Business Times - October

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NETWORKING GURU SAYS STICK TO BUSINESS

SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT FATTY ACIDS

EXPLAINING THE BUSINESS BUZZWORD

ELECTRICITY SECRETS LOCKED

IN CERAMIC CELLS

HOME POWER

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BUSINESS & LEISURE: Frankston | Mornington Peninsula | Dandenong

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2 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | October 2012

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ISSUE 28 / OCTOBER 2012FRANKSTON / MORNINGTON PENINSULA / DANDENONG

DISCLAIMER: Information in BusinessTimes contains general advice only. No article or column has been prepared taking into account any individual reader’s financial situation, investment objectives or particular needs. Readers should personally consult professionals for advice on any matter, including investment, health and the law. While all care is taken, BusinessTimes accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions in the published material. Views expressed are not necessarily those of BusinessTimes Pty Ltd. All content is copyright.

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ColumnsNetworking: Ivan Misner 10Markets: Richard Campbell 20Health: Mike Ellis 21Managing: Hamish Petrie 22

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Features

12Power savings:

Fuel cell firm plans for

home-based power stations

Three Omegas:

Spreading the word

about fatty acids.

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OCTOBER 2012 | $4.95 (GST inc.)

NETWORKING GURU

SAYS STICK TO BUSINESS

SPREADING THE WORD

ABOUT FATTY ACIDS

EXPLAINING THE

BUSINESS BUZZWORD

ELECTRICITY

SECRETS LOCKED

IN CERAMIC CELLS

home Power

Base

BUSINESS & LEISURE: Frankston | Mornington Peninsula | Dandenong

NO POLITICS

OMEGA PEOPLE

SUSTAINABILITY

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BusinessTimes | 3October 2012 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong |

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AN ambitious campaign is unfolding to revitalise Frankston’s community spirit and secure the future of the city’s VFL team, Frankston Dolphins.

Proudly Frankston, a group of business people and educators that includes former Dolphin coaches and players, is launching its community-wide initiative with the help of the local business chamber, service clubs, sporting clubs and schools.

The heart of the multi-faceted plan is development of a new 500-seat social venue at Frankston Park as well as support for wide-ranging youth and community programs.

Frankston City Council, the state government, AFL Victoria and the Dolphins’ management are all backing the Frankston Park development.

Proudly Frankston campaign leader Alan Wickes said the social facility is seen as a way of securing the club financially, guaran-teeing that VFL football not only survives, but also thrives, in Frankston, the last original stand-alone club in the competition.

“The development will be iconic. It will become the magnet for large community events as well as a source of pride for Frankston residents,” Wickes said

The campaign will be officially launched at a lunch at Frankston Park on Friday, 26 October.

“Our plan is to showcase Frankston’s wonderful assets,” said the former Dolphins’ coach and longtime Frankston businessman.

“We will network with – and support in

any way we can – any organisation in the city that promotes participation in sport and community-building activities, particularly those encouraging involvement by young people.

“This is a Frankston Dolphins’ initiative that we hope will reach into every part of this great bayside community.”

He said the Proudly Frankston vision was to use sport as “a way of tackling key community issues such as lifelong learning, healthy lifestyles and social inclusion”.

The plan is comprehensive and evolving, said Wickes, who early in September became facilitator of Frankston District Junior Football League’s Youth Leadership Program.

The three-stage program targeting 13, 14 and 15-year-olds is based on international research identifying teenagers as effective role models and teachers, too.

Boost for city pride

FORMER Dolphins Alan Wickes (right) and Ken Jungwirth are spearheading the Proudly Frankston campaign.

s s

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4 | BusinessTimes

NEWS

Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | October 2012

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. commercial litigation .

. copyright, trade marks & patents .

. corporate acquisitions

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. business debt recovery .

. defence & government contracting .

. employment law .

. commercial property law .

. franchising .

. insolvency & bankruptcy .

. intellectual property licensing

& technology transfers .

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“The campaign must, in the end, engage the next generation of young people and help guide them in the personal devel-opment,” said Wickes, the past presi-dent of the junior football league.

Businesses and service clubs are already backing the Proudly Frankston push.

“We are building business relation-ships through proactive networking with Greater Frankston Business Chamber and we are working with dedicated service clubs committed to a better Frankston.

“As much as possible we will support small and medium busi-nesses which are the major investors and employers in our community.”

Tickets for the noon lunch on October 26 are $165 and include three course meal, Mornington Peninsula wines and entertainment by Frankston High School’s best young musicians.

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VICTORIA’S planning zones – de-termining what we can build and where – are about to be upended.

Amid argument and opposition, State Planning Minister Matthew Guy is de-termined to push through the reforms, saying they are necessary to unblock a bureaucracy-bound system.

Already this year the minister has added 6000 ha of residential land to Melbourne’s perimeter, calling it the “logical inclusions process’’ as he gobbled into the city’s green wedges.

But the most far reaching of Mr Guy’s July announcement will be struc-tural changes brought about by over-hauling the state’s planning zones.

Public comment on the extensive changes closed 21 September and an expert panel will make recommendations after consid-ering responses to the proposed changes.

Mr Guy told The Age on 15 Sep-tember the government’s intention “has actually been to help councils and therefore there will be some re-

Guy zones

visions that they recommend”.Changes affecting Melbourne’s 12 green

wedges are the most controversial, allowing developments like petrol stations, display homes, sawmills, schools and churches.

Mornington Peninsula residents Ranald Macdonald, former managing direc-tor of The Age and Flinders Community Association member, and David Gill, former president of the Shire of Morning-ton, collaborated in a statement that the proposed changes meant “Melbourne’s green wedges will be despoiled, urban boundaries threatened, national parks and reserves handed over to the whims of private enterprise, and the appealing and

Mr Guy said that a separate Mornington Peninsula planning statement would have ‘’state-level controls’’ to protect the area.

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BusinessTimes | 5October 2012 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong

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productive Mornington Peninsula with its towns and villages of special character and charm will be turned over to developers’’.

Mr Guy said that a separate Mornington Peninsula planning statement would have “state-level controls’’ to protect the area.

Changes in residential zoning could see shops, offices, medical centres, churches and bed and breakfasts being built in some areas without a permit.

Subdivisions and new rural stores would become easier in farming areas.

In the “rural conservation zone’’ a ban on building anything other than listed permitted and prohibited uses would be scrapped and replaced with a clause

requiring a permit for “any other use”.Councils have 12 months to deter-

mine where the new residential zones will apply after which changes will need to be approved by the planning minister.

RMIT planning expert Michael Buxton reportedly said of the proposed changes: “there has never been anything like this’’.

He told The Age: “This is a concerted effort by far-right lobby groups and the Liberal government to wreck planning systems and open cities and regions up to any type of development. It’s open slather.”

Mr Buxton added that he was con-cerned that changes in commercial zones threatened Melbourne’s traditional strip shopping centres by opening up develop-ment opportunities, and the proposed new residential zones that would allow more opportunity for “retail and office use’’.

WIDENING a laneway between Davey St and Plowman Place on Frankston busi-ness centre’s southern fringe is seen as pivotal for the precinct’s redevelopment.

Frankston City Council has asked its officers to prepare a cost benefit analy-sis of acquiring land and doubling the width of Bay Lane to six metres.

The lane adjoins the site of a pro-posed 14-storey apartment building.

Council was told last month that any substantial redevelopment of the Davey St area would depend on widening Bay Lane and eventually making a north-south road connection to Plowman Place

Consultants said council could signal to the development industry and land-owners the intention to facilitate re-development of the precinct through the application of a Planning Acquisi-tion Overlay, providing further cer-tainty for future access arrangements.

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BUSY BITES

Video bankingTHE bank of the future will be driven by video interaction including local branch video calling, accessing experts on demand online and interactive videos on financial topics. This will deliver improved customer experiences, blending both online and offline engagement, according to research by Telstra Enterprise & Government. Telstra’s report, ‘The Digital Media Bank – how video better engages your customers and workers’, shows most bank-ing customers want to connect with their bank via video.

GST & risk managementTHE Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released a GST governance and risk manage-ment guide containing two interactive checklists which allow businesses to assess their internal GST and risk management processes.The guide helps businesses to:• check they are paying the correct amount of GST• ensure they are getting their entitled GST credits • meet their GST compli-ance obligations• prepare for any usual transac-tions or system failures.Visit the ATO website to access the guide and down-load the checklists.

COUNCILS that provide staff with challenges and foster their development in the workplace could benefit through staff stability, according to findings in a job survey conducted by CommStrat.

Three factors appear to dominate a person’s deci-sion to work for a council: career enhancement; a desire to serve the community, and job security.

Other significant job attractions that were listed included remuneration, training and development, camaraderie and promotion.

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What employees look for in a job

About 400 people responded to the CommStrat survey which sought to identify factors that entice people to a job and what keeps them there – as well as what drives them away.

Clearly conditions are conducive to long-timers: well over a third (36 per cent) of respondents had spent 16 or more years in local government. One in five had served between six and 10 years; and one in seven (15 per cent) up to 15 years.

CONFIDENCE levels of Australian small and medium businesses have declined for the third consecutive quarter according to the September Sensis Business Index.

The quarterly Business Index survey of 1800 busi-nesses found that while 50 per cent of businesses said they were confident about their prospects, a further 33 per cent said they were concerned – representing a six percentage point fall in confidence since the previous survey.

The decline in confidence is not consistent across the

Survey indicates declining confidencecountry however, with small and medium businesses in Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory reporting increased confidence over the past three months.

Report author Christena Singh said the main reason businesses gave for feeling worried about their prospects were concerns about consumer spending, a decrease in business, and the general economic outlook.

“Businesses actually reported a slight increase in sales during the quarter,” Ms Singh.

A third of those surveyed listed lack of recognition or promotion as reasons for moving on.

This is at odds with the general population: recent Bureau of Statistics findings showed more than half (56 per cent) of Australia’s 11.5 million workers had spent five or less years in their jobs, and as many as one in five had served less than one year. Yet there is movement within the public sector: a total of 40 per cent of respondents had been in their current role for two or less years; a whisker under 30 per cent remained in one role for between three and five years and just two per cent had been in the same role for two or more decades.

The survey also queried factors causing workers to vacate their previous position. HR staff may care to take note: exactly one third listed lack of recognition or promotion. Followed by ‘culture’ (28 per cent), management (26 per cent), lack of training (23 per cent) and infrequent salary increases (20 per cent).

Almost one in four (24 per cent) listed ‘boredom’. And when they are ready to move on – more than eight in 10 council workers turn to CommStrat’s LG Jobs website to source an alternative position. Just under six in 10 use seek.com; 55 per cent check classified sections of newspapers and 39 per cent use their ‘personal network’.

BusinessTimes | 7October 2012 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong |

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Marketing winners againREAL estate company Nichols Crowder is again a winner in the Real Estate Institute of Victoria Commercial and Industrial Marketing Awards.Following success in the 2011 awards, Nichols Crowder had another two wins this year. It won best sales cam-paign in the categories under $5000 and $5000-$15000Nichols Crowder are now finalists for the commercial gold award at this month’s REIV awards for Excellence Gala event.

Sticking with cardsWITH retail down 0.8 per cent in July, Australians are cutting spending and searchingfor ways to save. At the same time, a survey by credit card comparison website, CreditCard-Finder.com.au reveals that card-holders are reluctant to swap credit providers in order to save.The suvey showed that 79.5 per cent of credit card holders have never changed credit card provider and 83.5 per cent have never used a credit card comparison website.Jeremy Cabral, publisher of CreditCardFinder.com.au said 53 per cent of card holders have had their credit card for more than four years while 25 per cent of these have had the same credit card for 11 years or more.

What employees look for in a job

OLDER people are some of the best and most reli-able workers, and employers need to change their attitudes and welcome them into their workforce, or keep them if they already have them.

That was the message to the ‘Older Workers and Business Growth’ business strategy forum in Sydney on 3 September when more than 90 CEO’s, HR managers and recruitment personnel gathered to talk with the Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan, and economic and employment experts.

“This forum is one of the most important meet-ings for business this year,” said Ian Yates, Chief Executive of COTA Australia, the peak body for older Australians.

“To be sustainable and successful, businesses are going to have to retain and recruit older workers, and for too many employers this requires a change of attitude,” Yates said.

“We can strengthen the laws that already outlaw age discrimination in the workplace, but the real challenge is for businesses to have policies and processes in place that remove any trace of ageism in their workforce practices.

“Some companies already do it very well, but too many don’t, and we hope after today more CEO’s will spread the word about the value and necessity of employing older Australians.”

Older workers add value

Personal liability extendedSTEPHEN Adrian, Partner at Moore Stephens Melbourne, has alerted company directors that they may now be personally liable for unpaid PAYG tax and superannuation, following the introduction of the Pay as You Go Withholding Non Compliance Tax Act 2012 on 1 July.

“To avoid a personal liability directors must make sure that all their PAYG and SGC returns are lodged within three months of the due date,” said Mr. Adrian.

The new legislation automatically extends per-sonal liability to company directors who fail to either report or pay PAYG tax or Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) amounts within three months of their falling due. In some cases, associates of directors may also be held liable.

If the PAYG and SGC amounts have been reported, but remain unpaid after three months, the ATO must issue a Director Penalty Notice before a Director becomes personally liable – and Director Penalty Notices can be issued on an estimated basis.

Directors can avoid personal liability in that case by paying the debt or placing the company into administration. Previously, directors were not

personally liable for unpaid PAYG tax amounts until they were issued with a Director Penalty Notice. Generally, that Notice allowed directors 21 days to remedy the default, or place the company into administration, and thereby avoid personal liability.

However, said Mr. Adrian, the new Act makes personal liability automatic.

“Lodging a return after that three-month period will not release the director from personal liability under the new regime,” he said.

He added that the ATO is considering applying this regime to other indirect taxes.


NETWORKING

1. A COMBINED networking evening at Brooklands Mornington brought together Mornington Peninsula and Mt Eliza networking groups. With Dunkley federal MHR Bruce Billson (centre) are Raman Ymer, president of Mt Eliza group, and Katherine Ebbott, of Mornington Peninsula Group.

2. NETWORKING at Brooklands on 28 August were (from left) Richard Uglow, regulatory support manager for Coles in Victoria and Tasmania, Pesi Weir, ACN Telecommunica-tions, and Chris Nimos, of Rapid Click.

3. FRANKSTON Tourism AGM and breakfast was held at Monash University campus, Frankston, on 29 August. Judith Muir, of Polperro Dolphin Swims, is pictured with Sabine Willert-Dettmer, tourism coordinator at Mornington Community Information and Support Centre.

4. TOURISM breakfast guests (from left) Ted Smirnoff, of Hamper Yourself, David Wemyss-Smith, of Manyung Gallery Group, and Tony Wood, of Peninsula Fudge.

5. MT ELIZA Business Network International (BNI) launched at Mornington Golf Club on 4 September. Nearly 100 guests and new members attended, including, from left, Gina Luke, of Pinant Financial Planning, Peter McClure, of McLure’s Office Supplies, and Helen Pentaris, of Fruit and Flowers for you.

6. BNI launch guests Julie Brown, of Bogart’s Limousines, Chris Bywater, owner of Chemdry Cleaning, and Kim Hallis, of Create Expectations Property Presentations.

7. MT ELIZA BNI guests (from left) Steve Funke, of Funkessound, Veronica Amato, of Allison Monkhouse, Mornington, and Scott Davies, of Hummingbird Eco Retreat and Conference Centre, Red Hill.

8. ALSO at the BNI launch were (from left) Marty Matuszewski, of Lookatit Productions, Wendy Hood, of Endota Day Spa, Red Hill, and Martin Brown, of Bogart’s Limousines.

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9. Mt Eliza Networking Group had a celebration with a difference at Norwood House, Mornington, on 12 September. Marriage celebrant Christine Davies (left) performed a mock wedding for ‘bride’ Jenny Williams, of Delphinus Cruises, and Kevin Johnstone, a framer.

10. Monash University Business Associates’ Breakfast was addressed by Pippa Hanson, of The Sports Injury Clinic. From left are Mandy Garoni, Peninsula Curtains, Claire Burns, Step Up Coaching, and Lisa Bedin Peninsula Curtains and Blinds.

11 Monash Business Breakfast guest speaker Pippa Hanson with Alex Anderson, of Connecting Skills Australia.

12. Mornington Chamber of Commerce met at The Rocks, Mornington, for a networking meeting on 18 September. From left) are Judy Edwards, an honorary member of the chamber, Peter Donlan, managing director of SuperPages, and Faye Ross, Wattle Gardens, Mornington.


APPOINTMENTS

NETWORKING

CHRIS Wilson, a licensed real estate agent, has joined Mornington Peninsula agency Bowman and Company. Chris has decades of experience in the region which he is drawn to because he loves the relaxed lifestyle the peninsula has to offer. Bowman describes Chris as “a highly decorated specialist residential and development site agent who will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of excellence”.Call him on 0418 101 202 .

DENTAL hygienist Natalie Isarin is“the face” of this year’s Peninsula Cup. The appointment gives the 23-year-old from Mt Martha VIP entry to key fashion and race day events and requires her to share hosting and trophy presentations.She will also judge Fashions of the Field. As the face of the cup Ms Isarin receives $5000 in prizes, including cash, clothing and hair styling.

EMMA Pappas joins the growing team at the Optus Business Centre in Carrum Downs as a telephone sales executive. Emma boasts many years’ experience in telecommunications and possesses excellent product and technical knowledge. Contact Emma directly should you wish to benefit from her expertise. Email Emma: [email protected] or call her on 0397703555

KAREN Pedley, owner of Mornington’s Splash of Red Hair and Beauty for the past 11 years, has a new venture, Red Rejunenation, a skin care boutique-style salon. Red Rejvenation is adjacent to Splash of Red at 6 Ross St. Karen employs therapists qualified in all aspect of the beauty industry, specialis-ing in skin correction, using German-made Dermavidu-als products. Internationally known brands Pevonia and the Jane Iredale range of make-up are also available.

DENNIS Hovenden is the new chief executive officer of Frankston City Council.Mr Hovenden takes over on Monday 29 October. Over the past five years Mr Hovenden has been CEO at Swan Hill Rural City Council and has spent more than 28 years in local government, including time in Victoria, NSW and SA. He has tertiary qualifications in political science and legal studies and public sector management.

Why? Because it shifts our eyes off the ball; it takes us away from what we are supposed to be doing while we are trying to build our business.

When I raise this subject I sometimes get a few (very vocal) people who say that it is their “right” to discuss politics, religion, or anything they want when they meet people. To that I say – I completely agree. However, just because it is someone’s “right,” doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea. Having the right to do or talk about something and having the realistic expectation that it will actually help you in some way are two totally different things. One of the ways I’ve been able to stay successful in my business is by staying focused on my professional mission. If you look at other successful people, you would most certainly see that they do the same. Anything that takes us away from our own professional missions is a distraction and – simply put – there is no bigger set of distractions to a networking organisation than religion and politics. It is not appropriate to espouse political or

Dr lvan Misner*Networking specialist

EVERYONE should talk about politics and religion while networking… if they’d like their network to go up in flames, that is. Talking politics and religion in the course of doing business – or networking for business – certainly is not a good idea.

Talking politics...

religious opinions in the context of one’s business networking efforts. Not only could it be distracting, but also highly divisive – and certainly not conducive to team building. If you want to build a powerful personal network for business, it is all about collabo-ration and cooperation. I have seen in many networking groups that start talking politics and religion where the group becomes a hotbed of anger, anxiety, resentment, and conflict. None of these attributes are good for building a healthy business network. Unless politics or religion are your business, your beliefs can only serve as a distraction in a business context – and certainly could prohibit a day’s business taking place as successfully as it could.

My business operates in countries where almost every religion in the world is practised. We are in countries that represent virtually every political system in the world.

We wouldn’t be effective if we focused on something other than our mission. Many of our clients have contentious political and religious positions, but when they are working with our company, they focus on the mission of relationships and referrals. On the other hand, I think it’s important to understand the difference between engaging in discussions about politics and religion in a networking environment vs. a little tolerance for people who share their points of view outside that context. For example, I recently had a client get upset with me because a well-known author contributed a business piece to our company newsletter. The article was on-topic and strictly business. However, a link to his personal website was included, and his web site mentioned religion. Despite the fact that the article was great, the reaction from some people was negative because of the link to his comments about religion. We can’t control what people think or say on other websites or in their personal lives. We can, however, control what we do inside our own organisations.

If you want to stay on mission – stay off the topics of religion and politics at work meetings. Really, don’t we all know that already?

Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organisation. Dr. Misner is also the senior partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.


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Who watches the office while you’re away?Small and Medium sized businesses are increasingly turning to IP cameras to provide quick, easy and cost effective video surveillance of their offices and factories. Several improvements in technology and decreases in price have now placed the possibility of having a multi camera surveillance system within reach of all small businesses.IP Surveillance cameras can be used for a range of purposes:

• Monitor Occupational Health and Safety for workers in isolated areas or who are working alone;

• Provide deterrence against theft or vandalism;

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• Provide a telepresence capability for remote workers;

• Give you peace of mind when away from the office;

• Help your security company to protect your business.

Cameras provide business owners with added peace of mind, being able to check that their business is secure without having to actually attend the business to check. Police are now often impressed with the quality of the images. In the past they have been unable to use images in court because they are were too grainy. The higher resolutions now make identification much easier.We use our cameras to provide surveillance of our car park and also to monitor our offices. When the security company calls to inform us of an alarm going off, we are able to check on the security of our building.

Several technological advances have occurred over the past three years that have dramatically decreased the prices of surveillance cameras and increased their functionality:

• Resolutions have dramatically increased, with five megapixels not being uncommon. What was only a blur three years ago is now sharply and clearly defined;

• Power over Ethernet means that you can plug your camera into a PoE switch and you don’t need to run electricity to the camera, just a network cable, which is much quicker and simpler;• Integration with mobile phones means that business owners can check their cameras while away fromthe office, interstate or even overseas;• Storage has become a lot cheaper, so that four cameras can feed into a Network Attached Storage device and keep footage for weeks, allowing

review of footage after an event has occurred; and • Greater functionality has been added to cameras, including turning on lights and the ability to have a two- way conversation.

All of these improvements have made a massive difference to the quality and functionality

of cameras and together with a price drop that now sees entry level cameras under $200, many business owners are not only giving themselves peace of mind by installing the cameras at the office or factory, but they are also installing them at home to monitor areas like pools, front doors and garages.

Extreme Networks uses and recommends Brickcom cameras, the most cost effective high quality cameras available. If you would like more information, or to borrow a demonstration camera, please contact us at [email protected] or call 97857162 and ask for James.


THE bills keep coming and those who are struggling must be wondering how nice it would be to own a power station.

Out of the question on the scale of the valley, but not if buying a domestic power generator developed by Noble Park-based Ceramic Fuel Cells (CFC).

The company’s Blue-Gen generator uses natural gas to provide the heat needed for its fuel cells to produce electricity.

Gas is cheaper than electricity and the generator can produce more power than is needed by the house, allowing excess to be sold back into the grid.

The generator usually sits outside a house next to the water heater, which operates heat produced in the gas-to-electricity process.

The idea sounds a no-brainer, but generators do not come cheap at $35,000 to $40,000 so they will only become part of everyday living when sales increase and prices drop.

If illustrated on a graph, a line representing Blue-Gen’s costs being reduced by higher production volumes will at some future point intersect with another line representing rising power costs. At that time every house should be fitted with its own gas-to-electricity generator. That is the theory being pursued by CFC.

In the meantime, the company has plenty of generators already operating in Australia and overseas to prove their efficiency and reliability.

CFC began in 1992 as a research consortium established by the CSIRO, the federal government and state electricity utilities, including the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

Most of the following decade was spent developing high temperature fuel cells, followed by a couple of years “developing product”, CFC commercial group general manager Andrew Neilson says.

At that stage the still privately-owned company was concentrat-

COVER STORY: CERAMIC FUEL CELLS

RISING electricity prices are straining family finances. The inexorable climb in costs associated with accessing power generated in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley took another hit with additional costs from the carbon tax. KEITH PLATT looks at battling rising costs by installing a power station in your home.

POWER SAVINGS: IT’S A GAS POWER SOURCE: Ceramic Fuel Cells’ commercial group general manager Andrew Neilson holds a ceramic fuel cell; manufacturing engineer Maria McArdle; and Neilson with CFC’s Blue-Gen home generator.


ing on making power stations big enough to service small villages or mining towns and their operations.

“Technically, it was challenging to scale up the fuel cells so the strategy was changed to concentrate on small scale electricity generation,” Neilson says.

“The market in Europe was using fuel for micro CHP [combined heat and power].”

With its new horizons set, CFC was listed on the Australian stock exchange in 2004 and in London two years later.

Companies making domestic and small scale power stations were already operating in Europe, but most were using conventional technology powered by internal combustion engines or natural gas.

The electrical efficiencies were low and the heat by-product made them less efficient than bringing power from the grid.

“Our starting point was that power is more valuable than heat. We wanted to maximise electricity production,” Neilson says.

While some companies in Europe, Japan and the United States are going down a similar path, “not one has achieved our electrical efficiency”.

POWER SAVINGS: IT’S A GAS

Heat required to “crack” the methane in natural gas to carbon and hydrogen (which reacts with oxygen to make a current) is recycled, but not before being siphoned off to a water heater.

Neilson says the amount of carbon (pollution) created in the process is 340kg a megawatt hour compared to 1.2 tonnes for the same amount of power coming through the grid.

CFC’s domestic generators are fitted with sensors, which can be monitored remotely through the internet for any operation faults or breakdowns. Houses remain connected to the grid, which can take over if power fails. This connection also works to feed excess power back into the grid, earning credits on top of the small generator’s gas-to-electricity savings.

Although state governments have been reducing and even eliminating solar feed-in tariffs because of a consequent cost to taxpayers, Neilson is heartened by the Victorian government extending the feed-in tariff to all sources of low emission energy generation from January 2013.

“The new tariff will provide a minimum of 8c/kWh for excess electricity exported to the grid, which reflects the adjusted wholesale price of electricity,” Energy and Resources Minister Michael O’Brien said in September.

“The rate will then be updated on an annual basis in line with the adjusted wholesale electricity rate.”

“Victoria is the first to do this in Australia, although it’s already being done in Germany and the United Kingdom,” Neilson said.

Neilson says Germany pays the equivalent of 11c/kWh and the UK 24c/kWh.

Most of CFC’s research and development is carried out at its plant in Browns Rd, Noble Park, although volume manufacturing takes place in Germany, seen as the biggest potential market. Ceramic powder is made in the UK.

A subsidiary of one of CFC’s main component suppliers, Choazhou Three Circle (Group) Co Ltd, based in China’s Guangdong province, has recently upped its shareholding in CFC to 6.8 per cent.

The first 100 generators were made at Nobel Park but now production is down to “pilot scale”.

Neilson said there were 620 generators on the order books, with 220 already installed. The switch to domestic power production could see thousands of tiny power stations being used instead of one large, remote generator. Thirty of CFC’s generators are powering Victorian Office of Housing properties, 10 in Shepparton and 20 scattered through Dandenong, Hampton and Springvale.

“The government bought them as a trial in social housing to see if they can reduce energy bills,” Neilson said.

“The trial ends in June next year – we installed the first quarter of them in 2011 – and it’s going well.

“Origin Energy provided direct feed-in tariff on a one-for-one basis and the houses are either making money or saving money. It’s great for the tenants.”

Another 25 units have been installed in Newcastle, five in commercial buildings in Adelaide with demonstration sites in Canberra and Sydney. Neilson said CFC was working to prolong the operating life of the fuel cells as well a increase production volumes, which would also lead to savings.

“We’re marketing to local councils and commercial customers, not really householders at the moment,” he said.

“The capital costs - $35,000-$38,000 are not really viable. We need to get the volumes up first.”

*The writer owns a small parcel of shares in Ceramic Fuel Cells.

POWER SOURCE: Ceramic Fuel Cells’ commercial group general manager Andrew Neilson holds a ceramic fuel cell; manufacturing engineer Maria McArdle; and Neilson with CFC’s Blue-Gen home generator.

14 | BusinessTimes

BUSINESS PLANNING


MEGT Australian Apprenticeships Centre provides a FREE service to LOCAL businesses, offering expert advice to assist with the processes and paperwork involved with apprentices and trainees. To find out if your business is eligible for government incentives and benefits of up to $4,000 call MEGT and we’ll come to you.

Call 13 MEGT (13 6348)

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HIRING AN APPRENTICE OR TRAINEE?

2053

IN the website-building line of work we are often asked “do I need keywords in my domain name or can I use my brand?”

Or, put another way, is their any benefit in having a domain such as www.bobsqualitybuilder sfrankstonandmorningtonpeninsula.com.au?”. Don’t laugh. This is close to a real life example.

These questions are often asked in a broader conversation about ranking on Google. With any website or online marketing, this is an important conversation. The problem is that this topic is often riddled with outdated information. The client has been told something about keywords and domain names from a friend of a friend’s cousins, nephews or mates at a barbecue two Christmas’ ago. Sounds extreme but you would be surprised where this information comes from. So, now it’s up to us to answer these questions. To do this it is necessary to go back to the beginning and ask: what do you want the website to achieve?

The simple answer: to drive more calls and sales. However, if this is at the expense of other components of your marketing effort, then further consideration is necessary.

It’s a fine line between pleasing Google

MANY people starting or buying a business often have little idea of the intricacies involved or even the compliance requirements.

As a result, many fail because they did not have a business plan. A report last year by ASIC revealed that “poor financial control – including lack of records” and “poor strategic management of business” – rated much higher as causes of business failure in many industries than economic conditions.

FS Learning has launched a new course tailor-made for people buying into a small business or moving from an employee into the role of an independent contractor or self employed tradesperson. Topics include the key areas of business planning, finance, marketing, staff and relation-ship management and risk avoidance.

The training will be conducted in group sessions one night a week so that owners can participate by sharing issues ideas and solutions with their peers, rather than working in isolation. Hannah Downie, Training Manager at FS Learning, said the session leader would be an experienced small business practitio-ner, so that the solutions presented would be relevant and practical, rather than just theoretical.

Downie said FS Learning expected the outcome of the course would be a business plan for each business involved. She said that the first groups were likely to start this year. She expected strong demand for the places.

“Feedback we have received from small employers has indicated there is a genuine need for this type of course, and we are confident the course will be well received.”

Details: 1300 550 482.

Business planning course

BusinessTimes | 15

DOMAIN NAMES

October 2012 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong

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Keyword domain names(computers) and humans, but there is always a happy middle. Yes, Google does reward keywords in domain names, but what about your brand? A brand is one of the most important components of a business. Your brand name and identity is on your printed material, business cards, letterhead, invoices, as well as on your website. This is ultimately what people will recognise and associate you with over the longer term.

The last thing you want to have under your brand on your business card is www.bobsqualitybuildersfrankstonandmorning-tonpeninsula.com.au. This does not look professional or distinctive and people will be less likely to type it into their browser.

It’s easier for people to remember short and distinctive words. Using your business name in a domain name is another way to put your brand in front of your customers.

Maintaining this brand consistency will always look more trustworthy and credible.

As for Google, they do reward keywords in domain names but there are more than 200 items that search engines use to determine who gets top spot. Although the domain name is one of the factors, it isn’t the most important.

Two suggestions to get a higher ranking: Firstly, use the other 200 plus search engine optimisation (SEO) items to rank for your desired keywords. Secondly, create a page on your site dedicated with content to the

By Beau Rixon, truebluewebsites

NEW Tools for Tradies is an information session being held for tradesmen by Frankston-based company TrueBlue Websites. The session – free if you pre register – will cover how to increase business through Google and your website. The venue is Lyrebird Community Centre, Carrum Downs, on 23 October, 7pm to 9pm. Pre registration closes 20 October and TrueBlue said spaces are limited. Those who pre register are in with a chance to have their website rebuilt at no cost. Details: www.truebluewebsites.com.au/newtools.

New tools for tradies: win a website rebuild

specific keyword. For example, call a page ‘Quality Builders In Mornington’ and have the link www.bobsconstruction.com.au/quality-builders-mornington.

For long term benefits to your business both online and off, this ultimately is the best solution. For more information see Google’s Optimization Starter Guide by visiting http://goo.gl/ciyBJ

Beau Rixon and True Blue Websites have provided custom built and affordable websites to tradespeople over the past four years. True Blue Websites specialise in obtaining top ranking positions in Google for their clients. Mobile: 0402 120 843; Email: [email protected]


FEATURE

The Omega people

Centrebet Peninsula Cup DaySunday 4 November 2012Mornington Racing Club

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2051

BY KEITH PLATTA SHORT talk with Mark and Brenda Robinson is enough to convince almost anyone that the secret to a healthy life is a regular intake of omega fatty acids.

People or dogs, it doesn’t matter, the omegas can benefit both. They are the additive that make the difference, the Robinsons say, to spreads marketed under their Nature’s Blend brand.

The husband and wife recently returned from a state government-arranged trade mission to China where their Omegamite yeast spread won an innovation award at the 2012 SIAL Shanghai Food Expo.

Chelsea Heights-based Nature’s Blend was one of 1750 exhibiters at the expo, which drew 40,000 visitors from around the world.

“The venue was like six Jeff’s Sheds, full of food and beverage exhibiters,” Brenda Robinson says.

“It was overwhelming experience at the show. We were very popular. Australia is seen as clean and green and they want our products,” husband Mark adds.

“We’ll be going to Dubai next week on another government trade mission. The government sees our products as being innovative, we fit the category of business they’re looking for.”

Since the China trip the Robinsons have been contacted and visited by representa-tives of companies interested in international distribution deals. Talks have been held with a potential distributor for China.

The Robinsons credit their grandchil-dren with the decision to add omega-3 to everyday spreads such as peanut butter, honey and those with a yeast base.

“We worked out it was a good way to give them omega nutrients in the morning before school without taking capsules or oils, making it fun and easy,” Mark Robinson says. “I take mine with orange juice.”

The Robinsons refer to themselves

as the “three omegas” while posing for photographs in front of a poster featuring granddaughter, Jacinta (right).

Although the scientific community has some doubts about the beneficial effects of omega acids, the Robinsons are not alone in believing they “help promote heart health, eye health, brain health and brain development in children”.

The omega fatty acids found in marine and plant oils are classified as essential fatty acids, meaning that they are unable to be synthesised by humans but are necessary for normal metabolism.

The Robinsons add omegas from flaxseed to their Nature’s Blend mayonnaise, honey, sell the oil for salads and have developed Omegamite.

Nature’s Blend brochures refer to the spreads as “super foods”, “breakfast


Christmas Celebration Race DayFriday 7 December 2012Mornington Racing Club

For booking enquiries pleasecall (03) 5975 3310 or visit mrc.net.au

Reward staff and clients this festive season and secure your dining ormarquee experience on Christmas Celebration Race Day.

Dining and marqueepackages on sale now.

2050

omegas” and include recipes featuring the various products among the ingredients. The Omegahoney brochure is aimed at children with cartoon Omegabees, Alpha (omega-3), Lino (omega-6) and Ole (omega-9) helping them learn to count. The spreads are also gluten free, making them suitable for coeliac disease sufferers.

Coeliac is now diagnosed as a disorder of the small intestine in genetically predisposed people. Age seems to be no barrier, and symptoms include diarrhoea and fatigue. Coeliac affected children do not seem to progress physically at the same rate as their contemporaries.

“We use all Australian ingredients and products, even down to containers and their caps and lids,” Brenda says.

“We believe our hi-oleic peanuts are the best in the world.”

Long before the general community became obsessed with “healthy” foods and gluten intolerance was diagnosed

as a reason for the effects of coeliac disease, the Robinsons had developed a range of pet foods.

Not shy of exploiting Australia’s coat of arms, they were marketing packets of meat made from dried kangaroo and emu, dried cattle livers, “treats” made from emu meat and omega sticks for “healthy skins and coats”.

The dried foods marketed for the past 27 years under the Nature’s Pet brand are sold in pet shops, supermarkets and vet clinics.

Health food stores, pharmacies and independent supermarkets stock the omega-packed, gluten-free spreads for humans.

The Robinsons claim Omegamite contains 22 per cent less salt than “the leading brand” of yeast-based spreads.

“There’s no added sugar and we tell people not to buy unless a product label says it is gluten-free. If endorsed by Coeliac Australia that’s even better,” Mark says.

THE ‘three Omegos’: Brenda and Mark Robinson in front of a photograph of their granddaughter Jacinta.

18 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | September 2012

NEWS

SS S

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SS S

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MORNINGTON-based Aquarius Pools is part of the team credited with winning the Swimming Pool and Spa Association’s Pool of the Year award for constructing a bathing gully at Peninsula Hot Springs, near Rye.

Also involved in the project were landscapers Mark Denivan and his Japanese “master” Hanjime Watanabe.

“The 2012 winning entry is truly unique. The magnificent Peninsula Hot Springs facility includes multiple spas, pools and even a grotto,” Aquarius’s managing director Chris Jackson said.

Aquarius’s hydraulics expert David Iles oversaw the project. Aquarius also won the 2012 Best Residential Pool, Spa and Landscape Combination and 2012 Best Commercial Pool and was highly

The award winning “natural” bathing gully at Peninsula Hot Springs.

commended Best Residential Natural Pool.Hot springs co-founder Charles Davidson said

the pool of the year win was “testament to the team for their shared desire to create quality, inter-nationally-inspired bathing experiences”.

“The bathing gully features 250 tonnes of local limestone landscaped to form a geothermal creek bed with waterfalls, terraced pools and enchanting evening lighting.

Peninsula Hot Springs has also received the maximum $100,000 federal government T-QUAL (tourism quality) grant to fund an eco-tourism project that will include accommodation, bird sanctuary and wetlands.

Hot springs team win

MEETING a governor-general or speaking in front on an audience that includes a federal government minister seems an unlikely part of the training curve for a building industry apprentice.

But for Mark Garoffolo it came as a result of winning an apprentice of the year award.

The Apprenticeship & Traineeship Employment Partners (ATEP) award saw him accepted as one of 20 apprentic-es and trainees from around Australia to participate in this year’s five-day Today’s Skills: Tomorrow’s Leaders group training program. ATEP is a “not for profit” community based group training organisa-tion that employs apprentices and trainees which are placed with “host” employers on a lease basis for all or part of the training time.

Employed by ATEP, Garoffolo has been

Chat with

BusinessTimes | 19September 2012 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong

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with construction company Probuild since March 2010, working on several major construction projects.

After spending the first 18 months of his carpentry apprenticeship with domestic builders, Garoffolo says he quickly adjusted to Probuild’s $300 million project.

Since then he has been taking on the role of a leading hand “looking after pre-cast concrete walls”.

His ultimate ambition – “even if it’s 15 years away” - is to manage construction of similar sized projects.

Garoffolo, who finishes his appren-ticeship in November, spends two nights a week doing a building and construc-tion diploma. He said the Today’s Skills: Tomorrow’s Leaders program began with a reception held by the Governor-Gener-al Quintin Bryce at Government House in

Canberra. Later in the program Garoffolo and the other trainees made public presentations attended by Ms Bryce and Education Minister Peter Garrett.

In the Life by Design part of the program participants were asked to

the GG all in a day’s work

outline their ambitions and given direc-tions on how to set and achieve goals.

“I know where I want to be,” Garoffolo said. “On paper I know how to get there and what works best. Working with, and leading people, and being happy.”

APPRENTICE of the Year Mark Garoffolo chats to Governor General Quintin Bryce in Canberra.


MARKETS

Richard Campbell*Stock analyst

AACo, the beef producer, has a long history, but a poor recent record and a punishing level of debt. Warrnambool Cheese is solid, but a niche business and up against unlisted co-ops like Murray-Goulburn and Norco. They all battle with New Zealand’s massive Fonterra, the largest dairy group in the world. Elders was once a force, but has managed to eviscerate shareholder funds in a disastrous decade of diversification. The listed Prime Ag was developed as a pure play farming investment, but the market’s fear of flood, drought and variable prices has led to a decision to return investor funds. That leaves a sprinkle of listings with walnut, egg, ginger and fish production of minor scale and erratic earnings histories.

Graincorp is in a different league. One thing Australia does well is dry climate grain and once the former NSW Grain Elevator Board mopped up similar state bodies it became a well resourced buyer, handler and trader of grains along the east coast and, more crucially, the nearest large grain supplier to the region with the world’s fastest growing demand for protein – Asia.

In wheat logistics it now boasts nine export terminals, 280 grain reception points plus umpteen trains, trucks and sidings, but began to move downstream in 2002 when it acquired 60 per cent of Allied Mills, with

Graincorp and globalprotein supply

its seven flour mills and various brands. It then spread to barley and malt and is now the world’s fourth largest malt group which gives it scale in servicing both international brewers as well as rapidly growing boutiques which use more malt per litre brewed.

Its latest move surprised the market, but was consistent with a broader plan. In negotiating to buy Goodman Fielder’s edible oil business with a partner, it decided to acquire the partner as well as the target. In one step this made it Australia’s second largest oil seed crusher after the giant Carghill (co-owner of Allied). The deal was moderately expensive at $472m for both businesses (7.37 times EBIT) but cheap in the sense that it creates scale and brings an immediate $4m in savings and $40m in the longer term as better equipment is installed and processes refined. Some analysts grumbled about the price paid, but they may have missed the point: as climate becomes

more volatile, food prices will rise and food supply will tighten near, mid and long term.

The US drought, for example, barely rated a mention in our press, but was very harsh. After the longest warm spell in 117 years of records 40 per cent of the “lower 48” was rated as in severe drought or worse. In some regions crops failed totally. This coincides with a drought in WA which will reduce the crop of one of the world’s larger grain regions by 40-50 per cent. Russia’s crop is also in trouble. In most years Russia is the second largest grain exporter: this year it will import. China’s food authorities are watching closely. China is a great grain producer and has a policy of 95 per cent food self-sufficiency, but it is struggling to meet this target. It cut wheat exports and last year was forced to import US soy beans as pork demand rose. This year the late maturing US soy crop did better than wheat but the harvest fell 14 per cent and the price rose 45 per cent. Graincorp will also face future drought, but it now has a wider portfolio of grains, oils and seeds to move, store, ship and trade. Investors will need to watch for pending dry years when the Southern Oscillation Index goes negative, but should also note that world protein demand is predicted to rise 30-40 per cent in the next 30 years and exports of grain by 90-100 per cent. Precisely how the world achieves these numbers is unclear. After drought across the US, Russia, Ukraine and WA we move into 2013 with a global grain harvest 2-3 per cent lower than last year with inventories falling by 6 per cent. That will only be positive for Graincorp.

*Richard Campbell is Executive Director of Peninsula Capital Management, Tel. 9642 0545

GRAINCORP is a rarity. After Canadian groups acquired ABB and AWB (the former barley and wheat boards) our market offers essentially only investment of scale and quality in the food sector.

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BusinessTimes | 21Octobber 2012 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong

With respect to the professor, it’s well past time for medical science to take a long look at one field that does have coherent explana-tions for the dietary and metabolic ills of the Western world – Chinese medicine.

Our total explanation for food intolerances and metabolic disorders requires consider-ably more than these 700 words, but I want to raise one example of the many false assumptions about health that have led us astray. Why in the West do we think it is such a good idea to concentrate things? To extract the active, or flavoursome, parts of foods, and then to either consume those concen-trates on their own or add them to other foods. We add concentrated sweet – sugar – to most of our processed foods, for one.

We concentrate fruit into juice. (I bet no-one reading this could eat six apples before breakfast. But plenty of people down a glass of apple juice.) Processed food is packed with concentrates.

But so are our medicinal remedies, purchased at the “health food shop”.

Companies extract the nutrients from foodstuffs and produce them as vitamin pills and any number of supposedly healthy extracts – remedies for this or that ailment.

Ah yes, medical science has found that “x” nutrient is “good for you” therefore a whole lot of “super x” must be really good for you.

And when we are feeling unwell, we visit a health practitioner who discovers which nutrients our body is lacking and then sells

Our dietary disastersDID you read that Australians now report more food allergies than any other people in the world? And that researchers are at a loss to explain why? “If I could answer that I would win a Nobel prize,” lamented the leading immunologist Prof. Johan Garssen.

them to us in concentrated form.Is that really the way to health?Chinese medicine’s first point is, when it

comes to nutrition, the biggest problem in the West is that we have too much of it.

We are over-fed. We eat too much rich food in too concentrated a form. Our metabolisms are not equipped for this and start to falter. In Chinese dietetics we talk about Western diets as having too much “flavour”. That is, our diets are too rich, and their complexity eventually overwhelms digestive systems not evolved to handle it.

Because our palates become so attuned to rich flavours, we find bland foods, like vegetables and rice, to be tasteless.

So we add flavour in the form of rich sauces. And of course, “eating well” is considered to be one of the pleasures of life. TV programs like Masterchef celebrate this.

But this addiction to flavour is undermining all but the most robust of metabolisms.

The second point is, these nutrients are not found in isolation in their natural form.

The plants they come from contain other constituent parts that may be important to the digestion or metabolism of the nutrient.

Plant fibre, for example, which slows progress through the gut, binds up nutrients

long enough for the body to break down and absorb them. The whole fallacy about concentrates possibly stems from Western medicine’s success over the past century in manufacturing drugs – medicinal substances in concentrated form.

A decade or more ago, the World Health Organisation discovered that the foliage of a Chinese medicinal herb – artemisia – was an effective treatment for malaria. It was better and vastly cheaper than the existing pharmaceuticals.

So what did the WHO do? Further research, of course. It needed to know which part of the artemisia plant was active against malaria. Its scientists isolated the active constituent, which they then proceeded to extract from the plant and to put in concen-trated form in pills.

How did the new wonder drug work? Not all that well, I’m afraid, to the

point where its use was downgraded. I’m unsure of the Western explanation for the reduced efficacy. It probably dismissed the early findings as flawed. But the Chinese explanation is that whatever bio-chemicals were active against the malaria bug were potentised by the presence of the entire plant’s chemistry, and rendered less potent when extracted. In Chinese medicine, artemisia is one herb used against malaria. The entire plant is cooked in a formula of multiple herbs, all of which have a synergistic effect against the malaria bug, when taken together. Bottom line is this: Consuming concentrates of natural substances is not the answer to your health issues. In fact, it is probably compounding them.

* Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza. Visit www.mtelizaherbal.com

HEALTH

Stock Analyst

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Enjoy a two course Christmas dinner, one nights’ accommodation in an ocean view room, plus a full buffet breakfast from only $135 per person*.

To book call Relly Bruce on 5950 8029*All offers are valid Sunday – Thursday from 1 November - 21 December 2012. Twin share rate per person, based on two sharing. Terms and conditions apply, see racv.com.au/venues for details.

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Michael Ellis*Chinese Herbalist

22 | BusinessTimes

MANAGING


In its simplest form, sustainability means that a business can endure over time because it creates a positive impact for its owners, the environment and society in general. In the future, failure to have a positive impact in just one of these areas may well lead to overall business failure.

Sustainability became a fashionable business issue during the 1990s when there were increasing calls from investors for companies to do more than just make a profit. The growth of ethical investors helped to increase pressure on companies to place emphasis on how they made their profit and not just on the profit itself. Some of this pressure grew out of environmental issues like the clearing of native rain forests or from social issues like the enforced use of child labour. This led to the recognition that the bottom-line concept that applied to financial activities, could be extended to the environ-mental and social activities of any enterprise. This “triple bottom-line” concept became the fundamental concept that describes what is needed for an enterprise to endure over time, i.e. to be sustainable.

In many cases, large companies recognised the importance of these three factors a long time before the concept of sustainability, but they often lacked a disciplined process to collect and evaluate data (particularly on environmental and social impacts) and to then share this data with their stakeholders. Today, most leading companies produce a “sustainability report”, and there are many external groups that evaluate and critique these reports with the intention of helping investors decide which companies will make the best long-term investment. At the global level, Dow Jones has a range of Sustainability Indices and they produce a global analysis of sector leaders. In their recent report, there were two Australian companies who were global Supersector leaders – ANZ for banking and GPT for Real Estate. You may know that GPT run the Dandenong Plaza and Parkmore Centre, Keysborough, so it is terrific to have a local example of a global sustainability leader. In small businesses, there has been an historic

focus on the financial performance, as too many small businesses have a short life span. Often, this focus on financial aspects dominates the owners’ attention to the extent that the environmental and social connections are not correctly developed. Before starting the business, there is value in doing the homework on all three sustainabil-ity dimensions to ensure that all three will have a positive bottom line as it is often true that a real focus on the environmental and social aspects will strengthen the financial performance as well. For example, when the owners started BusinessTimes magazine in 2010, they researched how to minimise the environmental aspects of the business through the choice of paper and inks that were used in the printing. The following year, they reviewed this, and again chose to use another paper to improve all their bottom-lines as well as extending the proportion of copies distributed electronically.

A good starting point for your business is to create a simple balance sheet for all three aspects. The financial balance sheet should be easy, as most of the data probably already exists. For the environmental balance sheet, you can start by identifying the major aspects where your business will have either a positive or negative impact. Quite often, it is easier to identify the negatives and harder to find the environmental positives. The negatives generally include issues like utilisation of raw materials or resources, minimisation of wastes, etc. Once you have identified the major aspects, you can decide on a method to measure, track and improve them in the future.

The social balance sheet is usually more complex and harder to analyse so may take some additional focus initially. The first

focus should be on your internal society of employees to identify the major aspects for your balance sheet. For example, issues like human rights, equal opportunity, gender balance and training are good starting points. It is also appropriate to look at the wider societal impacts of your business, including customers and suppliers. For example, is your business helping to improve your local communities, and, within your community, do you have a focus on particular groups where you can potentially create substantial positive effects? Many businesses like to focus on helping develop young people, but there are many sections of communities where your business can specifically help. By understanding your bottom line for both your internal and external societal groups, you can often create strong connections that will underpin your long-term success.

Unfortunately, too many organisations have started to interpret sustainability as just an environmental issue thereby missing the critical importance of the financial and social dimensions. It’s a little like calling the US Open tennis a Grand Slam event and celebrating winning a Grand Slam when it is really only one of the four tournaments that make up true Grand Slam success.

Sustainability at its highest level is truly about understanding mankind’s impact on our planet, but at the local level, it can help you to understand and improve your small business. If you can just start with three pages that define a simple analysis of your major positive and negative impacts on your financials, your environment and your people, then you have made a great start to understanding your triple bottom line. Actions Planning Questions: 1. Have you researched the concept of sustainability to determine how it can apply to your business? 2. Do you have a well-developed understand-ing of your financial bottom line? 3. Have you identified your major environ-mental impacts, both positive and negative and worked our changes that will improve the nett bottom line?4. Have you identified which key measures with define your impact on your employees and your broader society?

*Hamish Petrie had a 37-year corporate career including 25 with Alcoa Inc. His latest position was VP People and Communications for the Global Alcoa Corporation based in New York. He can be contacted at [email protected] or on 0404345103. © Hamish Petrie 2012

Tracking sustainabilityTHE concept of sustainability has developed dramatically in the past 20 years and it is now applied to a wide range of business activities from the global corporations to small local businesses.

Hamish Petrie*Business Consultant

Quite often, it is easier to identify the negatives and harder to find the environmental positives.

BusinessTimes | 23

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AUSTRALIAN states lost $380 million in GST collections last year because of overseas online purchases, according to Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) CEO, Margy Osmond.

New ANRA figures show that lost money to states was forecast to be $429 million in 2012/2013.

These amounts were findings of the Low Value Parcel Processing Taskforce and the Michael Evans authored report Options for GST Collection of Imported Goods and Services.

Osmond said state-funded services

would receive a significant revenue boost and governments could afford to act on inefficient taxes if the Federal Government acted on two key reports about GST collection on overseas online purchases.

“In Victoria the government would miss out on revenue increases of $99 million.

“In addition to GST lost on the sale of goods, Australian state governments are also missing out on revenue where services are sold.

“Commonwealth Treasury figures suggests $1billion in GST is lost across the country every year where GST is not collected from online services transactions – like music and book downloads,” she said.

Osmond said retailers welcomed the release of the report from Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury and urged him to move quickly to respond to it.

“Retail figures from July show without stimulus like a cash rate cut or government funding, retail remains in the doldrums.

“We are not suggesting the GST is the panacea, but it is a practical and logical move government can make to improve the lot of retailers and protect the 1.2 million jobs in the sector,” Osmond said.

States lose GST to online salesLost money to states was forecast at $429 million in 2012/2013.

A Voic

e For

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essPOSTAGE

PAID

AUSTRALIA76 R

eid Parade (P

O B

ox 428) Hastings V

IC 3915

P 03 5979 7744 F 03 5979 7944 e

info@businesstim

es.net.au

To the Business Owner

Telstra Business Centre MorningtonShop 107-108 Mornington Village Shopping Centre241 Main Street MorningtonCall: 1300 MYBUSINESS (1300 692 874)




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