Business Resource & Lifestyle Magazine Issue #46

GWP M a g a z i n e s

Sydney

SYDNEY - Issue 46

B u s i n e ss

M a g a z i n e

S i n c e

| August 2012

2 0 0 5

Stress Tax Avoidance Page 18 The New Carbon Tax and Your Business Page 22

Publisher’s Guest:

The Work Health and Safety Act – Is My Business Compliant? Page 26

Julian Leeser

Takes A

Village To Raise A Child Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

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Editor and Publisher: Dmitry Greku Cover Story: Adrian Payne Editing: Leonie Seysan Contributing Writers: Charlie Lynn Sharon Davson Adam Goldstien Daniel Moisyeyev Kris Cilia John Watters Ruchaya Nillakan Angry Anderson Art Director: Svetlana Greku Executive Officer: Daniel Moisyeyev Cover Design and Cover Story Layout: Xabier Goñi, XDesigns Photography: Francesca Surace, Stilz Fotografika Printing: Pegasus Print Group Business Resource & Lifestyle Magazine® is published by GWP Media® and GWP Magazines® ABN: 82 096 352 064 www.gwpmagazine.com.au Norwest Office: Unit 8, 7 Inglewood Place Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 International Standard Serial Number ISSN 1837-199X Advertising Enquiries p | 1300 889 132 e | info@gwpmagazine.com.au To Subscribe w | www.gwpmagazine.com.au

Dural Business Park Get Stuffed Catering Copyright GWP Media® and GWP Magazines® 2011. The opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect and are not to be regarded as the official opinion of the editor, publisher or their agents. All information contained within this journal is provided for general information purposes only and on the understanding that none of the content herein constitutes professional advice. The editor, publisher or their agents accept no responsibility for any claim, loss or damages arising out of or in connection with any materials contained in this journal. Readers should not rely on the publications in the journal and seek appropriate professional advice in respect of their own circumstances.

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

CONTENTS

CONTENTS 30 14 Cover Story

8 It Takes a Village to Raise a Child Adrian Payne

Regulars

Business Advice

Australian Sport

24 Back To The Future...

40 Penrith Boy Makes the Grade for

Publisher’s Guest

Important Role Towards Businesses’ Success Ruchaya Rayya Nillakan

32 Accepting Online Payments

Local Government

Traffic Blueprint The Hills Shire Council

My Business Compliant? Kris Cilia

28 Why do Accountants Play an

Regulars

A Business Reality? Adam Goldstien

Daniel Moisyeyev

18 Stress Tax Avoidance

Society & Life

The New Carbon Tax and Your Business TAFE NSW

38 Davson’s $5.2m Record Art Sale Celia Berrell

42 Classifieds

30 Tuscan Wine Review

Charlie Lynn

Features

market place

Business Advice

State of Origin Penrith Panthers

26 The Work Health and Safety Act – Is

14 Julian Leeser

20 The Hills Shire Council’ Roads and

Direct Wine Cellars

34 The Cost of Disengagement

John Watters

People You Meet Along the Way (Part 2) Angry Anderson

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

editor’s letter

Propaganda. Democracy. Dictatorship. Dmitry Greku, M. Sc. - Editor and Publisher - GWP Magazines®

I’m very much frustrated with our current federal government, and I’m sure other business owners must be too. According to the federal government, our wealth and confidence are growing constantly and rapidly. Recently, the Minister for Small Business asserted that there had been a growth in business confidence compared to the previous year. It’s funny, but I seem to remember them saying the same things last year.

The Soviet government during the Brezhnev era was well known for propaganda. They once tried to convince the Soviet people and the world that the progressive Soviet farmers were doing so well they had started their harvesting earlier than the previous year. This claim was made year after year. I recall the Americans working out that had it all been true, the farmers would have been harvesting 18 months early, and before autumn. Of course, one can see why members of the government might think things are improving – pay rises every three months, and being able to afford to move their Sydney offices at a cost of $120 million. Things certainly are improving, for members of the government. Wondering if I was being unfair in my thinking, I decided to look online for some independent opinions. I found the website of a Canberra based firm that talked about the economy. It claimed to offer an “independent analysis of economic and market conditions” so I read on. It wasn’t long before I began to question that independence, as it began by talking about ill-informed commentators and an Opposition that was “trying to attack the government over the flood levy, the price on carbon, the mining tax among other things”. Suddenly, it started to

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sound a lot like the government… The Canberra location made me a little suspicious, so I decided to check up on the source to establish how truly independent it was. While it talked of “advice presented without fear or favour” is appears the source worked for more than 25 years as an economist in government, and as economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

But the system we call Democracy only functions when public employees and funds are controlled and regulated by the “public” and when private companies and individuals remain untouchable unless they break the law. Unfortunately, when the law is changed in order to reduce the ability of private interests to announce their option, we no longer have a Democracy, we have a Dictatorship.

It might start with a little propaganda, but how close are we stepping towards moving away from democracy altogether? Let’s think about some of the “progressive and economy stimulating initiatives” that occurred between 2008 and 2010. Would they include the Alcopops Tax, increased Luxury Car and Cigarette Taxes, the Working Overseas Tax, the Mining Tax, the Up’ed Ethanol and LPG Taxes, the Flood Levy, and of course, the one freshest in our minds, the Carbon Tax?

Have a great day and take care of yourselves and your clients. G

In reality, what they have done is demonised the business community, destroyed policies on illegal immigration that actually worked, spent tax payers’ money on the National Broadband Network and stimulus packages, and had a few failures at international relations. e | editor@gwpmagazine.com.au It might start with a little propaganda, but how close are we stepping towards moving away from democracy altogether? An academic from a wellknown Melbourne University recently commented that “If media can’t regulate itself, we’ll regulate it.”

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

great australian Business People Apprenticeship Expo shows the success of western Sydney Apprenticeship Expo which we founded and is now a thriving partnership between the Nepean careers Forum and ‘apprenticepower’ of Blacktown.

Takes A

Village To Raise A Child by Adrian Payne

Stephen Frost always had an interest in politics, but his first challenge was to get a trade under his belt. That’s what happened in Sydney’s West when you had a great family upbringing as he did. His Dad went to work and Mum stayed at home in Canterbury and kept the ‘home fires burning’. The scenario for young people in the western suburbs isn’t as promising nowadays.

After school, it took Stephen a year to get started in his chosen trade because he had to prove that he could overcome colour blindness as a barrier to becoming an electrician. After many tests to prove that he could trace wires without knowing their colour, he gained an apprenticeship with Sydney County Council, where he qualified and continued to work for over seventeen years on many projects including the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and Darling Harbour, at that time working as a supply engineer. He was invited by his local member to come and work as a political advisor and became his chief of staff. When his federal member retired, Stephen was about to take a year off and be a house-father when he was invited to take up a post with ‘BREED’ to work in the community sector. ‘BREED’, the Regional Economic and Employment Development Taskforce Inc, was established in July 1992, with funding from The Department of Education and Training. It was charged with investigating initiatives to stimulate economic and employment growth within the Blacktown local government area. Stephen was instrumental in setting up a community consultation committee, consisting of major business in the area including, Sharp, Sony and United Distillers.

Together they did a great deal of research into the needs of industry in the West, and in particular, whether local students were connecting with the work that was available in the area. In order that the information they had wouldn’t just gather dust in a government basement somewhere, the companies involved asked Stephen to arrange for a joint body to be incorporated so funds could be raised to put the findings of their research to good use. After locating funds to pay his own wages, he began the task of identifying ways to promote employment and business activity. The Department of Education and Training provided a grant of half a million dollars to start a ‘business incubator’, a model that was emerging from Britain, where people could get assistance to start up their own business. Help from mentors, and serviced office space that would give new business owners sound advice, and sometimes office space to begin their business, at a time when it’s easy to make expensive mistakes on your own, and difficult to afford a physical base to work from. In the fifteen years since the Business Centre began (which emerged from the ‘Incubator’ project), over 150 businesses have been started under its wing, and today each has an average

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

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Mark Arbib - Stephen Frost - Fleur Kearins

of three employees. Together they have injected through their business activity, more than four million dollars. It was realised about ten years ago that business needed to do more to support the youth of the area, as the logical source of future skilled workers. Stephen singled out the logistics area as an example... transport and trucking is an industry that has particular problems currently in renewing an aging workforce. “It’s not just warehousing, loading and driving trucks from here to there” he said. There are many more sets of skills required, like computing, accounting and call centres to name just a few. Schools and parents are usually quite unaware of what goes on behind the gates of most company yards. What opportunities really exist are not obvious simply from knowing what service is being provided or what is being made there under a local factory or warehouse roof. He quoted one example of a local workshop which manufactured the beautiful coach that was presented to the Queen by the people of Australia. The Australian State Coach, combines traditional craftsmanship with 20th-century technology to provide heating and remote-controlled windows. It is on show to the public along with the other Royal coaches in

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Buckingham Palace Mews in London. The skills that came together to design and build such a unique and beautiful gift were largely drawn from the Western Suburbs community. But who would know! Stephen dreams of one day funding research to make an inventory of what skill sets exist behind the closed doors of local industry. In the meantime it was realised that TAFE, Centrelink and employment agencies, weren’t always ‘closing the loop’. More had to be done to connect young people and industry, to complete the circuit and bring some real energy to the quest for skilled workers and for jobs. This is the message that’s going out to industry, in an effort to connect students, schools, Industry and the community generally in the same ‘loop’ of understanding, in a partnership that really works for all concerned. The Caption model is called a School and Industry Partnership, (SIP) and has spread well beyond the boundaries of the Blacktown LGA. School and Industry Partnership facilitators frequently get approached by industries wanting to attract young people to join their workforce. Typically the industry has previously spent a fortune on glossy brochures, noisy DVDs or flashy web sites, but as welcome as these resources are, employers soon learn that today’s students

Blacktown Sun Incubator of the Year Editorial and Picture.

great australian Business People are almost immune to all that ‘noise’. Pretending to be cool on Facebook doesn’t work either, as teenagers see marketing hype as hype! No matter what media channel it comes through. So if all that doesn’t work, what does? One strategy is...’Work Placements’. Rather than the traditional ‘work experience’. When it’s done well it works like nothing else and costs next to nothing! People on the School and industry Partnership

can genuinely contribute during their time with the business they are placed with. The business is asked to structure an exciting week of duties and rotate staff responsibilities to accommodate and enrich the students’ experience. On day one, there’s a welcome and thorough induction, just as a new employee would normally experience. A little time each day is scheduled to have real conversations with the student about today’s work, their career goals and how they Stephen Frost with boxes of Career Information Books BREED and reasons for doing them, this process really activates their interest and enthusiasm. Having had a great deal of experience in the process a SIP team member assists each business to design a program to suit their industry or business. At worst the program should prove to be cost neutral as it relieves staff of basic though important work tasks.

CSOS with Dr Joyce Epstein

Pictured (L - R) Conference speaker Stephen Frost, Nirimba Business Centre, Australia, Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster and Gordon Gough, CEO, Enterprise NI

The most exciting part happens when the student returns to school. If the student had an exciting and meaningful week the experience could start a campaign of interest that you couldn’t buy! Impressed students post their excitement on Facebook, Twitter .... any interaction with their friends. “Wow, I just had the best week ever....” Just one impressed student per school across the region can light a wildfire of community goodwill. Contrast this with the old hit and miss approach to work experience and you can see why winning employers speak with the Schools Industry Partnership to help tailor a Work Placement program for them.

Pasco Education District

team help to pick a student that is actually studying a course related to the industry so they

can best get there. The exercise is to engage the student by giving them genuinely useful tasks

Since 2010 the teams in Western Sydney have approached all relationships and opportunities

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really need, potentially locking out talented people that have other strengths. He says that if industry works with schools to set the standards they really need then applicants will be more focussed on what they really have to do to gain the work they want. The third area he says is where the applicant is right with qualifications and skills, but the price (the wage) is unrealistic, and therefore unattractive.

Business studies students from Hawkesbury schools helped raise funds for Guide Dogs in conjunction with the local primary Schools.

Ian Palmer is a local Penrith boy who left school in year ten and became a motorcycle mechanic. Because he had worked for some years in his own business he joined the Chamber of Commerce in which environment the conversation would often turn to skill shortages and recruitment. Increasingly he became involved in that aspect of debate within the membership. So much so that he became the Executive Director of the Penrith Chamber of Commerce. They would organise forums for local business people where so often the subject would be raised about how tough business is and how

from a partnering perspective. Funded by the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations, partnership brokers work with a variety of stakeholders to foster a strategic, whole of community approach to improving education and transition outcomes for all young people. Utilising a variety of approaches and models, the brokers help facilitate partnership agreements that leave a lasting legacy rather than a one-off service dependency model. John Waters was a teacher. In the latter part of that career he was working in the vocational area. Now he is the manager of AusSIP. He believes that healthy relationships can be built between Industries and schools. He sees SIPs as being the catalyst to create the relationships, once they exist then SIP people can step back, not needing to deliver the programs, but to replicate the relationships that ultimately will grow and become indispensable in the process of industry getting the new people they need year after year. He quoted the African proverb that says ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. He laments the fact that in modern society we have become more and more self contained and isolated, frightened to admonish a neighbour’s child for fear of retribution from the parents, not knocking on someone’s door when they haven’t been seen for a while for fear of being told to ‘mind our own business’. People know about opportunities, that would help someone else’s child, but we don’t share our lives and our knowledge as society used to do before political correctness poked its head over the garden fence, instead of the friendly face of a neighbour. He says there are three main areas where the current system of recruitment to meet skills shortages is faulty. Sometimes a business will complain that they are getting few or no applications for the jobs they advertise. Often this is due to the fact there is a perception out there that the industry is dirty or unsafe. School and Industry Partnerships can fix this. Sometimes industry asks for higher qualifications than they

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Stephen Frost on the tools demonstrating at Try A Trade 2009

Hong Kong is indicative of the international interest in the Western Sydney model of schools and businesses working together for student success. We have had enquiries from all parts of Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Wales, and the USA.

hard it is to get good employees. Often there were poorly researched remarks about ‘the youth of today’ coming from people who had done nothing to connect personally with younger people at all! Wryly he remarked that these are often the people who forget what they were like themselves at age fifteen! Some sense did prevail however and they started to look at what the Chamber could do to connect with the local youth. They discovered that over fifty percent of apprentices and people in traineeships were opting out before completing their courses. Some of this is because they don’t have a steady family environment that supports and encourages them through their training years. Others have employers who are over-tough on them and the

great australian Business People

trainee feels they don’t have their employer’s support. Conversely some employers do ‘get it’ and provide support in an environment where a young person can feel valued and worthwhile. Sometimes the success of such an employer is seen as a ‘fluke’ rather than success that has come from strategic thought and implementation of good employer-employee practices. He turned the Chamber’s thoughts back to the schools. “Things are different now”. “Business is tougher than it’s ever been”. He notes the tragedy that so many western suburbs kids drop out of high school at year ten, not seeing that a better education is the way forward in the wider world of industry and commerce where they need to earn a living to be self-sustaining and on a path for career and personal growth. He knows that the schools Industry Partnership programme is the way to go. There are so many ‘traps’ that young people can fall into when there is little guidance, support or caring coming from ‘the village’. So the student’s potential for expressing enthusiasm, feeling excitement about making a contribution in a career by doing something they enjoy, is completely suppressed. The consequences are often that their time is spent in non-productive activity, that’s often antisocial.

being to help kids identify the career they want to take up, and showing them the pathway to get there. ‘Try-a-trade’ is a program that provides opportunities for kids to discover what is really involved in trades work. It’s all very well for teachers to valiantly talk about trades opportunities in the classroom, but for young people to meet electricians plumbers, motor mechanics etc., and get involved ‘hands on’. That’s when interest and enthusiasm is fired, and they begin to see where it is they want to go, and become curious about the path to get there.

BREED Community Partnership led by Stephen Frost, AusSIP under the guiding hand of John Watters, and Penrith SIP, Ian Palmer’s organisation together provide a cooperative body of effort that serves the wider western Sydney region. Instead of seeing each other as competitors, they have come together with many programs that are focussed on youth and employment in local commerce and industry programs that really work! The three have developed a close relationship so new ideas are developed cooperatively and their successes are being watched and emulated across Australia and beyond. Most recently, the ‘three amigoes’ travelled throughout the US at the invitation of numerous education bodies and key figures. Different areas have different needs, but the work that has been done by these three organisations, is leading the way to connecting the real needs of industry for future skilled workers. Schools need a variety of sources of support to create opportunities that will last a lifetime and build a stronger nation. G

Members

There is a great deal of effort being put in to Trya-trade from local business volunteers, TAFE and schools to stage these events, that are so well proven as a way to get kids inspired. When a family is dysfunctional, the community can be there to support young people instead. Even if their home is not a pleasant place to live there are the parents of a friend, other members of the community, individuals who mentor can be the ‘family substitute’ for a student’s need for support and understanding as they go through their training. SIP teams see themselves as being there to help find mentors for students who don’t otherwise have the friendship and guidance of an older person at home.

Blacktown admin@breedcp.com.au p | 9853 3247

Parramatta info@parrasip.com.au p | 9633 7100

Penrith info@schoolsindustry.com.au p | 4725 0310

He sees the bottom line role of partnership programs

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Publisher’s Guest

Julian Leeser Julian Leeser was Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre from 2006 until July 2012. The Menzies Research Centre is the Liberal Party’s think tank.

Julian Leeser addressing the Menzies Research centre

As Executive Director of the Centre, he oversaw research on productivity, employment, manufacturing, education tax reform, defence and security policy, federalism, the performance and management of state governments, Aboriginal education and housing policy and women’s policy. He is a qualified Lawyer, a former Associate to High Court Justice Ian Callinan and worked as a solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques. Julian was also Special Adviser on constitutional law, commonwealth-State relations and courts administration to former Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock; and small business advisor to then Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business Minister Minster Tony Abbott. At age 19 Julian became the then youngest-ever Councillor in Australia when he was elected to Woollahra Council in 1995. He was the youngest elected delegate to the Constitution Convention in 1998 at age 21, and was appointed by John Howard to the 10-member Government ‘No’ Case Committee for the 1999 Republic Referendum. He spent 2006-07 as a Visiting Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States. Since 2010 he has been a member of the judging panel for the John Button Prize for the best Australian political writing. He has published a number of papers and he has edited two collections of essays; State Policy Perspectives in 2007 and Don’t Leave Us with the Bill: The Case Against an Australian Bill of Rights, which was launched by General Peter Cosgrove in May 2009. This book had a major impact on the Rudd Government’s decision to dump an Australian Bill of Rights in 2010. Since 2009 he has been the conference convener of the Samuel Griffith Society, a constitutional law and public policy group, founded by the late Chief Justice of Australia Sir Harry Gibbs.

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Julian is a regular panellist on Sky News’ The Contrarians which airs on Friday at 4.15pm and 8.30pm. He is also a regular panellist on ABC24’s The Drum and Newsmakers program. Julian is Chairman of the Liberal Party’s Education, Apprenticeships, Training and Science Policy Branch and has sat on the official campaign review committees for the 2007 federal election, the 2008 ACT election and the 2010 federal election campaign in Tasmania. Julian is married to Joanna they live in Pennant Hills. He is active in the Liberal Party, Lifeline and his local Rotary and Lions Clubs.

Seven lies of the Carbon Tax On 1 July 2012 the Carbon Tax began operation. It is the centrepiece of the Government’s agenda but it is built on a lie – actually it is built on seven lies. Let’s examine each lie in turn. 1. Australia is the biggest per capita emitter of carbon pollution. The Government is fond of telling Australians that we are the biggest per capita emitter in the developed world.

But it is not true according to the most recent United Nations’ International Greenhouse Gas Emissions Index (2007) Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are less than those of the United States on a per capita basis. Australia emits 19 tonnes of carbon per capita. The United States emits 19.54 per capita but Luxemburg which, last time I looked was still a developed nation, emits 24.93 tonnes per capita. The per capita emissions of Australia and the United States are comparable to other resourcerich countries such as Canada which emits 17.91 tonnes per capita. The emissions are however well below those of developing countries like Bahrain which emits 29.58 tonnes per capita, Kuwait which emits 30.21 tonnes, the United Arab Emirates which emits 31.06 tonnes per capita or Qatar which emits a huge 55.43 tonnes per capita. But even if the Government was correct and that Australia was the biggest per capita emitter, all this figure would add to the debate is to observe that Australia has a small population and a range of resource intensive industries. The more important statistic is Australia’s total emissions. The UN International Greenhouse Gas Emissions Index show that in absolute terms, the carbon emissions of other countries dwarf Australia’s emissions: China (6.5 billion tonnes) United States of America (6.1 billion tonnes)

Publisher’s Guest

Russia (1.6 billion tonnes) India (1.6 billion tonnes) Japan (1.3 billion tonnes) Germany (841 million tonnes) Australia (393 Million tonnes) The truth is that Australia accounts for only 1.5 % of global emissions. Two countries USA and China between themselves account for 35% of the worlds emissions Countries which are

The United States, even under President Obama, has maintained its policy of remaining outside the Kyoto Protocol. The United States has no plans to move to a broad based carbon pricing scheme. In the USA the once proposed “cap and trade” scheme has been ridiculed as a “cap and tax” scheme. In Canada the Harper Government went to the election in 2011 promising not to introduce an

Receiving presentations for Julian’s work at the MRC by Chairman Tom Harley, Tony Abbott, John Howard and John Key including Julian’s wife Joanna Davidson receiving flowers from Tony Abbott

substantial emitters include: China 19.1% USA 18.3% EU 13% Russia 5.2% India 4.9% Japan 3.6% In fact despite what the Government has been saying, in real terms, Australia’s emissions are very small. As developing countries like India and African countries begin to industrialise their carbon emissions will rise as well. It is plainly not truthful to say Australia ranks anywhere near the biggest emitters in the world on any measure. 2. If Australia does not act we will be left behind When listening to government rhetoric, Australians could be forgiven for thinking that we need to price carbon now or we will be left behind other countries who are moving ahead with carbon pricing schemes to reduce their emissions. For instance on 14 March last year Julia Gillard stated “the rest of the world is acting and we without our high emissions economy can’t afford to be left behind, stranded with a high pollution economy when the rest of the world has gone forward.” But this is false. Most other countries are delaying or retarding the impact of their carbon pricing schemes. Let’s examine what some of our major competitors and trading partners are doing.

scheme makes Australia’s carbon tax unique. The major carbon pricing scheme in operation in the world today exists in the European Union. But the Australian Carbon tax is very different to the European (EU) scheme. For the ﬁrst 8 years of the EU scheme, virtually all permits were provided free to all businesses covered by the scheme. Exempt sectors include all minerals and minerals production sectors as

Julian Leeser and John Howard welcome Prime Minister John Key to the Menzies Research Centre

emissions trading scheme. They were returned with an increased majority.

well as many sectors where the EU competes directly with Australia.

Japan has not considered introducing a carbon trading scheme since 2010.

But the Australian carbon tax will fall disproportionately on the trade exposed mineral and steel production sectors. This won’t reduce emissions globally it will just drive emissions and jobs off shore. It will hurt our exports and create what some have called a “reverse tariff.”

South Korea has delayed its carbon trading scheme until after 2015. New Zealand had delayed the extension of its ETS to agriculture until 2015. The European Union still grants 98% of its carbon emission permits for free! In the fastest developing countries the situation is more serious. Chian’s emissions are forecast to rise by 500% on 1990 levels. The Government’s own Garnaut review found that between 2005 and 2020 China’s Carbon emissions would increase from 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year to 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. As Kevin Rudd’s former Senior Economic Advisor Andrew Charlton writes “China is constructing hundreds of new coal-fired power stations and belching ever-greater quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.” 3. We are doing something that brings us into line with other countries The third lies is that the Carbon tax brings Australia into line with other countries. But at $23 per tonne and the broad based nature of the

The European market price for carbon is $8 per tonne. The Australian price starts at $23 per tonne and increases to $29 per tonne in 2016, $37 per tonne in 2020 and will hit $350 per tonne in 2050 The Australian Carbon tax is very costly. The European Union’s ETS has raised $2.63 Billion in Tax in its first six years. Australian scheme will raise more tax in its first three months than the EU’s scheme raised in its first six years. The Carbon tax will raise more revenue in its first month than the US regional scheme has in its first 2 and a half years. The truth is even without the carbon tax Australia is already acting to reduce its carbon emissions. At Kyoto Australia agreed to keep its emissions down so that by 2012 our emissions would have only increased by 8% on 1990 levels. In fact Australia’s emissions have only increased by 3% on 1990 levels. This is despite our population and economy growing at higher rates than

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Publisher’s Guest

Julian Leeser at a recent Menzies Research Center event with (l-r) Julian Leeser, Michael Osborne (MRC board), Tony Abbott, John Key, John Howard, Tom Harley (MRC Chair), May Khor (MRC Board), Hon Alan Stockdale (MRC Board) In fact the carbon tax is predicted to cost jobs. Economic modelling undertaken by State Governments found the tax would produce up to 10 years “temporary unemployment” and “reduce growth in aggregate productivity” State government research also shows that there will be 126,000 fewer jobs as a result of the Carbon tax. The Minerals Council believes that sector will shed 23,500 fewer jobs as a result of the carbon tax.

other developed nations. There are many other countries who have increased their green house gas emissions massively on 1990 levels including: Canada which has increased its emissions by 27%, New Zealand increased its emissions by 23%, the United States by 16%, India by 68% and China by 88%. Only Germany (which achieved an 18% decrease in emissions) and UK (which achieved a 9% decrease) did better than Australia. But both countries benefitted from the measure being taken from 1990. As in 1990 the East German economy had collapsed and in 1990 the United Kingdom began shifting its power generation from carbon intensive coal to lower emitting gas. 4. If Australia Acts we will Lead the world This is the silliest of the lies. Australia is not going to lead the world. This lie fails to take into account the national interest of other nations. Other countries are not going to follow Australia down the path of a carbon tax – especially not one with a price of carbon at $23 per tonne. Most other nations are not concerned with what we are doing. Countries rightly approach these questions on what is in their own national interest. It is how Australia should be approaching the issue rather than taking a “leadership” role. Leadership is only useful if others follow. But if it is true that when Australia acts others follow let us look at three examples of where we have “lead” internationally and others failed to follow. Let’s take the death penalty. Australian Governments of both political persuasions have run a 20 year campaign to get rid of death penalty especially in our region. Australia has not put any convicted people to death since 1967 but despite our lead there is not much following going on. According to Amnesty international there were more executions in Asia in 2010 than in any other region of the world. Another example is whaling. Australia joined

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the International Whaling Commission in 1948. Although throughout that time Australia has traded with Japan and Japan has become our third biggest trading partner they have not listened to Australian “leadership” in this area. My third example is tariff policy. Australia reduced its tariffs on agriculture in the 1970s and 1980s. It was correctly assumed that this would make Australia’s agricultural sector more efficient. It was incorrectly assumed that other countries would follow and tariffs on agricultural production would be removed all together. But today the United States and France – to name only two countries – still heavily subsidise their farmers. Tariffs – US and French continue to heavily subsidise their farmers. Sometimes it is good to lead and other times it is good to follow. Take the example of technology would you rather have invested in Beta or VHS? Myspace or Facebook? Netscape or Google? Each of the products which came later built on the successes and short comings of their rivals. Even in the area of policy innovation it is often better to see how a policy develops in other countries and adapt those learnings to Australia. Each country should do what is in their own national interest. Other countries are unlikely to follow Australia’s example unless it coincides with their national interest. On an economy wide carbon tax most other nations are going to sit back and let Australia be the world’s guinea pig. 5. The Carbon Tax will Create the Green Jobs of the Future The Greens often talk about “green jobs”. Most Green jobs are a myth. Most green jobs require plenty of brown economy to get them started in the first place. Take wind farms they require plenty of steel and concrete to be constructed – both brown economy technologies. But the idea of green jobs are a myth.

6. Compensation The government has promised to compensate families to help them absorb the impact of the carbon tax. But you can tell the Government is embarrassed about this policy rather than mentioning the carbon tax their recent television commercials, they call the compensation a “household assistance package”. Compensation is usually used in relation to accidents or injuries. That is what carbon tax will do. The carbon tax will injure the Australian economy. The carbon tax will see Australia’s emissions actually increase to 621 million tonnes by 2020. The carbon tax will hit Australian families and small businesses who will be experiencing serious price rises. The carbon tax will raise electricity prices. Every business needs electricity and if prices go up, businesses will need to recoup their extra expenditure on electricity from consumers. Electricity prices are due to rise by up to 20 per cent over the next 18 months. Australians will be worse off as a result of the tax. It will not be possible to adequately compensate them. But here is where the Government’s logic is flawed. If the carbon tax is supposed to raise prices so that people change their behaviour why is the Government offering compensation to shield people from the price rises? It makes no sense. 7. The BIG LIE Before the 2010 election Julia Gillard told the Australian people “There will be no Carbon Tax under the Government I lead.” Then as soon as she had concluded her deal with the Greens she announced that Australia would have a carbon tax. But some months earlier Julia Gillard told the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to abandon the ETS. Unfortunately for the Prime Minister the carbon tax illustrates one of her key problems. No one knows what she really believes on this issue. The truth is that it was only because Julia Gillard needed the support of the Greens to form Government that she brought in the carbon tax. But now we are all paying the price for the Governments lies. G

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Business Advice

Stress Tax Avoidance The Hon. Charlie Lynn - Member of the Legislative Council

Imagine the amount of revenue that would flow into government coffers if a Stress Tax for business owners was introduced. The tax would be divided into two categories, Personal and Business. Stress Tax Inspectors equipped with electronic Blood Pressure Kits would be recruited from the Department of Global Warming to gather readings at critical times and feed them into a central computer system. Stress Tax Compliance Notices would then be issued whenever increased stress levels are detected.

to bask in the sunshine of success in later years? Be aware that money can’t buy good health. The only investment you can make in this regard is time. Time to walk. Time to jog. Time to swim. Time to listen. Time to laugh. Walking for as little as 30 minutes a day clears the clutter, oxygenates the system, releases endorphins and makes you feel good. And don’t forget the mind. Use your time in traffic to listen to good music, call friends, think about the day ahead and reflect on how great it is to be living above the ground

Go straight to the sports pages and read about winning individuals and teams. Choose carefully what you watch, read and listen to. Life is too short to take on the troubles of the world. Focus on the things you can influence. Ignore the things you can’t. World peace is a noble objective but if there’s nothing you can do about it then don’t worry about it. If you don’t like the business you’re in then change it. And dream about the change until you have the opportunity to make it happen.

Remember ‘yesterday’ is a cancelled cheque Personal stress tax triggers could include an electricity bill, a peak-hour prang on the M4 or M5, a salary increase for Tim Flannery, another boatload of illegal immigrants, a Rob Oakshott interview or a Julia Gillard Press Conference. Business owners obviously have many more opportunities to send their readings into the stratosphere. A visit from a Carbon Tax Compliance Inspector, a call from a Trade Union rep to ‘inspect’ their books, an OH&S audit, an energy bill, a call from a bank manager, a Bob Brown interview or a Wayne Swan Press Conference. The medical profession would inevitably predict that Stress Taxes could be fatal for contributors at the higher end of their categories. They would urge that we should be on the lookout for indicators that identify high-end stress tax donors. These include obesity, increased heart rates, sleeplessness, agitation and the inability to laugh. They would urge business owners prone to high readings to explore stress tax avoidance measures to ward off a premature appointment with the grim reaper. So what are some of the more obvious avoidance measures for a Stress Tax? A self-assessment of your physical condition should be high on the priority list. What’s the use of being a slave to your business if you aren’t able

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

you can never change or retrieve it. Tomorrow is a promissory note - it might or might not happen. The only thing we can guarantee is today.

Remember your family. If you do nothing else but hold it together, love your spouse, adore your kids, admire your friends and respect your colleagues you will be envied by countless numbers of stress tax victims. Look around your patch. There will always be somebody worse off. What can you do to make your community a better place? A phone-call to a pensioner, a smile towards a stranger, a wave to a stressed driver, a commitment to a working bee little things make big differences in communities. Treat yourself. Take a weekend off. An overnight stay in a B&B can do wonders for the soul. Sort trips off the beaten track to the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands or the Hunter Valley are authorised stress tax avoidance measures. Ration negative influences trying to inhabit your subconscious mind. You don’t have to listen to every news item reporting assaults, robberies and bankruptcies. You don’t have to be an observer to negative political debate. You don’t have to listen to everybody’s problems on talkback radio.

Remember ‘yesterday’ is a cancelled cheque you can never change or retrieve it. Tomorrow is a promissory note - it might or might not happen. The only thing we can guarantee is today. So make the most of it. Assemble, plan and commit to your stress tax avoidance measures on a daily basis and let the prophets of doom wallow alone in their self-righteous negativity. G

For more topics and to contact Charlie Lynn, please visit www.charlielynn.com.au/blog.

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL’S ROADS & TRAFFIC BLUEPRINT Traffic concerns are often raised by residents and the business community. Generally, people ask about the future of main arterial roads like Showground Road, Windsor Road, and Norwest Boulevarde. A Key priority of Council’s community strategy is to improve road and traffic facilities to make using our roads safer and more efficient. Council has a number of plans proposed and these form the traffic and transport blueprint. Key projects are shown on the map.

BOX HILL

Planning for traffic improvements can often depend on which level of government maintains the road and whether developers of new housing estates are required to make a contribution. In general terms, major and arterial roads are maintained by the State Government, while local roads are maintained by Council. New roads often require a contribution of funds by developers.

Old W

Some of the proposed plans in the blueprint are short-term, some are medium-term and some will extend into the future. Often, Council will do the planning necessary to improve an area, while making representations to the State Government for the funding needed to carry out the job. The blueprint looks towards the future, and takes into account the Shire’s predicted growth in jobs, population and housing. Ongoing representation to State Government, and consultation with the community about strategic road priorities will form a major part of the work Council does in traffic and transport planning.

PLANS FOR AN EXTENSION OF GREENHILLS DRIVE TO COMMERCIAL ROAD TO COMPLETE REGIONAL TRANSPORT CONNECTION BETWEEN BOX HILL AND ROUSE HILL TOWN CENTRE

PLANS TO FULLY SIGNALISE INTERSECTION OF MEMORIAL AVENUE WITH ARNOLD AVENUE, KELLYVILLE, TO SUPPORT FUTURE FOUR LANES INSTALLATION OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS AT ROUNDABOUT OF NORWEST BOULEVARDE AND LEXINGTON DRIVE

MAP NOT TO SCALE 20

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

SIGNALISATION OF OLD NORTHERN ROAD AND GLENHAVEN ROAD, GLENHAVEN TO IMPROVE SAFETY

PROPOSED WIDENING OF SHOWGROUND ROAD TO A MINIMUM OF TWO LANES IN EACH DIRECTION WISEMANS FERRY

UPGRADE TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW AT GREEN ROAD AND SHOWGROUND ROAD INTERSECTION

SIGNALISATION OF WINDSOR ROAD AND WRIGHTS ROAD, KELLYVILLE TO IMPROVE SAFETY

Annangrove Road

Old Northern Road

CASTLE HILL

Windsor Road

BAULKHAM HILLS Windsor Road

NORTHMEAD

CARLINGFORD

WIDENING OF WINDSOR ROAD BETWEEN BAULKHAM HILLS AND PARRAMATTA WITH BUS PRIORITY

SIGNALISATION OF ARTHUR STREET AND SEVEN HILLS ROAD, BAULKHAM HILLS

PROPOSED FUTURE GRADE SEPARATION OF WINDSOR ROAD, SEVEN HILLS ROAD AND OLD NORTHERN ROAD, BAULKHAM HILLS TOWN CENTRE TO ADDRESS TRAFFIC CONGESTION APPROACHING M2

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Business Advice

The New Carbon Tax and Your Business The July 1 introduction of a national carbon pollution reduction scheme marked a date of significant political, economic and social change for Australia. But what does it mean and what do local businesses need to do to be ready?

or steel making, mining of coal or liquefied natural gas, and waste management.

The carbon pollution reduction scheme is based on the premise that Australia’s excessive carbon emissions are damaging the earth’s environment.

From July 2012, a fixed price of $23 per tonne of carbon emissions operates, with this rate rising 2.5% above inflation per annum. From July 2015 a flexible, market-determined carbon price will apply for the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are very efficient in terms of their cost and the amount of energy which they can produce per unit weight. Unfortunately, fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon. When burned, carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide – commonly known as CO2 – to the effect of 21.3 billion tonnes (or 21.3 gigatonnes) annually, on a global scale. Unfortunately, natural processes can only absorb half of these annual global emissions, so there is an annual atmospheric release of almost 11 gigatonnes of CO2 over and above that which can be processed. The excessive CO2 as well as other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere potentially impact the earth’s climate system by trapping in heat and affecting the earth’s climate system. Many governments across the globe are now acting to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being released within their States by introducing a tax on carbon. This type of tax is known as a pigovian tax – a tax which aims to correct the market outcome of an activity by placing a dollar value upon its social cost. Australia’s introduction of a tax on carbon commenced this year on July 1. The aim of this carbon pollution reduction scheme is for Australia to cut 159 million tonnes of carbon pollution by 2020 – the pollutant equivalent of taking 45 million cars off the road. The current carbon pricing scheme stipulates compulsory carbon reporting for Australia’s 500 biggest polluters. These 500 companies now need to report to the national Clean Energy Regulator on their carbon emissions, which come about due to their burning of fossil fuels, cement

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

In Australia, these 500 entities being held accountable for their carbon emissions are now required to buy permits for each tonne of CO2 emitted. These are economic incentives for limiting the pollutants produced as a result of their business.

The Carbon Accounting course prepares participants to report and take action upon their organisation’s carbon footprint and gain the skills for carbon reduction action planning. This course is highly recommended by teacher Peter Goode, who projects that most businesses in the future will require assistance from someone with training and experience in these skills. “Businesses are becoming more aware of their carbon footprint and are opting to have someone with this specialist knowledge available to provide specific advice,” Peter said.

While Australian businesses which are not considered to be in the top 500 polluters are not currently required to report upon their carbon emissions, many are considering the social cost of their emissions, and participating in training available which prepares them to work within a carbon pollution reduction context.

Both the Energy Auditing and Carbon Accounting courses are three–day courses scheduled to run in early September and November, but additional courses can be scheduled and customised to suit your business. G

Western Sydney Institute currently has training courses on offer in Carbon Accounting and Energy Auditing, as well as other short courses which assist businesses to become more sustainable and to operate within the new carbon reduction context. The Energy Auditing course provides participants with an understanding of energy use, and an understanding of greenhouse gases and their impact upon the environment. The course covers any form of energy and how to use it more efficiently. These skills are useful for businesses and also excellent for individuals to have in their portfolio.

To discuss these courses, please contact Rachael Hanlon on 9208 6244.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the size of your organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

n o b r a C Footprint

We can all do our part in reducing our carbon footprint. TAFE NSW - Western Sydney Institute is currently offering short courses in both Carbon Accounting and Energy Auditing that can help give you an understanding of the environmental impact of your energy use and how you can use it more efficiently.

For more information (02) 9208 6244 rachael.hanlon@tafensw.edu.au www.workforcedevelopment.edu.au Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Business Advice

Back To The Future... A Business Reality? Adam Goldstien, Wealth Adviser - Skeggs Goldstien

The date is ‘June 27 2012, 01:21 am’ - those of us living our teenage years in the 80s would know the relevance of this date, because it’s the day Marty McFly arrives when he travels to the future on a ‘hover board’. Unfortunately the Facebook ‘Back to the Future’ viral post was nothing but a hoax, and the real date is still some three years away.

This idea of ‘visualising the future’ got me thinking about its relevance to business. Why? Well it is usually this time of year when most businesses undertake their annual business planning, diligently forecasting their sales, expenses profits and cash-flows for the year ahead. What if, through enhanced planning and forecasting we could see the outcome of every decision we made before we actually made it. Would we be interested in knowing? In my experience with clients, and their business planning, I have made the following observations: 1. Predicting expenditure is generally straight forward 2. Predicting future revenue is a little more difficult 3. Predicting cash-flows is a little harder again 4. Predicting the balance of bank accounts is harder still 5. Finally, establishing funding before it is required based on the above is almost impossible. So how can all the above be achieved as accurately as possible? 1. Preparation 2. Advice 3. Software Let’s put some meat on the bone! These are my 4 steps to predicting your Business’s Financial Future. Step 1 – Document our Monthly Expenses My advice here is to be generous with our expenses, i.e. assume that we will spend more and if it ends up being less it will be a bonus! This step is the easiest because we will already have the data at hand and by using an excel spread-

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

sheet we can accurately forecast our monthly expenses.

process, and in particular what the balance sheet will look like in twelve months time.

The important piece here is to split our expenses into those that are ‘fixed’ and those that are ‘variable’, and allocate the expenses to the month in which they are due.

The first step is to calculate the dollar value sum of our inventory plus our debtors, less our creditors – this is called ‘working capital’, and represents the amount of cash that is not in our bank account at the end of the previous year. We will best recognise the effect of working capital at tax time, when our business is required to pay tax on a level of profit that is not representative of our bank balance.

Step 2 – Estimate our Revenue and Cost Of Goods Sold (COGS) My second piece of advice is to be conservative with our revenue projection, i.e. err on the side of less as opposed to more. Start by averaging our previous 1-3 years of revenue and adding a growth percentage of say 5%. Initially divide this figure by 12 and allocate across each month. Next adjust for seasonality, for example if our business generates no revenue in January because we are closed then adjust January revenue to zero conversely if we generate 20% of our revenue in June then adjust June and so on and so forth until all the months have been adjusted to reflect our business’ actual seasonality. Next calculate our COGS, insert a line in our spread sheet for COGS, and enter a formula that reflects the percentage cost of our goods sold based on previous years (assuming your margins are maintained). This usually is as far as most planning gets, essentially a profit and loss budget seasonally adjusted. What is missing however, are the balance sheet drivers that will ultimately determine cash-flow and perhaps the need for working capital funding. Step 3 - Calculate our Business’s ‘Break-even’ Point This will determine our ‘worst case’ scenario, giving our budget a band or range. The use of software, planning tools and some advice would be most useful and can assess the business’ sales volume breakeven levels, review ‘Safety Margins’, and the level of sales volume required to achieve breakeven for the relevant period.

Understanding working capital and its effect on cash-flow will increase our chances of staying in business, getting it wrong and..? After quantifying the dollar amount of working capital we need to express it as a percentage of ‘last year’s revenue’ and then apply that percentage to next year’s forecast revenue, thus forecasting working capital. Finally calculating cash-flow is simply a matter of deducting COGS, Expenses and the difference in Working Capital from Revenue. If the result is negative then we have a cash-flow shortfall. I have highlighted this in the table below: $

Revenue

2,000,000

100

COGS

(940,000)

Working Capital (last year)

200,000

Working Capital (this year)

(400,000)

Expenses

(960,000)

Cash Flow

(100,000)

What is worth noting is that from a profit perspective, our business actually made $100,000 profit but cash-flow was -$100,000. What planning can we now do to rectify this situation? G Skeggs Goldstien Associates

Step 4 – Project our Cash-flow and Bank Balances Let’s round out the process and bring it together. This is the ‘Back to the Future’ moment. We have to this point identified and projected revenues, GOGS and expenses. But what effect will our balance sheet have on our cash-flow and thus our bank balance? Understanding our balance sheet maybe the most important part of the

p | 1300 753 447 e | admin@sgapl.com.au w | www.sgapl.com.au

skeggs golds ien

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Business Advice

The Work Health and Safety Act – Is My Business Compliant? Kris Cilia, Consultant - The HR Department

The new Work Health and Safety Act and Regulations (2011) came into force in NSW from 1 January 2012. It reflects the agreement between all States, Territories and the Commonwealth to harmonise health and safety laws across Australia and replaces the NSW Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act 2000 and its Regulations (2001).

Compliance with the WHS Act is not an option - it is the law! Failure to comply can lead to officers, workers and/or the organisation being subjected to Provisional Improvement Notices, monetary fines and even up to 5 years imprisonment, depending on the seriousness of the offence. This article briefly highlights key elements of the WHS Act impacting SMEs which include: • Changes in Terminology • PCBU Obligations • Officer Due Diligence • Consultation (including HSRs and Safety Committees) • Right of Entry • Management Systems Changes in Terminology A PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking (no longer simply ‘the Employer’). This now encompasses a broader range of stakeholders including employers, partners, corporations, the self-employed, contractors, etc. An Officer is a new definition and covers directors and senior managers including persons who make decisions that affect the whole or substantial part of the business. The definition of a Worker now includes not only employees but extends to cover volunteers, labour hire staff, apprentices, work experience students, trainees, outworkers, sub-contractor or contractors. PCBU Obligations To comply with the WHS Act, the PCBU is required to ensure, so far as is ‘reasonably practicable’, the health and safety of workers and others. ‘Others’ includes other persons who may be at risk from your business activities, eg: clients, customers, visitors. The PCBU must also provide a safe

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

work environment, safe plant, adequate facilities, information, instruction and training. If it is not reasonably practical to eliminate risks to health and safety, the risk must be minimised as far as reasonably practicable. The PCBU must consult, cooperate in investigations, resolve WHS issues and notify any incidents to Workcover and the insurer. Officer Due Diligence Officers must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its safety obligations. Officers must also: • acquire and maintain knowledge of WHS matters; • understand the operations of the PCBU, the hazards and risks; • ensure that the right resources and processes have been implemented to eliminate or minimise risks; and • ensure the PCBU has processes in place to receive, review and promptly respond to incidents, hazards and risks. Consultation The WHS Act places obligations on PCBUs, Officers and workers to consult regarding identification of hazards, assessing risks, and making decisions about how those hazards/risks will be addressed. Consultation must also take place around any decisions about facilities for the welfare of workers, procedures for resolving issues, or changes that affect workers’ safety. Processes for consultation need to be established. This includes electing a Health and Safety Representative (HSR) or a WHS Committee in certain circumstances. The PCBU can also agree with its workers to establish other consultative arrangements to meet the organisation’s safety needs. The better the consultation processes, the less likely that the PCBU will run into difficulty. Right of Entry An Official of a union can enter the workplace as a WHS permit holder or to assist HSRs, or simply as a representative of a worker. The PCBU must not hinder or delay their access, nor their rights under the WHS entry permit. Permit holders can inquire into suspected WHS contraventions or warn any person of a suspected serious WHS risk (no notice required); and consult and advise on WHS matters with workers (24 hours notice required).

All organisations should be familiar with their rights and obligations or they could be either in breach of the Act or be subject to actions outside of the WHS Act. Management Systems A robust safety management system needs to be implemented to ensure the PCBU has measures in place to comply with its obligations under the WHS Act. This includes managing the entry and work of contactors and visitors; having a process to identify, assess, control and eliminate hazards; conducting risk assessments; having an emergency plan; managing injuries and investigating incidents. G

The HR Department has extensive experience in dealing with compliance with WHS legislation and the tools to help you meet your obligations. If you are unsure that your Work Health and Safety system is compliant with the WHS Act, contact the team at The HR Department. The comments within this article attempt to explain the law in plain English and are not meant to be a substitute for reading the WHS Act and/or accessing independent advice.

The HR Department Suite 515, 2-8 Brookhollow Ave Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 e | elly@thehrdepartment.com.au w | www.theHRdepartment.com.au

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Business Advice

Why do Accountants Play an Important Role in Businesses’ Success? Ruchaya Rayya Nillakan - Tax Accountants & SMSF Auditors

The role of a company’s accountant is not to be overlooked. It is highly important for businesses to get a good accountant to assist them from their start-up. Actually, finding the right accountant may not be that easy - but not finding one becomes a risk for the business.

Nowadays the public accountants are no longer acting just as a simple number cruncher: they can also be your advisors and organisers, helping you to tidy up your business. In addition they can guide you in the right direction on how to correctly manage and increase your company’s value and revenue. They are aware of current tax laws and regulations and this can help the company cut some of the unnecessary costs that might have been overlooked. Because an accounting firm looks after the company finances, it’s crucial that you select the right accountant who can apply their integrity, honesty and reliability to your business. To become a certified accountant one must obtain certain qualifications as well as attain specific experience. Additionally applicants have to pass a specific exam to prove their competence. Even after qualification accountants receive ongoing education to ensure that they are able to stay up to date in regards to the current tax regulations. A certified accountant will generally have more knowledge in regards to tax regulation than normal commercial accountants. When small business owners start trading, it is so important that they have a good accountant who can educate them in regard to law and regulations. Breaching the law can definitely lead to serious problems with the ATO (Australian Taxation Office), and the final responsibility will be sitting on the owner’s shoulders. When starting up a business you do need to make sure that the setup is correct, record keeping is compliant with ATO requirements and each account is properly allocated and the books are reconciled on a daily basis. Hiring a certified accountant tends to carry more upfront costs than a general one. However, it pays off in the long run. The knowledge and strategies you may gain access to via a good accountant can save you costs and may reduce the taxes paid by the company. Getting a good

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

education from a good accountant can lead you and your business to success. An accounting firm takes care of a lot of various jobs for small businesses. For businesses that are recently established, they need to set up the processes and procedures. Such processes might include: sorting out planning, settling rents and establishing record-keeping systems. The moment a company starts to trade, a licensed public accountant can help with preparing tax statements, annual information returns, quarterly reviews, and may offer specific financial advice.

help from a good accountant can save a startup business a significant amount of money and it is always the better option. Virtually all licensed public accountants are well versed in tax laws and regulations. Believe it or not, education and knowledge are worth much more than what you might think. Having little or no understanding about the financial aspects of your business is a dangerous way to operate. Conversely, hiring a good accountant can be one of the keys to business success. G

Super Smart Plans Financial & Accounting Level 4, Suite 888 311 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000 p | 02 8093 1683/85 (Head Office)

Many times the personal tax matters are directly related and linked to business tax matters. Hiring a good accountant can help you to understand your own business and personal financial system. In fact, another advantage of getting a good accountant is that a company will sometimes have the ability to take advantage of a networking opportunity, as accountants always have various kinds of clients from different industries and they can always help with referrals. They may, in turn, generate new clients for some of the businesses they work with. If you own a small business, you will definitely need an accountant to ensure that you are not paying more than you need to pay and not spending money for something that are outside the boundary of your business strategies. Getting

Norwest Business Park Centre A15/24-32 Lexington Drive Bella Vista, NSW, 2153 p | 02 9672 6279 e | info@supersmartplans.com w | www.supersmartplans.com.au

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Market place

Tuscan Wine Review from Direct Wine Cellars Calappiano Prosecco Extra Dry DOC 2011 Straw-yellow in colour with greenish tinges, it’s marvellously floral on the nose and with distinct fruity nuances of apple and white peach also present. It has a fresh, clean flavour, with a perfect balance between the acidity and sugary elements. It is persistent on the palate with a soft, mouth filling fizziness. Superb when served before any meal as an aperitif, for better valuing the delicate, mouth filling aroma of its persisting bubbles. Try it with shellfish and seafood risottos. Perfect in any convivial situation.

Trends – Be ahead of them

Rosé is quickly becoming the next big thing here in Australia as well. Forget what you think you know about Rosé as the Italians do it very differently!

Bubbly – we drink it in times of celebration and in times of despair. Champagne has always been on the hot list of drinks for all occasions, especially if you have a disposable income! However, tides are turning and people are starting to discover the blissful fizziness of Prosecco. It is not as acidic as Champagne, is slightly sweet on entry and finishes dry. Mix it in cocktails or have a glass on its own! Best thing is, it won’t break the budget!

Sensi Pinot Noir Rosé “Frizzanté” IGT 2010 The colour of this wine recalls the skin of red onions while the bouquet is pleasant & fragrant with pervasive notes of caramel and sweets. It is slightly acidulous with a full flavour. It is a pleasant drinking, all-course wine. Perfect in many different situations, especially in summer due to its distinctive freshness. Unforgettable

when paired with appetizers, white meat and low fat seafood. Serve between 8°C-10°C. Finally, the fruitiness of Pinot Noir has made it a big trend lately. We are accustomed to the Australian and New Zealand styles but we dare you to try the earthiness of the Italian varietal from the Veneto region. Villa Calappiano Pinot Noir IGT 2010 Clear ruby with a dark reddish hue, juicy and ripe, with cherry flavours laced up with fresh acidity and an edge of tannins. Plummy fruit typical of Italian Pinot Noir with appetizing black-cherry aromas and a hint of cedery oak to fill the palate out, this is an absolutely excellent food wine. G p | 02 4773 4400 w | www.directwinecellars.com.au f | www.facebook.com.au/DirectWineCellars

The Idolize Spiegeltent will be located in Prince Alfred Park

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

BUSINESS ADVICE

Accepting Online Payments by Daniel Moisyeyev, B. IT – GWP Media

Just 10 years ago few people would dare to enter their VISA credit card numbers on a website. Online shopping was perceived to be insecure and the general consensus was that paying for goods online was a gamble. Online banking was still an innovative idea, and in best case, in an alpha testing stage. And Ebay still had to prove to the world that buying at an online auction offered any sort of protection.

Today, people are much more relaxed about sending their credit card details - even sending such sensitive data by un-encrypted email doesn’t worry many people. A little bit of history … Collecting payments online was a difficult task in the past. If you are to flick through an older (circa 2000) web development book, you can find instructions on how to write code for an application that will validate credit card details after collection, how to order certificates from a Certificate Authority (CA) to prove your company identity and instructions on how to write a fully functional shopping cart from complete scratch. Today, very few web developers around you are actually capable of writing a full scale shopping cart from scratch. There are many reliable out-ofthe-box open-source and commercial projects that will enable a standard shopping cart to be set up quickly (if your business needs custom features, chances are, you are still out of luck – you will need to invest in a custom shopping cart). But the biggest development has been in the area of online transaction processing, where systems such as PayPal enable developers to easily, painlessly and safely integrate payment capabilities into their customer’s website. Should you collect credit card details yourself? If you go about accepting payments the oldfashioned way, you will need to collect credit card details directly through your company website. That will mean that you will need an experienced programmer that will design a system that will safely collect and validate credit card data and store it securely in a database. Furthermore, you may opt to process transactions manually, through a special payment gateway or directly integrate into

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

a gateway system provided by your bank to make use of automatic transaction processing. Using a payment gateway incurs a fixed fee for each transaction or a percentage. This option carries some legal implications for your business, as the quality and integrity of your system is directly related to possibility of credit card data being stolen and misused. You will also need to purchase a certificate from a Certificate Authority (CA) that will verify your company identity and enable encryption to take place by using a logical system known as Public-Key Cryptography. These certificates are granted by authorities such as VeriSign – and they can be compared to your company “passport” on the internet. You can review these certificates once you visit any website on a secured connection – the link will be denoted as “https://” in your web browser. This is the more difficult approach to collecting online payments and is generally not viable for small and start-up businesses. However, this is the way to go for large websites that require mass number of transactions. Should you let PayPal collect credit card details? Using PayPal (or another system) to collect credit card details offers many advantages. Firstly, it saves on development time as custom implementations for validation and collection are no longer required. It also provides the backing of a very large development team that makes the high grade security of PayPal possible. You can set up the transaction in such a way that your company website never actually collects any data at all – all of it is done through the safety net of PayPal. Out-of-the-box shopping cart solutions can often be easily integrated into PayPal. There are also options such as “buttons” that can be easily integrated into your website and will let you collected a fixed amount of funds. A system such as PayPal is also useful as an intermediate “wallet” where you can hold collected funds until enough is accumulated to be transferred. Scams With large systems such as Paypal, scammers often try to take advantage of users who trust into the system. There are a lot of replica PayPal look-alike websites that try to collect usernames/passwords and credit card details from unsuspecting users. In theory, a website using PayPal to collect payments

could be compromised and clients could be redirected to a rogue PayPal look-alike and have their details stolen. If your website offers any sort of payment capabilities, it pays to have an extra look at security issues and exploits. For example, if your website uses a common open source Content Management System (CMS) and collects payments, you have to ensure that bug fixes and exploits are quickly patched to avoid your website being compromised. Online Shopping Tips When shopping, always ensure that the address listed in the web browser is of the actual website you are trying to use. When in doubt, click on the padlock icon in your web browser to review the certificate and make sure the description matches to the company. If not, you could potentially become a victim and be on a long road to recover your money. Never submit credit card details on a website that does not have a certificate and is not on a secured connection. Finally, you can buy top-up VISA cards that you can use specifically for online shopping and keep your real credit card for offline purchases. If your business is looking to accept payments online, ask us for a recommended solution. G

If your business is planning to get a new website developed, give us a call. We will be able to guide you through the process step-by-step and ensure your project is completed in full to your requirements. GWP Media can have smaller websites operating within as short as 3 weeks.

GWP Media p | 02 8090 1730 e | daniel@gwpmagazine.com.au

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www.bartercard.com.au Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Society & Life

The Cost of Disengagement John Watters, Executive Officer – AusSIP

The cost of education is often cited as a barrier for people engaging in further studies. While there is undisputed evidence to suggest that for many families cost is a real issue, there is also mounting evidence indicating cost is not main reason people don’t continue on to further education.

In surveys conducted of people who discontinue their studies beyond high school, educational costs rank somewhere between third and fifth. Holding the top positions are a lack of interest in subject matter being studied, restrictive subject choice and a perception of irrelevance between theory and practice. To a large extent, all such factors are interdependent. If students find theory and practice dichotomously opposed, then it only stands to reason that they will search for something more relevant. If the search still amounts to little, then engagement levels drop and a sense of futility pervades. How many times have you started a training course with great enthusiasm only to find yourself Google searching or playing your favorite app within the first half an hour? In these cases, the light at the end of the tunnel lies in the fact that you will return to work after a short period of inconvenience. For a student, such an option does not exist. Disengagement is one of the most expensive and hidden costs to businesses and society. Furthermore, it has the ability to compound over time. When students begin to disengage, the cost of recovering the enthusiasm is far more expensive and challenging than it would have been to maintain the level of interest. Additionally, the further students become disenfranchised the harder it is to instill confidence to address these challenges. The same is found in HR all too frequently when employees lose sight of the bigger picture and become almost ‘war weary’. Such employees often find ways to amuse themselves that can be destructive to the business’s culture. Most importantly, these employees tend to consume vast amounts of management’s time addressing menial issues that detract rather than add value to the business.

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

For students and employees alike, increasing disengagement can result in learning environments and workplaces that personify negativity. For young people, these costs can be lifelong. How often have your come across people or heard stories about people who never recovered after the ‘wheels fell off’?

To become more involved and increase engagement, please contact John Watters at info@aussip.com.au.

Disengagement is one of the most expensive and hidden costs to businesses and society. Furthermore, it has the ability to compound over time. When students begin to disengage, the cost of recovering the enthusiasm is far more expensive and challenging than it would have been to maintain the level of interest. Such stories are often underpinned by missed opportunities and of potential unfulfilled. On the other hand, how inspirational are those who have faced challenges and have been able to ‘refit the wheels’? Such stories usually involve an opportunity that was explored; a mentor that stepped in; or an inspiring leader that battled through. The problem is, such stories are so inspirational because they are often so few and far between. Engagement with young people is not that different to engagement with adults. To increase engagement, circumvention of disengagement is required. Successful and proven strategies include structured workplace learning, mentoring, partnering, guest speaking, industry visits and work shadowing. The true cost of education is not the fees; it is disengagement. The true value of education is not the qualification; it is engagement. While we can quantify the cost of education, the value is immeasurable. G

For more information on Partnership Brokers, please contact your local office listed below.

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Blacktown admin@breedcp.com.au p | 9853 3247

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Society & Life

People You Meet Along the Way (Part 2) Angry Anderson

We finished last time as I was out of school. So, it may be a good time to mention my childhood best friend who went through school with me from primary through tech school, and on into the years immediately following as we sought and found work and started our adult lives.

Paul Harrison is one of twelve ‘Harrison’ kids. The Harrisons lived next door to us when we moved from my grandparents’ house to our own house. We lived in a caravan on the new block for the first three months while the house was being finished. The next door neighbours were there already and it didn’t take long for Paul and I to become friends and soon we were the best of mates. School started for me pretty much straight away as I was five when we moved to Pascoe Vale. Paul and I went through school together, grew up together, discovered life together and all that growing and learning entails: cigarettes, booze, girls and sex. We grew apart once we both started working and I started to drift into music but the love never dies and ours has endured the test of time. Recently, when I was honoured in the TV show This is Your Life I was reunited with Paul and his older brother Jack, also one of my dearest childhood friends. And the love of our youth flooded back and engulfed us, swept us up and carried us back to a simpler time. Girls, then women, are always going to play a large part in a man’s life and their influence can start early. Mine started with a raving beauty. She became responsible for my first tattoo. I had her name tattooed on me as a sign of my everlasting love but I was soon to find out that nothing lasts forever when it comes to teenage love. We loved passionately as learners do. We burned bright and fierce and crashed the same way. I was broken-hearted as people tend to be when they lose their first great love. I have found out lately that it is the same at any age, but I’m jumping ahead. Let’s go back. I moved out of home to live with a woman, a full grown woman and we started a full grown relationship. We were together for five years and the break-up left me berserk with grief. I was to learn, again recently, that that doesn’t get any

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

better either.

band’s most memorable songs.

Music has always been my saviour and it most certainly was at that time. I soon became involved with a much younger girl and we stayed together for five or six years while I was establishing myself on the Melbourne music scene.

Mick’s style of playing, his amazing ability to play rhythm guitar faster and more accurately than anyone had seen before quickly established him as one of the greats. Before leaving Melbourne, Mick began to visit my place, firstly at weekends, but then the visits became more frequent until one weekend he just didn’t go home.

My first successful band, the first to I could make my living from, was Buster Brown. At about that time I became best friends with a colourful character who went by the name of ‘Mangy Mick’. Not only was he my best friend for many years, but he was to influence or be an influence in my life right up totoday. Mangy Mick was the man who named me ‘Angry’.

We would sit around playing records, mostly from my collection, and choof on joints and drink beer or bourbon until the very late hours. We talked endlessly about what sort of band we were looking for and how it could be different, how it could be ours.

Peter Wells was and will always be my ‘soul mate’ in music. Ours was to be a tempestuous relationship as many creative relationships are, and ours was all of that and more. Buster Brown quickly became a force on the Melbourne rock scene. It was the early seventies and it was all happening in Melbourne at that time. In fact it was happening all over Australia as we started to produce some of the finest pop and rock and roll bands the world has ever seen. The years from Buster to Rose Tattoo were to pass quickly and remain, to this day, mostly foggy to say the least. During that last year before heading north to Sydney I became very close friends with a young guitar player whose name was Mick Cox, he was to later become a founding member of Rose Tattoo and main songwriter for the first two ‘Tatts’ albums. He came up with the tunes and I came up with the words. We were a formable team and between us we were responsible for some of the

We travelled to Sydney together in search of the ‘other’ players in this “super band” we had in our minds. On our second trip we were introduced to the man who was to influence me, as no other had till that day and that no other has, musically, to this day. He has left an indelible mark on me that I will carry in me till my last days. Peter Wells was and will always be my ‘soul mate’ in music. Ours was to be a tempestuous relationship as many creative relationships are, and ours was all of that and more. Ian Rylens, Dallas Royal, Mick Cox, Peter Wells and I became Rose Tattoo and we embarked on a crusade to save the world from dying of boredom.

business advice The music we wrote and played was as fierce, passionate and as relenting as life itself. It took no prisoners and there were casualties: and some of the casualties were us. The line-up changed and new blood came in from time to time but always there was Peter and I. That was to be until the early eighties when we were touring America.

different man, a saner man, a better man. This is the beginning of the next part of my life and we will meet here when next we speak, so until we meet again, go with your God and treat all men as you would have them treat you. Always your friend, Angry.

A lifestyle fuelled by copious amounts of drugs and alcohol and endless partying, of playing most nights of the week for most weeks of the year, for five then six years, finally took its toll and Peter Wells and I, the man I loved like no other, parted ways. I was devastated and I never really recovered from that loss. I grieved for years but kept on rocking, doing the only thing I really new how to do: sin the blues for Rose Tattoo. It was the early eighties and rock and roll was changing and so was I. Lindy Louise, my girlfriend, was pregnant with the first of our four children, and when Roxanne was born my whole life changed forever. The first time I looked into those blue eyes my heart began to move to the beat of a different drum and I was a man saved by the grace and wisdom of the creator. I was a man reborn, a

Angry is also available for corporate or public and private engagements, musical entertainment – acoustic performance detailing the history in song and story of Rose Tattoo; electric performance with cover band playing a selection of rollicking rock and roll and assorted R+B favourites.

Angry Anderson AM is available for the following public speaking. Subjects covered: • personal life journey experience, overcoming obstacles along the way like his battle with alcohol and drugs, humorous anecdotal stories about his life on the international stage with his band the legendary Rose Tattoo; • inspirational messages on his ability to deal with surviving all his tribulations; • stories about his involvement in Television which introduced him to his dedication to helping others in need; • his commitment to Men’s Health; • his life long battle with depression and his dedication as ambassador, to spreading awareness regarding Prostate Cancer.

e | angry@angryanderson.com

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

FEATURE

Points of View

Davson’s $5.2m Record Art Sale by Celia Berrell

The sale of Davson’s painting Points of View has surpassed all previous prices for a painting by a living Australian artist. At $5.2 million, Points of View has dramatically surpassed the record set last year by a smaller Davson artwork. Points of View was created as three continuous canvases by Davson in 1985. It was originally commissioned by Norman Hepburn for his then Central Coast resort for $12,000. Since that time the painting has changed hands several times.

themed with her signature jig-saw puzzle pieces, and includes subtle personal motifs woven into the expansive canvas. It is an opportune investment in this leading female artist’s work. Macquarie Trustees NZ Ltd is very pleased to have procured the painting.” This $5.2 million (US$5.35m) sale places Davson third in the world ranking by value for a painting by a living female artist. Marlene Dumas currently holds this record with a sale value of US$6.3 million for her painting The Visitor; a US$5.8 million work by Yayoi Kusama from Tokyo is second. Cady

Noland takes the overall value record for art by a living female artist for a US$6.6 million sculpture. Achieving the highest sales price for a living artist within a country is predominantly a male domain. Davson is currently the only female holding this title. It is quite telling that she, and Australia, have achieved this record twice in a row! She first achieved this ranking in 2011 with her smaller painting 1.22m by 1.52 m (4ft by 5ft) On The Ark of Salvation which sold for $1.3 million. Davson said, “I am delighted about the sale of

Boyd Nelson of Whitehead Gupta Lawyers, issued the following statement on behalf of the new owner: “Macquarie Trustee NZ Ltd is happy to announce its acquisition of the painting “Points of View”. The 1.37 x 5.5 metre (4.5 by 18 foot) painting was Davson’s second major art commission. We regard it as a significant work in Davson’s career, as well as an important work in the history of Australian art. “Given the comparatively small out-put by this remarkable internationally accredited artist, Macquarie Trustee NZ Ltd regards $5.2 million for ‘Points of View’ as an excellent buy. With much of Davson’s art sold before being created, it is very rare to have the opportunity to acquire such a major early painting by her. “‘Points of View’ is an iconic Davson work lavishly

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Working on the painting in 1985 - Points of View

FEATURE

“Points of View”. It’s testimony to all those who have believed in my work over the past decades. I trust it will also be of encouragement to women artists everywhere that in this 21st Century the ‘glass ceiling’ in the arts is finally being shattered. I am also elated that the sales value reflects that art doesn’t need to be confronting or shocking to be considered of high worth. It is time for works that inspire and uplift to have their ‘turn in the sun’. All the best. Thank you.” Davson’s art is represented in public collections including in the Hikaru Memorial Museum in Takayama, Japan, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin and 40 public art gallery, city or university collections. Her art is also represented in 2 Royal collections and over 60 corporate collections in Australia, the USA, Japan and New Zealand. From 1999 to 2002, Davson’s major retrospective exhibition With Gratitude For The Light toured 14 public regional art galleries throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It showcased 63 artworks dating from 1972 to 1999. ‘Points of View’ featured in this inspirational touring exhibition. The majority of these exhibition pieces were borrowed back from public, corporate and private collections, including the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Coro Corp. New Zealand & Hawaii, Cathay Pacific Airways, Konica Australia, the Rooty Hill RSL Club & Resort, the Win Davson Art Gallery & Museum and the private collection of James Fairfax AO. 2008-11 saw another retrospective exhibition Davson - World Leaders and Enlightenment tour. This featured art works from 1973 to 2007 which

Sharon Davson with Points of View were mainly borrowed from superannuation fund collections. Davson currently resides in Newcastle NSW. Her art and its benefits to the immediate and broader communities are held in high regard. Davson has recently been supported as the creative leader of a new Spiritualism in art and is readily identified as a Personal Globalist. She established two charities, assisting endangered species and promoting world peace, and continues to participate in benefitting other community organisations. Over 300 world-renowned leaders have supported her work. From cultural, entertainment and sporting arenas, they have included Sir Edmund Hillary, Neil Diamond, Paul Newman, Sir Cliff Richard, Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti, Pete Sampras, Linda Evangelista, the Hon. Pat Farmer, Layne Beachley, Cathy Freeman, Andre Agassi, Bon Jovi and many more.

Farmer’s Pole to Pole run, and the official artist to the event. Both are major achievers in their respective worlds. A realistic visionary, Davson is… the artist world leaders follow. Contact Davson Art management to acquire her art from $5,000 and upwards; to learn more about why Davson’s art has experienced better than approximately 20% per annum growth for collector/investors for more than two decades; or to find out more about the Artists of the Ark. Enjoy the benefits… m | 0416 026 426 e | sharon@davsonart.com w | www.davsonart.com

Davson was recently a significant sponsor of Pat

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

Australian Sport

Penrith Boy Makes the Grade for State of Origin After getting the call-up for his first ever game with the Blues in Origin 2, the Panthers’ Tim Grant revealed why he never gave up on his dream to play rugby league.

I was born in the Penrith area, and moved to Cranebrook when I was about 13. I’ve been there ever since.

We are great mates though, more like brothers than anything else. Every single team apart from school footy we’ve been side by side. When he got picked for Origin the first time I thought ‘how great would it be to play next to him in the sky blue’. And now that’s actually going to happen,

Tim Grant

I started playing for St Mary’s when I was 7 years old. I was never bigger than any of the other kids; in fact I was really skinny and gangly. Like a human broomstick. But as soon as I pulled on those footy boots and started playing, I knew I wanted to be a professional footballer.

I’ve been dropped back to reserve grade a few times. It’s hard at the time, you feel like your dreams are being ripped away from you. But in the end it’s good for you, like when your parents discipline you as a kid. I know some younger guys struggle with floating in and out of first grade, but it forces you to develop as a player, it makes you learn your trade fully and completely. Michael Jennings and I played all our junior footy together. He was always a superstar. No word of a lie, when we played SG Ball together, the game plan was ‘TG, get a quick play the ball and get it to Jenko so he can score a try’. So I would attract the defenders, get absolutely flogged, and still be picking myself up off the ground while Jenko was waving to the girls in the crowd after scoring yet another try. There’s no glamour in being a prop! Sometimes I think I was just picked because I was always the first one in to shake his hand after he scored a try, I helped build his self confidence. Like a donkey stablemate for a thoroughbred!

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

I don’t think I have a particular amount of skill when it comes to footy. That’s not false modesty either. I was never the ‘next big thing’, never the gun player. I had loads of people tell me I wasn’t cut out for first grade, let alone State of Origin. But they aren’t in the game any more. The only asset I have is that I’m stubborn. I will push myself harder than someone else will. I’m willing to work as hard as I have to achieve what I want. That’s all I have.

I was never a standout player. No one ever pulled me aside and told me ‘kid, you’re going to be a star’. But I didn’t care, I was in my own world. I knew what I wanted to do, and where I wanted to go. When I was 15 I got picked to play Harold Matts for the Panthers, then worked my way through the grades there. I made my first grade debut in 2007, I was 19 and more than a bit nervous. Looking back, I probably wasn’t ready. I had a few good games, but a few absolute shockers.

I would be able to play for the Panthers again. I felt so sorry for Ivan. The poor bloke had walked into a new club and lost half the team to injuries. Every game that I watched from the sidelines hit me hard, I felt like I was letting the fans and my team mates down. I just wanted to run on and start tackling.

it’s a bit of a spin out. When we line up for anthem in Game 2, I’ll be looking for him so we can sing it together.

We shouldn’t see ourselves as anything special just because we play football. It’s a job, that’s all. I appreciate the opportunity footy has afforded me, but I am no better than an electrician or a plumber or anyone else. I have no right to have an ego. I want to be treated like a regular bloke, so that’s how I act. It’s pretty simple.

I first met Gus Gould in 2010. I was pretty overwhelmed, he’s like the Godfather of rugby league. I was injured at the time, and pretty depressed about it. He said to me quietly “You’ll play Origin soon”. That’s stuck with me ever since. When you hear someone with so much knowledge give you a rap like that, it gives you a boost and incentive to keep going. When I got the call up for NSW he was the first person that called me, it was an awesome moment.

The greatest thing about being picked for NSW is it’s brought back a lot of memories. A lot of people from my past have got in contact to congratulate me and it’s reminded me of the unwavering support I’ve received during my career. It’s given me time to reflect. I keep thinking, if they weren’t there, where would I be? When I run out there in my Blues jersey, I feel like I should cut it up into 50 little pieces and give a piece to every person that’s helped me along the way. It’s as much their achievement as it is mine.

I’m proud of where I come from. We sometimes get labelled as ‘bogans’, but Penrith is filled with genuine, educated and hardworking people and I am proud of that. There’s a lot more diversity out here than people realise. The way that people have congratulated me on my selection is humbling. I hope the community sees me in the way I want to be seen. I want to make the people of Penrith proud.

I haven’t thought about winning the series too much. I don’t believe that the Maroons are some big unbeatable machine. They aren’t mythical. To me, they are just blokes in maroon jerseys. Blokes I’ll tackle as hard as I possibly can. It’s been a bumpy road, but as I pull on that sky blue jersey and represent the people of NSW, it feels right. I believe in fate, I guess I’m a weirdo like that. G

Being in NSW camp has been a dream come true. We are all really tight, it doesn’t feel like a rep team. Trust me when I say this: Queensland doesn’t have a mortgage on brotherhood.

As told to Kiki Stewart

When I was injured earlier this year, I thought I may never make it here. I wasn’t even sure when

Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

1300 000 ICF

Suite 1,34-46 Brookhollow Ave Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 www.icfrith.com.au

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Relocations Atlantis

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

You deserve the best, how about exceptional.

Sit back and relax in our stunning new showroom while you’re waiting to test drive your new Toyota. The feeling’s great. Choose from our exceptional range of new Toyotas or view and test drive our quality used cars, including commercials and AWDS. We also offer flexible finance options that you can discuss with one of our finance experts in complete privacy, and when it comes to servicing your car, it’s reassuring to know you’re being looked after by our professionals using the latest in Toyota technology. There’s a lot more on offer so why not call in. The coffee’s always hot, just like our deals.

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Business Resource & Lifestyle | Issue 46 | August 2012

8884 4888