dream that is caught between the subconscious and conscious minds – like a frame still visible on the plasma screen. The conscious mind is tempted to “reconstruct” the dream from the fragment. Listen to anyone telling you

about their dream from the previous night, and it mostly follows a logical, rational timeline and sequence of events – just as it would in the conscious world. That’s because your friend is reconstructing their dream so it makes sense in the retelling– building a logical timeline and structure around those snatches of symbolic imagery that lingered on their internal screen. What they are telling you wasn’t their actual dream at all, but a rational reconstruction (like a movie loosely based on a true story). That’s one reason why dream analysis is pretty well useless. Enough sledging, though. Dreaming allows us to awake with clear minds, fresh to the new day, ready to tackle the future rather than having our energy bogged down in past turmoil. It’s well established that a primary symptom of depression – and in fact most mental illness – is dream-disturbed sleep. A person with depression often struggles to get going in the morning – to find the energy to tackle the new day. That is because, first, the restorative stages of their sleep cycle are compromised by their “movie theatre” failing in its job – maybe staying open too long – and second, they remain emotionally stuck in the past. In treating depression, one of the first strategies of Chinese medicine is to calm the mind and improve the quality of sleep. * Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza: www.mtelizaherbal.com.

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Opera for everyone WOULD be singers have the opportunity to realise their ambition by spending an afternoon with Victorian Opera’s music director Richard Gill at Frankston Arts Centre. They can sing arias, duets and choruses from Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Bizet’s Carmen, to Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. Sing Your Own Opera brings together aspiring bathroom baritones, secret sopranos and anyone who has a desire to sing. The weekend organised by Victroian Opera and the arts centre starts Friday 21 October with a Gala Concert at the arts centre conducted by Richard Gill. The night of opera classics will feature compositions from opera to Broadway. The next day will see a masterclass for vocal students led by Victorian Opera chorus member Angus Grant followed on Sunday by a do it yourself opera with Richard Gill. For details about Sing Your Own Opera visit www.artscentre.frankston.vic.gov. Hawthorn Store

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NEWS ®

Boral backs off

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BORAL asphalt has avoided a fight with the state government by abandoning its plans to build a bitumen storage depot at Crib Point. Former planning minister Justin Madden announced on 14 August 2009 he had approved Boral’s application, bringing a chorus of protests from residents, conservationists and the then Opposition. Hastings MP Neale Burgess late last month told the Western Port News he was pleased Boral had finally come out in public to declare it would not proceed with the Crib Point plan. Mr Burgess said he had called Boral general manager Tony Aloisio after the coalition won government late last year to let him know Boral would have to fight the government to get its plant. “Boral was made aware that the new government’s policy was that no industrial development would be allowed to proceed south of Hastings,” Mr Burgess said.

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Gold, a standard that’s undersold In the last 150 years they have been invaded three times by Germany. France also adjoins Italy, a country where taxes are semi-optional and the prime minister has a disturbing resemblance to a Camorra “capo”. The debt issues in Europe and the US may eventually abate, but we are talking years – anything from 10-20 - so our better gold producers should be profitable for some time. This creates diversification problems for superannuation trustees. Many stockbrokers retain a tribal faith in gold, but the official disdain has tended to filter down to the point that many investment funds, large and small, have little or no gold exposure. One obvious reason is the rise of the Australian dollar which has undercut the cash margin, but with the dollar at $US104 and the gold price above US$1600 Newcrest is enjoying cash margins of around $1000 an ounce. As its production rises by about 30 per cent and its cash costs fall over the next three years, even a retreat in the gold price should still produce solid profits as the $A is likely to adjust in sympathy. Gold is a complex place to be. Melbourne might have been built on gold, but that street knowledge has long since gone. The difference between placer deposits, saddle-back reefs, stockwork veins and copper-gold porphyries are no longer the talk of our dining tables. That may be something we need to quickly change.

THERE is an abiding hypocrisy about gold. When our central bank offloaded 197 tonness of the national bullion reserve in the mid-90s it was confident that gold had had its day. Richard Campbell* Stock Analyst

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expecting. Either way it is independent of particular currencies and paper debts. One of the ironies of the Australian discussion paper was that one rationale for the sale was that we had plenty of gold in the ground. Even that argument now looks thin when so many Australian companies are not exploring here, but almost everywhere else. Some recent discoveries in Western Australia are high grade and exciting, but minor compared to the massive discoveries by Harmony and Newcrest in Indonesia’s Moluccas islands. The sheer embarrassment of the sale means our Reserve Bank is unlikely to change tack and start buying, but individual investors need not feel so daunted. The US Federal Reserve is staffed by equally brilliant economists and retained its gold. So have the French.

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About a third was retained just in case, but the discussion paper supporting the sale said gold no longer played a role in international banking and the likelihood of a severe financial crisis occurring in the future was “remote”. The funds could be also put to better use, for example, by buying US bonds that earned interest and were, at the time, rated a rock solid AAA. The UK Chancellor Gordon Brown took the same view two years later (against the strenuous objections of some in Treasury). He reversed two centuries of policy and authorised the sale of more than half of the remaining reserve. For some it was wrench, with gold having helped pay for tanks and food almost 60 years before.. As economics had almost become a science Argentina, Belgium and other countries did the same. If they had held until August 2011 they would have received almost five times more, but would face the quandary of where to put the money. US bonds are now “AA” and earn almost nothing. Many central banks are now strong gold buyers. Mexico, Russia. Thailand and South Korea have led the way and have collectively bought about 220 tonnes this year – about 15 per cent of world output. This could be near the top of the market, but could also prove to be good value if gold spikes to $2500 as some are

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MOTORING

A new wolf joins the pack THE Volkswagen Amarok is the newest pickup on the Australian market. Amarok means ‘wolf’ in Inuit and this is very much a wolf in a pack of Japanese utes, including HiLux, Triton, Navara, Colorado, BT50 and D-Max.

Interestingly, most of the Japanese models are built in Thailand while the Amarok is constructed in Argentina. Although the German car giant has previously dabbled in the ute market with vehicles based on the older models in the Kombi range, as well as having some half-tonne utes on sale in Europe, this is its serious entrant into the pure one-tonne ute market. This is a true heavy-duty work horse with a tough ladder-frame chassis and, in the 4WD versions, a two-speed transfer case. Unlike engineers in other companies, principally in Japan, who have been forced to endlessly rework ute designs that sometimes date back for many years, Volkswagen has had the huge advantage of starting with completely blank computer screens. Computer screens that in their early stages would have contained a plethora of information on utes built by Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Mitsubishi, Isuzu and others, because there’s nothing like learning from the work put in by your competitors. Australia is one of the world’s biggest markets for utes. Here as in places like South Africa, Argentina and Thailand, utes are more than simply work vehicles. They are also lifestyle purchases and are expected to look good as well as work

VOLKSWAGEN’S Amarok uses a neat, unassuming design with strong clues to other models in the company’s range.

Ewen Kennedy Motoring Journalist

long hours, sometimes with a minimum of care and maintenance. All of the Amaroks are driven by a twin-turbo 2.0-litre diesel producing 120 kilowatts of power and a big 400 Newton metres of torque. The latter is available from 1500 rpm and during our review we found the engine to be more than happy to hold high gears in the six-speed manual gearbox, needing only 1200 to 1400 revs to start pulling. This ability to use high gears helps

lower fuel consumption and Volkswagen Australia claims its new vehicle has the lowest diesel consumption in its class, with figures ranging from 7.7 to 7.9 litres a 100 kilometres depending on model. The bad news is that there is no automatic transmission option in the Volkswagen Amarok. VW Australia is well aware that our drivers often buy this type of vehicle as a sports ute so have pushed hard for a self-shifting transmission to be developed. That may not be a double-clutch DSG unit as is being used in most models in the VW range because the characteristics of a double-clutch wouldn’t suit off-road driving.

September 2011 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 25

MOTORING

For example, in the off-road setting of the ABS the Amarok stops in a far shorter distance than in vehicles only fitted with an on-road system. Our first review in Australia - we have previously driven Amarok in South Africa - involved some harsh off-road driving in areas made even more treacherous by heavy rain. This is a genuine 4WD, with the ability to battle its way through sticky, muddy

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Amarok will be sold in both rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive format, the latter using two variants of Volkswagen’s 4Motion system. One gives permanent four-wheel drive while the other is selectable by the driver to let them tailor the system to suit changing conditions. There are also sophisticated electronic traction aids that vary their performance according to on-road as well as multiple off-road situations.

ruts and/or crawl carefully up or down steep rocky slopes. On the road, Volkswagen Amarok has the sort of quiet smooth feel you simply don’t get in other utes. While not car like, it comes closer than you might imagine. Those using this double cab ute as a family car will find the family quite content to travel for long distances within it. All five seats have headrests and lap-sash safety belts and the three rear seats have child-seat mounting points. Volkswagen Amarok is being sold in Australia in three grades, ranging from a $33,990 2WD workhorse, to a $58,490 Ultimo AWD. Various options are offered, including some that dress it up with big alloy wheels, sports bars, side steps and all sorts of other items that the young guys love. Volkswagen Amarok looks set to make a big impact on the pickup/ute scene in Australia. Indeed, it’s rumoured that Toyota - which totally dominates this market with its HiLux - imported the first ever Amarok to Australia, even beating the official importers to the punch by doing so.

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NEWS

Cost saving EVAN Dodd says cutting shoplifting by a small amount can have a significant effect on profits and possibly save on insurance. Managing director of OzSpy Frankston, Mr Dodd says CCTV systems used to spot shoplifters can be monitored on computers 3G mobile phones or PDAs from anywhere in the world. He said alarms were the traditional way of deterring thieves but could not provide evidence available through CCTV. Mr Dodd said the cost of sophisticated security equipment was falling, with systems being tailored to suit any size of business. OzSpy, 7 Olsen St, Frankston, call 9783 4432.

Camera deterrent in Dandenong cameras are reported to Victoria Police by the monitoring firm.” Mr Doubleday said the 12 cameras installed as part of a pilot program were supported by traders, residents, hall users and police. “In the 12 months to April 2011 there has been a 65 per cent decrease in graffiti,” he said. “Council is currently conducting a 12-month review of the cameras and the community’s perceptions of safety within the Menzies Av precinct. “The same survey was conducted prior to the pilot’s implementation and will be used as a comparison.”

SPY cameras are being credited by Greater Dandenong Council with cutting down public drinking and graffiti. Engineering services director Bruce Rendall says that in the past 12 months council has received 835 reports of graffiti. Community services director Mark Doubleday says 12 cameras in Menzies Av, North Dandenong, have also helped police with some investigations, resulting in arrests. The area is monitored 7pm-1am by a private security company, with a later start during daylight saving. “Any incidents captured by the

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