ANITA COBBY

ISSUE 57 January 2016 

FOUNDED IN 

PARRAMATTA 

RAMA 

A 

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Available at 250 outlets in Western 

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ANITA 

COBBY 

30 years on 

It’s the 30th anniversary of Anita Cobby’s tragic abduction and murder. On February 2 businesses will come together at a special event 

at Blacktown Workers Club to raise money for a new homicide victims care facility called Graces Place, named after Anita’s mother 

Grace. On pages 23 to 26 Chief Inspector Gary Raymond (Ret’d) gives his EXCLUSIVE 

Last-minute deals on cruises 

Aiport EIS just a Squiggle 

Parent care at new kindy 

Elite Travelis offering last minute 

deals on selected cruises on Celebrity 

Solace and Radiance of the Seas. 

The people ofWestern Sydney have been 

treated with contempt in the Badgery’s 

Creek airport planning process. 

Caring for parents ranks withlooking 

after children, says the owner of 

a new mega child care centre. 

TRAVEL PAGE 46 NEWS PAGE 3 

NEWS PAGE 8 

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2 WESTERN SYDNEY BUSINESS ACCESS JANUARY 2016

NEWS 


BLACKTOWN MAYOR ALL RILED UP 

Airport plan 

a “Squiggle” 

BADGERYS CREEK 

By Di Bartok 

7 

WINDFALL FROM NEW ZOO 

$28M catalyst for change 

JANUARY 2016 

5 

9 

THE people of Western Sydney have been 

“treated with contempt” in the Badgery’s 

Creek airport EIS process, says Blacktown 

Mayor Stephen Bali. 

In fact, the riled-up mayor has likened the 

process to the popular television character of the 

1960s - Mr Squiggle. 

“A team of Mr Squiggles is writing the Badgerys 

Creek EIS,” Clr Bali said in a release to WSBA. 

“They have been repeatedly caught out changing 

the EIS after being criticised or when false 

statements are discovered. 

“For example, we issued a media release based 

on EIS maps showing landing planes would be at 

2,000 feet (600 metres) above Blacktown when 

on approach to Badgerys Creek. 

“It got a strong run and people were upset 

about the low flights and the noise. 

“Within 48 hours, the map is changed to read 

2,500 feet (760 metres). 

“This sort of cover-up erodes any faith or trust 

we had in the process. 

“If it were a company prospectus, ASIC or Fair 

Trading would be prosecuting.” 

Clr Bali said there was no integrity in the EIS 

process. 

“Mr Squiggle would be proud of the way its 

authors constantly scribble and edit, trying to keep 

it as beneficial as possible for the development. 

“As I said before, it is an Airport Justification 

Statement rather than an Environmental Impact 

Statement.” 

Clr Bali also pointed out that Blacktown residents 

will have even greater noise and disruption 

that those in the Blue Mountains. 

“The Mayor of Blue Mountains is rightly upset 

about planes at 10,000 feet (three kilometres) … 

we have them at 2,000 feet (600 metres),” he said. 

“The people of Western Sydney are being 

treated with absolute contempt in the 

Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali. 

Greg Norman golf course planned 

PARTNERSHIP 

A 

NEW nine-hole course, designed by 

the golfing great, Greg Norman, will 

be built within Sekisui House’s The 

Hermitage, 300-hectare site at Gledswood 

Hills, which is about 12 kilometres 

from Campbelltown. 

The project will also involve the redevelopment 

of the 18-hole Camden Lakeside 

Golf Course in collaboration between Greg 

Norman Golf Course Design, the club’s operator 

Wests Campbelltown and residential 

property developer Sekisui House. 

WESTERN SYDNEY BUSINESS ACCESS JANUARY 2016 

“ 

A team of Mr Squiggles is 

writing the Badgerys Creek 

EIS.” – Mayor Bali. 

so-called consultation process. The current 

EIS has more holes in it than a block of Swiss 

cheese.” Blacktown Council has made 30 

recommendations in its submission to the 

Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure 

and Regional Development on the exhibited 

draft Western Sydney Airport Environmental 

Impact Statement. 

“Additional EIS Additional EIS work is 

needed,” Clr Bali said. “The limitations and omissions 

here are simply too egregious to ignore. 

“The Federal Government must take responsibility 

here – Blacktown residents need to be 

able to trust the EIS. “Right now there is no way 

anyone can.” 

Impact on Blacktown 

• Blacktown will cop the most noise. 

• Aircraft will descend from 10,000 ft 

at Blaxland to 5,000 ft over Penrith, 

then to 2,000 ft over Eastern Creek in 

Blacktown. 

• More than 140,000 existing residents 

and 15 suburbs will be exposed 

to noise levels of between 60dBA 

(equivalent to noise in a busy office) 

and 75dBA equivalent to noise by a 

passenger car/vacuum cleaner). 

• Draft EIS underestimates the impact 

on air quality of stage one by 300 per 

cent. 

Sekisui House’s project director, Craig 

D’Costa, said the partnership with Greg 

Norman Golf Course Design and Wests 

Campbelltown would contribute to their 

vision for The Hermitage. 

“Sekisui House Australia has already 

established a solid foundation with particular 

attention to detail and delivery of high 

quality outcomes with regard to the environment, 

infrastructure and community 

building,” Mr D’Costa said. 

Sekisui House, founded in 1960 and 

headquartered in Osaka, is one of Japan’s 

largest homebuilders. 

Sekisui House expanded into Australia 

in 2009 and is based at Macquarie Park. 

WORLD CLASS FORESHORE 

Parramatta moves closer to city beach 

TIPS FOR NEW YEAR SUCCESS 

Phychologist shares strategies 

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15 

28 

OCCUPATIONS WITH PSYCHOPATHS 

Is your job on the list? You may surprised 

34 

REEL ACTION ON GENDER 

Film industry addresses gender imbalance 

40 

TEACH YOUR KIDS CODE 

Why kids are learning computer launguage 

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Don’t miss this unique opportunity 

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT 

Expert tips to safeguard your brand 

19 

30 

CULTURAL AND SOCIAL BENEFITS 

Why Blacktown connected with Liaocheng 

WEDDING BELLS OR SINGLE AGAIN? 

Rate the fate of your relationship 

ETHICS OF ROBOT LOVE 

Ridiculous or real? 

38 

43 

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3

NEWS 


How the West has been spun 

By Di Bartok 

MERGERS 

“A 

FARCE, a political farce” is how Parramatta 

Lord Mayor Paul Garrard 

has described the State Government’s 

planned forced mergers of 

councils. 

An Independent Pricing and Regulatory 

Tribunal (IPART) review found nearly twothirds 

of the state’s councils were not “fit for 

the future”. 

So, under the Baird Government’s Fit for 

the Future proposal, 45 Sydney councils will 

be reduced to 25 councils. 

A new Local Government Act will include 

a new power for the minister to appoint 

a financial controller to a non-performing 

council deemed at high financial risk. 

But the amalgamations will be dealt with 

through the old act, which means there will 

need to be public hearings by the Boundaries 

Commission which will be re-constituted. 

The process will take at least six months 

and may require a delay in the local government 

elections due in September. 

In Western Sydney, most councils remain 

the same or have expanded, with Holroyd 

and parts of Auburn merging, with Parramatta 

also taking part of Auburn 

Clr Garrard slammed the move to remove 

Granville and include the whole of Epping as 

well as Olympic Park to Parramatta City LGA 

as a strategy to make Sydney’s second CBD a 

safe Liberal enclave. 

Woodville Ward, which takes in Granville 

and parts of Merrylands, is to go to a combined 

Auburn-Holroyd council. 

Clr Garrard has represented Woodville 

Ward, first as Labor member from 1974-2004 

and from then on as an independent supporting 

the Liberal side of the chamber - which 

is why he is a bit sore about having his power 

base taken away. 

“Granville has been part of Parramatta for 

70 years - it has that history and connection, 

it is part of the fabric of Parramatta,” Clr Garrard 

told WSBA. 

Clr Garrard said he always 

felt that councils would 

benefit not from mergers 

but rather from sharing 

resources to become more 

efficient. 

Clr Garrard’s sentiments 

were echoed by Labor 

councillors James Shaw and 

Parramatta Mayor Paul Garrard. 

Glenn Elmore, who represents Woodville 

ward. 

“The removal of the Woodville ward and 

the taking in of parts of the Hills, Hornsby 

and Olympic park is about establishing a 

Liberal Party council, to manage the CBD of 

Western Sydney,” Clr Shaw said. 

“The Liberal Party has relied on Clr 

Garrard’s vote three times in order to get 

support for Mayor, then they change the 

boundaries to remove him,” Clr Elmore 

said. “This is about Alex Hawke and 

his right-wing faction of the Liberal 

Party taking control.” 

But, while disappointed about 

losing Granville, Parramatta Council 

is happy to have grabbed the 

Hornsby shire part of Epping as well 

as Olympic Park and Wentworth Pt 

State of the councils 

• Parramatta loses Granville, 

gains Epping, North Rocks, 

Carlingford, Winston Hills, part 

of Auburn, Olympic Park and 

Wentworth Pt. 

• Holroyd merges with Auburn, 

Parramatta’s Woodville Ward 

goes to new council. 

• Hills merges with Hawkesbury, 

loses North Rocks, Carlingford, 

Winston Hills. 

• Penrith, Liverpool, Blacktown, 

Fairfield and Campbelltown to 

stand alone. 

- an acquisition that will drive jobs. 

If approved, the Government’s ‘Fit for 

the Future’ boundary proposals would see 

the Parramatta Local Government Area 

expanded slightly to encompass parts of the 

Hills, Hornsby, and Auburn council areas, 

and a small section of the Holroyd LGA. 

Under the proposals, The Hills will 

merge with Hawkesbury, but will lose 

Carlingford, North Rocks and all of Winston 

Hills to Parramatta. 

But not all Western Sydney councils 

are facing mergers, with Penrith, Liverpool, 

Blacktown, Fairfield and Campbelltown 

standing alone. 

Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun said his 

council’s $12 million turnaround in finances 

and the vision it had for its future helped it 

stand alone. 

In announcing the proposed changes on 

December 18, Premier Mike Baird said the 

reforms were an important part of “how we 

make NSW sustainable”, but conceded they 

would not be easy. 

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NEWS 

Windfall expected from new zoo 


ATTRACTIONS 

By Red Dwyer 

HIGH hopes of an economic windfall 

are riding on the approval of a zoo in 

Blacktown. “If approved, the zoo would 

become a catalyst for change in the area,” 

according to a development application for 

a $28 million investment in the proposed 

16.5-hectare Sydney Zoo, which is on public 

exhibition until February 1. 

“It would encourage further revitalisation 

of the area, facilitate economic growth 

in Blacktown and its surroundings, increase 

employment opportunities and highlight 

Western Sydney as a key tourist destination.” 

The vision for Sydney Zoo is to create an 

iconic tourist attraction which complements 

the overall masterplan for the Bungarribee 

Precinct of the Western Sydney Parklands, 

according to the application. 

The zoo would be an important part of 

the cultural infrastructure for the region and 

wider Sydney area through the establishment 

of a key destination and tourist facility in the 

growing Western Sydney region. 

It is estimated that between 500,000 to 

800,000 visitors per annum would visit the 

proposed Zoo, which is intended to be a 2.5 to 

3 hour visitor experience. 

The zoo expects to employ approximately 

50 full-time staff, and 50-60 casual staff to 

accommodate peak visitation periods, such as 

school holiday periods. 

The proposed amenity falls within the 

Western Sydney Parklands, and is in close 

proximity to the Great Western Highway, M4 

Western Motorway and Westlink M7. 

• Up to 800,000 visitors PA 

Above and below: artost impressions of the live zoo. 

• Up to 50 full time staff • $28M project over 16.5H 

Master plan of the new zoo. 


5

NEWS 

Open doors to a smarter business - INNOVATION EVENT page 9 


Taste creations a winner for McDonalds 

CU STOMERS 

A 

CIABATTA roll with avocado, chilli 

tomato jam, grilled chicken, beetroot, 

lettuce, caramelised onions and aioli may 

be something you more likely to get at 

a café, so it’s hard to imagine you can get the 

same choices at the home of the cheese burger 

and Big Mac. 

The latest “Create Your Own Taste” range 

at McDonalds gives customers a chance to 

choose their own ingredients and build their 

own signature burger at the same place where 

others can enjoy the famous happy 

meal or Big Mac. 

The new menu has been well 

supported by customers, and even 

introduced a new clientele to Mc- 

Donalds. The options even gives 

you a chance to build a breadless 

burger with a lettuce wrap. 

Since the new menu was 

launched in July this year, franchisees 

have taken on more staff 

to meet the growing needs 

in terms of operations 

and higher customer 

demand. 

Allan Spinks, who 

is a franchisee for 

four stores across 

the Liverpool and 

Bankstown area 

said the menu 

has been very 

positive for business. 

“Yes, the new 

menu is very ‘un- 

McDonalds’ like the 

adverts says, but it is bringing people who did 

not really like our food into our restaurants. 

“The menu adds choice and variety. It 

gives people an opportunity to build healthy 

burgers,” he said. 

Allan said changes to the operation process 

means each stores has to have more staff. 

“We created new positions to meet the 

needs; this includes the chefs in the kitchen to 

prepare specific orders, as well as the host and 

hostesses to man the digital ordering system.” 

With a boost in employment across all 

stores, the next question would be if the menu 

change has increased turnover. According to 

Allan, it has been good for business turnover 

and staff enthusiasm. 

“We have had a lot of positive feedback 

from customers as well. They love 

it, they all say it’s different and they are 

enjoying the choices. 

Tina Allis, Corporate Communications 

Manager for McDonalds said the 

`Create Your Taste’ has been positively 

received by Australians. 

Speaking about the growth in employment, 

she said: “The introduction 

of Create Your Taste 

has also meant there are 

a number of brand new 

roles in our restaurants, 

such as front of 

house hosts. 

“As a result of 

these new roles, in 

2015 alone we’ve 

created 5,000 new 

jobs in NSW, many 

of which are in 

Western Sydney, 

and we expect these 

recruitment levels to 

continue into 2016.” 

Create Your Own Taste options are proving popular with McDonalds customers. 

Work starts on new 

School of Me dicine 

CONSTRUCTION of the $21 million 

Western Sydney University Macarthur 

Clinical School on the Campbelltown 

Hospital campus has started. 

It is the inaugural clinical school of the 

university’s School of Medicine, which was 

officially unveiled on the Campbelltown 

campus, in November 2008 

The four-storey building will feature 

facilities including a simulation laboratory, 

eight clinical trial rooms and education facilities 

that will help young medical students 

and researchers flourish in their fields. 

“It is such an exciting time for Campbelltown 

Hospital patients and staff - and now 

for the medical students and young clinicians 

of south-western Sydney,” said Minister for 

Health, Minister Jillian Skinner. 

The school is expected to be completed 

by December 2016 and open in early 2017. 

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NEWS 

Open doors to a smarter business - INNOVATION EVENT page 9 


Closer to world class river foreshore 

ACQUISITION 

By Michael Walls 

PARRAMATTA City Council has moved 

closer to realising its vision of creating a 

world- class river foreshore. 

Council has acquired a number of 

properties critical to the success of its river 

strategy. 

The sites include: four sites along Phillip 

Street – the historic Willow Grove, St Georges 

Terrace and other commercial buildings – at 

a total cost of $35.5 million. The acquisitions 

open the way for Council to improve the 

CBD’s connection to Parramatta River. 

“These purchases will allow Council to 

provide a critical civic link within the City 

from Parramatta Square through to Riverbank 

and the foreshore. It allows Council to be 

more flexible in its activation and rejuvenation 

of a core precinct in our CBD,” Parramatta 

Lord Mayor Cr Paul Garrard said. 

“Prudent negotiations mean Council was 

able to achieve the best possible purchase prices 

in a competitive market in order to achieve 

its vision for Riverbank. Council is making a 

smart investment in the River Strategy that 

will deliver cultural and social benefits and 

another economic injection into the city. 

“Historic Willow Grove will be included 

in our plans to activate the Riverbank precinct 

which is a crucial part of Council’s River Strategy 

adopted earlier this year.” 

Council has also resumed control of the 

former David Jones car park site, which together 

with the four key purchases will create 

an 18,000sqm foreshore site. 

The site will become a lively mixed-used 

precinct featuring a variety of social, cultural 

and community assets as well as residential 

apartments. 

The River Strategy is Council’s vision to 

revitalise the foreshore between Gasworks 

Bridge and Rings Bridge, O’Connell Street. 

New and improved spaces will be created 

for walking, cycling, picnicking, outdoor 

dining and hosting major events such as New 

Year’s Eve and Loy Krathong. 

The $200 million River Strategy project 

will be completed in stages over a 20-year 

timeframe with funding from a range of 

sources including Council, the State Government 

and the private sector. 

“The development of the $2 billion Parramatta 

Square and our visionary River Strategy 

will ensure our city remains vibrant while 

celebrating our unique cultural, historical and 

economic credentials.” 

A blueprint for the Riverbank is currently 

being considered by Council. 

Artist impression of the completed foreshore development. 

Aerial view of the proposal. 


7

NEWS 

Mega child care centre opens 


NEW BUSINESS 

By Di Bartok 

JOAN Stone believes that to look after children 

properly, you have to also care for their 

parents. 

The concept of helping parents enjoy 

date nights, as well as having nutritious takehome 

meals prepared for them, is virtually 

unheard of in conventional childcare centres 

and preschools. 

But that holistic family care approach will 

be very much evident at Joan’s newest preschool, 

Young Scholars in Norwest Business 

Park, set to open this month. 

Centre owner, Joan said the centre, open 

from 7am to 6pm weeknights, would stay open 

later on Friday nights to allow parents to have a 

date night. 

“We believe that to look after children, you 

need to also give parents a break - we really 

like to be a family centre, as it is important for 

children’s welfare to keep marriages together,” 

Joan said. 

“And we have arranged with the cafe opposite 

for packaged meals to be made for parents 

to take home for the family, again to take that 

stress away from working parents.” 

Mother of one and grandmother to three, 

Joan knows all too well the pressure on working 

parents. 

She envisages that the scores of parents 

working in the burgeoning Norwest Business 

Park, and nearby, will appreciate to have a stateof-the-art 

centre close to work. 

“Having a good relationship with the medical 

centre above us, means that children who 

fall ill can be looked after adequately,” Joan said. 

Inside the new child care centre at Norwest. 

With 30 years’ experience at running 

award-winning preschools and after and before 

school care centres, the former primary and 

high school teacher is raring to go with her 

state-of-the-art centre that would be every 

child’s dream. 

I wanted to be a kid again after visiting 

the pristine centre, with learning equipment 

and toys all spanking new, waiting for eager 

littlies to begin their adventure in learning 

Olympic Park estate to include 5,500 apartments 

AN old industrial estate near Sydney’s 

Olympic Park is set to become one 

of the state’s largest urban renewal 

projects.s 

The estate, part-owned by Goodman 

Group, is set to include more than 5500 

Centre owner, Joan Stone. 

and socialising. Set in expansive 1100 sq ms 

premises, Young Scholars has a room and 

outdoor area for babies and the same for older 

children. 

There are also training rooms and office 

space for staff and trainees. It really is some operation 

this centre, ideally placed opposite Hills 

Shire Council chambers in Columbia Court. 

The holistic family philosophy aside, it is 

the educational program that will be the real 

apartments and a new commercial zone 

NSW Planning and Transport Department 

will dedicate more than $150 million 

to building better transport links around 

Goodman’s Carter Street industrial precinct 

in Lidcombe, in addition to schools and a 

drawcard to parents looking for more than a 

run-of-the-mill childcare centre. 

“At Young Scholars, children will learn 

at their own pace, along the lines of Montessori 

and Reggio Emilia self-guided learning 

processes,” Joan said. 

Young Scholars is licensed for 105 children 

from six months up to school age. 

For enrolment inquiries, call 0412 615 

728 or 1300 974 447. 

new foreshore reserve to improve its viability 

as a residential community. 

The estate is located less than 17 kilometres 

from Sydney’s CBD and close to 

train lines, ferries and a possible light rail to 

Parramatta. 

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9

NEWS 


“The [Badgerys Creek] airport will put 

Liverpool in the driver’s seat as Sydney’s most 

desirable location to invest.” – Liverpool 

Mayor, Ned Mannoun 

“Without a doubt, the proposed park is 

one of the most exciting developments slated 

for Penrith in recent years.” – Penrith Mayor, 

Karen McKeown on the proposal for the 

280-hectare Science Park, at Luddenham. 

“These buildings are significant to the 

history of NSW and this plan identifies an 

exceptional opportunity to fund conservation 

of the area’s historic buildings through sales of 

residential sites in the area.” – Marks Speakman, 

Minister for Heritage, on the revised 

vision for Parramatta North Precinct. 

“Liverpool Council is entering the next 

phase of its Building Our New City project, 

which will see Macquarie Street transformed 

into a boulevard of beautiful restaurants 

serving great food with an infusion of tastes 

from every corner of the globe.” - Liverpool 

Mayor, Ned Mannoun. 

“She will need to redirect her attention 

to Sydney’s greater west.” - NSW opposition 

leader, Luke Foley, on the appointment of 

Lucy Turnbull as the head of the Greater 

Sydney Commission to be based in Parramatta. 

“The fundamentals of the area are very 

positive and will come from the airport, 

transport and flow through to the retail and 

office sectors.” - Ben Pomroy , director of 

Rothelowman, said on a proposal for a 

$120 million apartment complex in the 

Liverpool CBD. 

“It’s disappointing some people do not 

support western Sydney getting better access 

to the state’s cultural treasures.” – David 

Borger, director, Sydney Business Chamber 

Western Sydney, on the Powerhouse’s 

relocation to Parramatta. 

“The paddock had become a torture 

chamber. Even though I looked at the photos 

forensically, I couldn’t help but contemplate 

what Anita went through; those last hours.” - 

Chief Inspector Gary Raymond APM, 

OAM (Ret’d) on Anita Cobby’s last hours. 

“With brand trust at all-time low, consumers 

– Millennials in particular – are looking for 

brands they can trust. Argenti urges companies 

to be authentic in their business dealings, to act 

according to their stated goals and values, even 

when it means taking a hit in the short term.” – 

KPMG Family Business excerpt. 

“The economic potential is huge. Blacktown 

businesses were given an early start at 

the “Doing Business with Asia” trade show, 

which was held at the Sister Cities conference.” 

- Blacktown Mayor, Stephen Bali on 

doing business with Asia. 

“Sekisui House Australia has already 

established a solid foundation with particular 

attention to detail and delivery of high quality 

outcomes with regard to the environment, 

infrastructure and community building,” - 

Sekisui House’s project director, Craig 

Artist impression of the revitalised Parramatta Rive r foreshore. 

D’Costa, on the new proposed Greg Norman 

Designed course at Campbelltown. 

“Granville has been part of Parramatta for 

70 years - it has that history and connection, 

it is part of the fabric of Parramatta. In our Fit 

for the Future submission, we made it clear 

that the present Parramatta Council boundaries 

would allow for plenty of growth.” - 

Parramatta Lord Mayor Paul Garrard on 

the Government’s merged councils model. 

“As the Director of a business development 

and consulting services organisation 

which helps CEOs enjoy running their 

businesses, I don’t actually have business 

New Year resolutions’ as such. I do however 

have an alternative process called ‘Accountable 

Growth’ which consists of regular peer 

reviews with my team where we work out the 

fundamentals of what we want to achieve in 

the year to come. “Geoffrey Ellis, Director of 

The Profit Advantage Group on the value of 

new Year resolutions. 

“Prudent negotiations mean Council 

was able to achieve the best possible 

purchase prices in a competitive market in 

order to achieve its vision for Riverbank. 

Council is making a smart investment in 

the River Strategy that will deliver cultural 

and social benefits and another economic 

injection into the city.” - Parramatta Lord 

Mayor Paul Garrard on Council’s acquisition 

of riverfront property to make way 

for redevelopment. 

“If approved, the zoo would become 

a catalyst for change in the area. It would 

encourage further revitalisation of the 

area, facilitate economic growth in 

Blacktown and its surroundings, increase 

employment opportunities and highlight 

Western Sydney as a key tourist destination.” 

- Development application for a 

$28 million investment in the proposed 

16.5-hectare Sydney Zoo at Blacktown 

which is on public exhibition until 

February 1. 

 

 

 


NEWS 


Geoffrey Elliot. 

CEOs reveal their 2016 resolutions 

Jeff Jones. 

Stephanie Christopher. 

Stuart Heldon. 

ROAD AHEAD 

By Stephanie Christopher 

CEO The Executive Connection 

AS CEO of the world’s largest CEO network, 

I’ve seen first-hand what a big year 

2015 was for corporate Australia. 

Businesses welcomed the Trans- 

Pacific Partnership, fought hard against a low 

Aussie dollar and overcame the impact of 

political instability in a bid to stay one step 

ahead of their competitors. 

Looking ahead, 2016 is set to be an even 

bigger year for businesses, especially for those 

across the Western Sydney region. 

Officially the centre of Australia’s economic 

future, the opportunities to grow, expand 

and acquire throughout 2016 are plentiful. 

I spoke to a few local members of The 

Executive Connection to get a better understanding 

of what’s on their wish list for 2016 

and where they see their strongest opportunities 

for growth are. Here’s what they had to 

say: 

Stuart Heldon, Director of 

Tankworks Australia 

As we close off 2015, it is the perfect time 

to make plans and set goals for both business 

and personal life. This past year has been very 

successful; we’ve managed to grow our business 

in spite of economic uncertainty. Our 

plan is to continue this trajectory through 

2016, and to do this I believe we need to set 

goals and go after them. 

I plan to continue investing in our people 

at Tankworks, by providing training and 

development, to help get the most out of the 

resources we already have. Lastly, I will be 

investing in our brand, and particularly our 

online presence, using our website and email 

database to really engage with our customer 

base, and build long lasting customer relationships. 

For me personally in 2016, I plan to make 

sure that my family comes first. I believe a 

good balance of work and home is essential 

to make sure that work time is productive and 

efficient. 

Jeff Jones, CEO at Total Construction 

At Total Construction, we are midway 

through a transformation plan with stages 

that are defined as fix, focus and grow. The fix 

is predominantly behind us, so now we can 

enthusiastically tackle the focus phase. During 

2016 this will involve focusing on the specific 

market segments that we have proven experience 

in. The good news is there are positive 

indications that Western Sydney has construction 

opportunities in each of our market 

segments. The opportunities range from our 

traditional markets of commercial, industrial 

and education to the emerging and rapidly 

growing markets of health and aged care. We 

also see opportunity in the highly technical 

and specialised markets of renewable energies 

and process engineering for the food and 

beverage industry. 

It’s a very exciting time to be in a growing 

business with diversification across markets 

that can run at different cycles. Equally 

rewarding is our focus on the efficient use of 

energy through the Renewable Energies segment, 

as the world is moving towards a more 

sustainable model. 

Geoffrey Ellis, Director of The 

Profit Advantage Group 

As the Director of a business development 

and consulting services organisation which 

helps CEOs enjoy running their businesses, I 

don’t actually have business New Year resolutions’ 

as such. I do however have an alternative 

process called ‘Accountable Growth’ 

which consists of regular peer reviews with 

my team where we work out the fundamentals 

of what we want to achieve in the year to 

come. 

I guide the discussion and peer review 

process, holding the team and the business 

accountable for our growth targets. Through 

collaborating and challenging our business 

Lucy Turnbull to lead new 

Greater Sydney Commission 

PLANNING 

THE new metropolitan planning body, 

the Greater Sydney Commission, to be 

based in Parramatta, will be headed by 

Lucy Turnbull, a former Sydney lord 

mayor, the deputy chair of COAG’s City Expert 

Advisory Panel, and the current chair 

of the Committee for Sydney 

The NSW government has established 

the independent commission to be responsible 

for metropolitan planning in a partnership 

between State and local government. 

The commission will work closely with 

local councils and communities, helping 

Sydneysiders to get the most out of their 

neighbourhoods and suburbs. 

Ms Turnbull, as chief commissioner, will 

be assisted by three other commissioners: 

Heather Nesbitt, as social commissioner 

has over 30 years’ experience in social 

sustainability, social housing, community 

infrastructure planning and social impact 

assessment. She has primarily worked on 

major greenfield and urban renewal projects 

Rod Simpson, as environment commissioner, 

is director of the urban design 

and master of urbanism programs in the 

faculty of architecture, design and planning 

performance and future planning, we change 

those items that need changing (stopping, 

starting or modifying) as well report on results 

against growth targets. This kind of peer 

review process allows the team to discover 

their individual strengths. 

This review process of Accountable 

Growth, would not work without the appropriate 

peer support and accountability 

for taking action. The benefits are in fact, 

immeasurable. 

Stephanie Christopher is Chief Executive Officer of 

The Executive Connection, which has more than 

20,000 members globally and 1,200 members in Australia 

and New Zealand. 

Lucy Turnbull 

at the University of Sydney and principal of 

simpson+wilson whose work ranges across 

architecture, urban design and strategic 

planning. 

Geoff Roberts as economic commissioner 

has 35 years’ experience in Australia 

and internationally. 

He is a specialist in city strategy, governance 

and leadership and currently holds 

an adjunct professor position in the city 

futures research centre at the University of 

NSW. 


11

REGIONAL ROUND-UP 

NORTH WEST 

Bought for $1.9m 

THE Verrell Unit Trust has bought a 

1369-square-metre industrial site, at 11 Verrell 

Street, Wetherill Park, for $1.9 million from a 

vendor. 

Vendor sells site 

A VENDOR has sold a1712-square-metre industrial 

property, at 26 Penny Place. Arndell Park, 

for $2.7 million, from an undisclosed vendor 

Eastern Creek expansion 

DB Schenker’s total occupancy in Frasers 

Property Australia’s Eastern Creek Business Park, 

has increased to 40,000 square metres by adding 

a 4.8-hectare site, comprising a 24,250-squaremetre 

warehouse and a 250-square-metre office. 

Green’s short-listed 

GREEN’S Food Holdings, based at Glendenning, 

with revenues growing at almost $40 per 

cent this year, has been short-listed a a finalist for 

the 2015 Australian Growth Company Awards. 

Sold for $18.65 million 

MELBOURNE-based funds manager, Peak 

Equities, has sold a 3177-square-metre building, 

at16-18 Bridge Street, Epping, for $18.65 million, 

to a not-for-profit aged care provider. Peak 

purchased the building for $14.2 million from 

Centuria in 2012. 

Quest Bella Vista 

QUEST Serviced Apartments, which is seeking 

new franchises to keep up with rapid demand, 

plans to open Quest Bella Vista in the next 12 

months. 

SOUTH WEST 

Largest yum cha 

THE new $80 million food, retail, office 

INNOVATION 

Open the doors to a smarter business 

SPECIAL EVENT: PG 9 

and entertainment complex Little Saigon 

Plaza, in Chapel Road, Bankstown, which is 

said to include the largest yum cha restaurant 

in Sydney seating 500 people. Fam International 

are the developers. 

Library wins award 

BANKSTOWN Library and Knowledge 

Centre won the top interior architecture award 

in the 2015 Australian Institute of Architects’ 

National Architecture Awards. Francis Jones 

Morehen Thorp was the winning firm. 

2500 New homes 

PLANS for 2500 new homes to be built 

near Leppington station have been unveiled 

by the NSW government. It is the first stage 

in a rezoning process that will eventually see 

about 9,000 homes built in the suburb 

Professor wins gold 

PROFESSOR Michael Barton, research 

director, of the Ingham Institute, in Liverpool, 

has been awarded a gold medal for his work in 

improving radiotherapy services and treatment 

for cancer patients, the by Royal Australian 

and New Zealand College of Radiologists. 

Plaza sold for $90 million 

THE Charter Hall Group has finalised a 

deal to buy the 19,600-square-metre Bass Hill 

Plaza from the Singapore-based the private 

company, Memo Corporation, for just over 

$90 million. The shopping centre, which is 

anchored by Woolworths and Kmart outlets 

and includes 53 specialty stores, also offers 

another 46,600 square metres of additional 

residential and retail development. 

Planning law changes 

LIVERPOOL City Council’s new planning 

laws, approved by the NSW government, 

will see more than 242,000 square 

metres of the city centre converted from 

commercial to mixed use space 

High school sale 

THE sale of the 140-hectare Hurlstone 

Agriculture High School site is expected 

to net the NSW government $170 million. 

The site will become the Glenfield High 

School with up to 110m000 new dwellings 

built on the former agricultural land 

surrounding it. The Hurlstone Agriculture 

High School will relocate to the Western 

Sydney University Hawkesbury campus 

from 2020. 

Plaza sold for $90 million 

BASS Hill Plaza has been sold by 

investment company Memocorp Australia 

for more than $90 million by Charter Hall 

Group, which acquired the Hume Highway 

centre after Memocorp Australia had owned 

the complex for the past 25 years. The 

two-level shopping centre includes Kmart, 

Woolworths, Aldi and 53 specialty stores. 

CENTRAL WEST 

$100,000 for study 

PARRAMATTA City Council has approved 

$100,000 for a business case study 

to examine whether to refurbish the existing 

Riverside Theatres or build a new facility. 


Bentley Safes leases 

BENTLEY Safes has leased a 

965-square-metre site, at unit 48, Slough 

Business Park, Silverwater, from a private 

investor, for three years, at $125 a square 

metre net 

Uni and Optus deal 

MACQUARIE University and Optus 

have partnered to offer a cadetship program 

to engineering students, launched earlier 

this year. The cadetship program is offered 

to students who major in telecommunications 

engineering. Successful students will 

be paid to study through their degree and 

will accrue work experience with Optus in 

their semester breaks. 

EOI in Mercure 

EXPRESSIONS of interest in the 

165-room Mercure Hotel, at Rosehill, have 

closed. The 4997-square-metre site has 

“mixed-use/residential”. 

Start this year 

PARRAMATTA City Council expects 

construction work on the 41-storey, $260 

million residential Riverside Tower, on the 

site of the Lennox Bridge carpark, behind 

the restaurant precinct in Church Street, to 

start next year. Council and Lidis are coventurers 

in the project. 

DA for carpark 

THE NSW Department of Planning & 

Environment is considering submissions to 

the exhibition of a development application 

by the Health Administration Corporation 

for an eight-storey carpark, at Westmead 

Hospital. 

Lester buys property 

THE Perth-based Lester Group 

paid $14.56 million for a four-level, 

3887-square-metre commercial office 

property, at 12 Waterloo Road, in Macquarie 

Park. 

Can you afford 

not to be a member? 

• Get involved 

• Get connected 

• Get heard 

• Get informed 

• Get trained 

mobile: 0417 046 665 

website: www.merrylandschamber.com.au 

email: merrylandscbd@live.com.au 

www.liverpoolchamber.org.au 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and 

Industry wishes all our Members 

a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous 

New Year. 

We look forward to seeing you at one of 

our events soon. 

Check for latest updates 

www.liverpoolchamber.org.au 

or phone Karress: 0408 679 045 


COMMENTARY 


Parramatta redrawn under reforms 

MERGERS 

By Cr Paul Garrard 

Lord Mayor of Parramatta 

IN late December the State Government revealed 

plans to expand the Parramatta Local 

Government Area as part of its ‘Fit for the 

Future’ reforms. 

The proposal would see Parramatta’s 

boundaries redrawn to include parts of the 

Hills, Hornsby and Auburn LGAs, and a small 

section of Holroyd Council, while the ward of 

Woodville would be removed from Parramatta 

to become part of a new LGA with the 

remainder of Holroyd and Auburn. 

Woodville includes the Granville town 

centre and parts of Guildford, Chester Hill 

and Merrylands. It has been an integral component 

of our city for more than 70 years and 

the decision to remove it from Parramatta is 

most disappointing for Council. 

Under the amalgamation proposal the 

Sydney Olympic Park precinct, Wentworth 

Point and the entire Epping town centre 

would be incorporated as part of Parramatta. 

This change would bring the key economic 

corridor between Parramatta and Sydney 

Olympic Park under the management of a 

single Council and help drive jobs growth in 

Western Sydney’s heartland. 

In addition, the recently announced 

first stages of the Western Sydney Light Rail 

network will also fall almost entirely within 

the boundaries of the new Parramatta LGA, 

which would help streamline planning decisions 

around the proposed corridors. 

The Government has announced that the 

first stage of the much-anticipated Light Rail 

network will consist of two routes. 

Farewelling a Council institution: Alan Hyam OAM, John Books, Lord Mayor of Parramatta Cr Paul Garrard, and John Haines OAM at a reunion of Parramatta City 

Councillors to mark the closing of the Council Chambers. 

The spine of the network will connect 

Westmead with the Parramatta CBD via 

North Parramatta and continue on to Rosehill 

where it will branch. 

From there one line will continue to 

Strathfield via Olympic Park and the other 

will travel to Carlingford along the existing 

heavy rail corridor. 

The Carlingford line largely follows Council’s 

preferred first route for the network, and 

we are pleased that the State Government has 

left open the possibility of extending the line 

to Epping and Macquarie Park in the future. 

The Light Rail Network will revolutionise 

public transport, not only in Parramatta, but in 

Western and North Western Sydney. 

It will connect key economic, education, 

residential and sporting hubs in our region, 

and provide a direct link between Sydney’s 

largest health precinct at Westmead and the $2 

billion Parramatta Square project in the CBD. 

Light rail will help secure Parramatta’s 

future as greater Sydney’s dual CBD and 

Council is delighted to see its long-standing 

vision for the network becoming a reality. 

The Parramatta Square development has 

taken another important step forward. In 

December Council farewelled its Chambers 

building, which will be demolished in the second 

half of 2016 to make way for the construction 

of an iconic new civic building and library 

as part of the urban renewal project. 

The Chambers was home to Council for 

almost 60 years and prior to our final meeting 

of 2015 I was happy to host a gathering 

of past and present Councillors to celebrate 

the important role the building has played 

in Parramatta’s history, overseeing the city’s 

transformation from a suburban centre to a 

true CBD. 

Over the next six months Council meetings 

will be held primarily at Granville Town 

Hall, with some community-based meetings 

to be conducted at various locations throughout 

Parramatta’s wards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cumberland Business Chamber sponsors 

 

 

 


13

INTELLIGENCE 

Reconsider the purpose of your city 

By Kate Hill 

Partner Deloitte 

PROSPERITY 


WE can all play a part in the growth of 

Australia, its productivity and prosperity, 

if we work together. 

The concept of place, what it 

means to Australians, and why unlocking the 

productive potential of places as Australia 

transitions to a knowledge and service-based 

economy needs to be reconsidered, has been 

revealed in the fifth issue of Deloitte’s Building 

the Lucky Country series, The purpose of 

place: Reconsidered. 

The report presents a detailed framework 

that classifies place and identifies the forces 

and players that interact to create flourishing 

places. 

The four players that can drive change 

- businesses, communities, individuals and 

government – have much to offer and much to 

gain, and reconsidering the purpose of place is 

ultimately a call for collaboration, as Australia’s 

cities and regions have much potential when 

it comes to prosperity and getting them right 

is yet another way to meet the productivity 

challenge. 

The need to boost producvity growth 

to sustain rising levels of material 

welfare is clear. And reconsidering 

the purpose of place begins with four 

quesons: 

• What does flourishing look like? 

• Which of the 10 dimensions of prosperity 

most need to improve? 

Parramatta CBD 

• Which of the four dynamic forces 

will most likely catalyse a virtuous 

circle of prosperity? 

• How can each of the four players best 

collaborate with the others to set the 

process in motion? 

Western Sydney is already at the centre of 

much discussion regarding growth, investment 

and potential; noting in particular the 

development of the light rail in Sydney’s 

Olympic Corridor, Sydney’s second airport 

at Badgerys Creek, and even the move of The 

Powerhouse Museum to Western Sydney. 

Deloitte is further contributing through the 

‘Shaping Future Cities: 

Designing Western Sydney’ initiative – 

uniting multiple business, government and 

community perspectives toward developing 

a blueprint that will create 200,000 jobs and 

allow the region to achieve its full prosperity 

potential. 

And with the huge potential of the West 

as a great example, creating flourishing and 

productive places isn’t just about inner cities 

– most people, of course, don’t live close to 

a city’s CBD, but rather most live in our suburbs, 

outer urban areas and regional cities. 

The challenge is making it easier for 

people, no matter where they live, to be 

knowledge workers and to get to places where 

other knowledge workers are – all while living 

enjoyable and fulfilling lives. 

Businesses, in particular, have a responsibility 

to be innovative and creative, to invest in 

place, and to think about the potential of place 

as a driver of commercial success. Ignoring 

the dynamics of flourishing places, or failing 

to act as a place languishes, can lead to missed 

opportunities and stranded assets. 

Ultimately, creating flourishing places 

that act as magnets for people, investment 

and industry has enormous potential to drive 

innovation, collaboration and productivity 

and be one of the keys to Australia’s future 

prosperity. 


INTELLIGENCE 


Six tips for New Year success 

MINDSET 

By Melissa Harries 

Psychologist 

DIETS have probably never been worse 

than at this time of year when holiday 

festivities tempt one with all kinds of 

deliciousness. 

If you are anything like me then you have 

postponed eating well and exercising until after 

Christmas and are starting to think about your 

New Year’s resolutions. 

According to finder.com.au, who surveyed 

2000 Australians, 2 out of 3 people failed their 

New Year’s resolutions last year. 

This is not surprising because if these things 

were easy, you would be doing them already. 

Health psychologists have tried to understand 

the mechanisms for improving diet, exercise 

compliance, quit smoking and reducing alcohol 

intake for many years. 

These researchers know that change is not 

easy. Fortunately, there are some strategies that 

will help to improve the success of your New 

Year’s Resolution. 2016 will be different… 

Tip #1- Set clear goals. I know, snore, 

right? But this oldie is a goodie. That old 

SMART goal acronym (specific, measurable, 

attractive, realistic and time framed) has a lot of 

support by researchers in helping resolutions to 

become a reality. Before you set your goals, read 

tip #2. 

Tip #2 -Aim for small changes. Are you 

planning from going from a couch potato to 

a gym bunny overnight? The problem with 

dramatic changes is that they require too much 

self-control to sustain. Consequently these 

dramatic changes become too difficult and are 

abandoned completely after typically 3-4 weeks. 

RESOLUTIONS 

You will me much more successful making a 5% 

change each week than doing a complete 180 on 

your current behaviour. 

Tip #3 –Make your goals public. Goals 

that you share with others are much more likely 

to be achieved than private goals. When you tell 

a mate you are going to the gym after work it 

activates something called the consistency bias. 

The consistency bias motivates us to behave 

consistently with our word. It’s much harder to 

pike on the gym after posting it on Facebook 

than if you just thought to yourself “I’ll go to the 

gym tonight”. 

Tip #4 – Enlist partner support. Researchers 

have shown that when partners are committed 

to the same goals and they address forecasted 

potential barriers (e.g. agreeing ahead of time 

to cook a healthy meal in spite of feeling tired 

after work) then changes are more successful. 

Encouragement here is useful. Send reminder 

texts to each other throughout the day to stay focused 

on what you should be doing (e.g. “don’t 

forget to eat your snacks”) rather than focusing 

on what you shouldn’t be doing (“eg “don’t eat 

Maccas on your way home”). 

Tip #5 - Choose your mates. Researchers 

have found a “cluster effect” for mates as well 

as work colleagues. Your BMI, smoking status 

and alcohol intake are influenced by (“clustered” 

around) those health behaviours in other 

people. If you chose to socialize with people 

who are already doing the healthy things that 

you want to achieve then this will rub off on 

you. Think of it like swimming with the current. 

Tip #6 – Get a coach. Outsource all of the 

above by seeking professional support through 

a coach. There are various professions that can 

help here. A personal trainer, a life coach, a 

psychologist, a corporate coach, a health coach. 

There are no specific qualifications you need to 

be a coach but all of these trades are experts at 

goal setting and facilitating behaviour change. 

If you know from previous experience that 

you don’t have the spare self-control to sustain 

changes then use professional options to “top 

up” your own resources. 

For further information about setting 

New Year’s resolutions or making changes to 

health behaviours Melissa can be contacted 

at psychologist@parramattapsychologyclinic.com.au 

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15

COMMENTARY 

YOUR 

NEXT 

EVENT 

A case study 

in transparency 

Conference? Meeting? Training? 

 

Ask us to show you around. 

We’re happy to welcome you to Waldorf Parramatta, drop by anytime to see our 

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email: functions@waldorf.com.au call: (02) 8837 8000 

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events: functions@waldorf.com.au 

http://waldorf.com.au 

EXPOSURE 

WE often work on deals that result in 

a payment being due to us based on 

a percentage of business written by 

our clients. Therefore, our business is 

very much based on trust. 

So where does that leave us if a client isn’t 

open with us about the volume of business 

written as a result of our good work? Some 

would argue that leaves us up a very brown 

waterway with no way to manoeuvre our way 

out. 

But, does it? 

We recently had a client contact us to 

advise that he had written a large amount of 

business as a result of an introduction made 

by our team, and therefore required an invoice 

from us so he could pay the commission 

owed. What a nice Christmas present that 

was! 

At that time, we had no knowledge of 

the deal being done by our honest client and 

would have been none the wiser (in the short 

term) had he not disclosed it to us. 

That experience prompted this article, and 

caused us to reflect on the concept of transparency 

in business. What would you have 

done in our client’s position? Would you have 

disclosed the deal and cost yourself a great 

deal of money or would you have kept it quiet 

and held onto the commission owed? 

We cover this topic at length in our 

Mastering Introductions Training Program 

if you’d like to know more, but here are a few 

thoughts on the pros and cons of honesty and 

openness. 

• What do you stand for? In business 

as in life, there are certain things we 

place value on. Our foundational 

beliefs and values guide our behaviours 

and decision making processes. 

If you say you stand for honesty and 

truth, then walking that out in business 

requires that you would disclose 

the deal and pay the commission. 

No compromise, no quibbling. Just a 

straight disclosure. 

• Who do you know? Our business 

network is already of mammoth proportions, 

and with over 30 Chamber 

of Commerce memberships around 

the globe, it is growing exponentially. 

Chances are, at some point, your 

exciting news will become gossip 

amongst our network and make its 

way back to us. Unless you have a 

tiny network, keeping secrets may 

not be an option for long. 

• How are you marketing? Corporate 

pride and founder ego aside, some 

news is worth shouting to the world. 

Commercial opportunities come 

from sharing your news but this 

requires you disclosing certain information 

to the marketplace. Timing 

is the key of course, but if you can 

gain a competitive advantage from 

including information about past 

jobs or testimonials in your marketing, 

transparency will be demanded 

beforehand. 

• How do you want to be treated? 

It’s always interesting to see how this 

one plays out in the discussions in 

our training. Would you expect to 

be paid the commission owed in the 

scenario above? We love the aha 

moments that come from a realisation 

that you do indeed, reap what 

you sow. If you don’t pay your bills 

when due, don’t expect people to pay 

you! If you’re not honest with others, 

don’t expect them to be hones with 

you. 

• Transparency fosters deep relationships. 

Just as with any type of 

relationship, business relationships 

grow strong, deep roots when based 

on a foundation of truth. In our line 

of work, when we are making representations 

on behalf of other businesses 

in order to facilitate business 

introductions, it is critical that we 

know and trust our clients. A sniff 

of untruth or deception will halt any 

relationship in its tracks, requiring 

effort and time to be invested in order 

to overcome fears or misgivings 

before moving forward as a partnership. 

Some breaches can never be 

undone. 

• What to share and what to hold 

back? We operate from a place of 

100% transparency, and in order to 

be able to represent our clients effectively, 

we need that from them 

as well. This extends to a range of 

topics, and our initial meetings with 

clients involve a strenuous questioning 

process that helps us to truly 

understand the ins and outs of their 

business. 

Items on our agenda include: 

• Capability – how good are you? 

• Capacity – how much can you do? 

• Experience – what have you done 

before? 

• Education – what do you know and 

where did you learn it? 

• Value – what do your clients say? 

• Needs – what do you need in your 

business? 

The decision to share or not to share requires 

wisdom, but in our experience honesty 

is always the best policy. If you would like to 

learn more about Know My Business, please 

visit www.knowmybusiness.com.au. 


COMMENTARY 


Total transformation of Merrylands 

TOWN CENTRE 

By Cr Greg Cummingss 

Holroyd City Mayor 

New City Square a 

place of celebration 

HOLROYD City Council is investing in a 

bold new future for Merrylands. A modern 

public domain for the new City Centre 

will provide a welcoming and vibrant 

experience for residents, shoppers and visitors. 

The community has told Council in 

workshops held last year that the City Square 

should be: 

• A public space for civic events and 

celebration. 

• An active space fringed with cafes 

and restaurants. 

• A meeting place for the whole community. 

• A welcoming place for small groups 

and families as well as for large gatherings 

and events. 

• A space that is safe, day and night. 

• A place for locals that means ‘Holroyd’. 

• A unique landmark in the City Centre 

with colour and shelter. 

During the community consultation 

workshops a number of ideas were raised 

including: 

• A grass mound for sitting, relaxing 

and playing. 

• Native trees for shade. 

• Shade structures and seating. 

• Functional and festive lighting. 

• Bins, bubblers and bicycle racks. 

• An iconic canopy structure as a place 

marker for the City Square. 

• A water feature for movement, sound 

and play. 

Developing a strong sense of place will be 

important for the success of the Merrylands 

City Centre Revitalisation Project as council 

creates a fresh new modern look and feel for 

the streets of the Merrylands CBD. 

The project will provide a consistent look 

across the city, specifically in the areas of hard 

and soft streetscape landscaping for existing 

and future developments. 

The City Centre Revitalisation (Public 

Domain) Project will activate laneways and 

transport areas for pedestrians throughout 

the City Centre with suitable lighting and 

walkways. 

The project will involve all public 

areas of hard and soft landscaping with 

design concepts being developed to cover 

streets, laneways and open space including: 

• Seating. 

• Lighting. 

• Bins. 

• Bus stops. 

• Footpaths. 

• Cycling facilities. 

• Companion and animal facilities. 

• Street signage. 

• Trees and soft landscaping. 

• Hard paving. 

For more information about how the 

public domain of Merrylands City Centre will 

transform in coming years visit www.holroyd. 

nsw.gov.au 

GREAT IDEAS CREATE CHANGE 

– Innovate 

– Invest 

– Commercialise 

Capture your intellectual property (IP) and 

add real value to your ideas and business. 

Contact us for a free consultation on 

8896 6200 

PATENTS TRADE MARKS DESIGNS COPYRIGHT 

davies.com.au 


17

WELCOME 

By David Pring 

Welcome to 2016! The New Year brings with it renewed 

energy and enthusiasm for our businesses and often 

thinking turns to doing things differently. Innovation 

was the buzz word for 2015 and we’ve seen some great 

examples in the market of all types of businesses using innovation 

to get an advantage in the market. Our first article focuses 

on Innovation and the keys to success. The reputation of your 

BF 

FAMILY 

BUSINESS 

WESTERN SYDNEY 

business is your most valuable asset however it can be overlooked 

given that it is intangible. Our article on safeguarding the 

reputation of your business provides some useful pointers. Last, 

we look at High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) as a source of 

capital for family businesses. All the best for a prosperous 2016. 

You can contact me at 9455 9996 or email davidpring@kpmg. 

com.au 

Achieving innovation by inspiring people 

LEADERSHIP 

FAMILY businesses succeed through multiple 

generations by striving to be the best. 

As the world around us changes at an ever 

faster rate it’s important to inspire management 

teams to innovate to grow. 

In this article, we focus on what it takes for 

family businesses to create a high performance 

environment. 

When coaching Family Businesses in 

innovation, the ultimate challenge is in 

achieving the balance between the traditions 

of the family’s business with innovative ideas 

and business practices that will enhance the 

growth, profit and sustainability of the family’s 

business. 

To develop a successful family business 

innovation program, the mind set of both 

management and family members needs to be 

considered. 

Specifically: 

• Employee motivation – the difference 

between ‘emotions’ versus 

‘reason’. In non-family businesses the 

business model is based on ‘rational 

problems’ and ‘rational solutions’. In 

family businesses you have ‘rational 

problems’ and ‘emotional solutions’. 

In some family businesses decisions 

are not based on what is best for the 

business but what is best for the family 

or a member of the family. 

• Envisioning Capabilities – the difference 

between ‘what you wish/want’ 

versus ‘what is’. Being able to honestly 

and accurately assess the strengths 

and weaknesses of your family’s business 

is the starting point. 

• Today’s ‘Gen Y’ expect to have potentially 

15-16 different employers 

during the length of their career. This 

means that the family business of 

the future will be influenced by the 

need for increased flexibility across 

the workplace and the changing demands 

of both employees and family 

members. 

The organisational responses 

are likely to be: 

• The organisations of the future will 

operate with a new set of principles. 

Future organisations that are purely 

driven by profit will always put money 

ahead of people, organisations 

that are driven by prosperity will put 

people ahead of wealth. 

• Companies will need to brand and 

position the business and talent ecosystem 

in ways that can attract the 

best talent and engage them to participate, 

whether that talent resides 

within or outside the enterprise. It 

will also be key to be attractive to 

next generation family members. 

• Organisational purpose is important 

– it is not just about what and how 

but why we do things. The issue is 

not whether a company has articulated 

its purpose, visions or values 

– but rather – how motivating and 

invigorating are they? How much are 

they actually lived and breathed by 

those within the business? How do 

family members who are leading the 

business demonstrate this purpose 

in action? 

• The future organisation enables innovation 

to come from anywhere and 

at any time, and it sees learning from 

failure as a strength. Innovation can 

come from five places: employees, 

customers, partners, the general public 

or from competitors. 

• An intrapreneur is an employee of 

a corporation allowed to exercise 

some independent entrepreneurial 

initiative. In the future, organisations 

will need to allow its employees to 

innovate, exercise creative thought 

and contribute to the shape of the 

business. 

A number of myths surround innovation 

which can lead us to underestimate the 

role of good management and leadership in 

making innovation happen. For example, 

there are actually two sides to innovation: 

exploration of ideas and the execution of 

those ideas. 

So what are the barriers, enablers and 

misconceptions that impede innovation in 

terms of the ideas and the execution? What 

can individuals, teams and leaders do to allow 

innovation to flourish? 

The leader’s role in innovation is often 

overlooked; with the emphasis on creative, 

entrepreneurial types simply making innovation 

happen. But the reality is that innovation 

is unlikely to succeed if not managed effectively. 

For instance, depending on the nature 

and scope of innovation, the exploration and 

execution phases might be carried out by 

separate teams. Strong leadership is needed to 

ensure true collaboration between the team 

tasked with generating the ideas and the team 

responsible for implementing them. 

Leaders also need to manage the tension 

between innovation and core business. Often, 

radical innovation should be separated from 

business as usual (BAU). 

This protects the core business from the 

inevitable uncertainty of radical innovation. 

At the same time, you maintain strong discipline 

around the process of testing innovative 

concepts, rigorously reviewing outcomes and 

making explicit decisions on when to stop, 

continue and whether to integrate into business 

as usual. Trials don’t end up merging into 

BAU without proper testing. 

If you don’t practice asking questions you 

are going to fear change. If you are comfortable 

questioning, experimenting, connecting 

things then change becomes an adventure. 

THIS ARTICLE IS BASED ON AN ORIGINAL PIECE WRITTEN BY INGRID WATERFIELD, 

KPMG AND DOMINIC MAHONY, LANE4. 

Thinking 

Beyond 

today 

Are you thinking 

beyond today? 

So are we. Talk to KPMG. 

kpmg.com.au 

© 2015 KPMG, an Australian partnership. All rights reserved. 


BF 

FAMILY 

BUSINESS 



Safeguarding your business reputation 

YOUR VALUES 

YOUR company has no single asset more 

valuable than its reputation. Yet because 

of its intangible nature, it is an often 

overlooked or side-lined one by managers 

more caught up with short-term goals like 

increased revenue, which can be easily measured 

and seen. 

Paul Argenti, Professor of Corporate 

Communications at Tuck School of Business 

at Dartmouth, says companies need to be cognisant 

of what he terms their ‘reputational risk’. 

Argenti says companies that communicate 

or take actions which are out of alignment 

with their stated mission and values are 

putting their reputations at risk. 

With brand trust at all-time low, consumers 

– Millennials in particular – are looking 

for brands they can trust. Argenti urges 

companies to be authentic in their business 

dealings, to act according to their stated goals 

and values, even when it means taking a hit in 

the short term. 

Think, for example, of recalling a widely 

sold faulty part, ceasing to sell a high-grossing 

product that has recently been proved to be 

harmful or withdrawing from a particular 

market for sanctioning reasons. 

These actions may cost the company 

excessively in monetary terms, but long term 

they protect the values and reputation of 

the company, and their worth is therefore 

incalculable. 

Identifying your company’s 

reputational risks 

Argenti believes that companies can 

evaluate their reputational risk by answering 

the following two questions: 

• What are we doing that we should 

not be doing? 

• What aren’t we doing that we should 

be doing? 

Once you’ve answered those questions, 

be directed by them in policy and strategy, 

even I the immediate cost or inconvenience 

seems high. 

Competitive advantages of 

firms with strong reputations 

For those unconvinced of the value of 

placing reputational concerns above all others, 

consider the following pay-offs of having 

a strong, tried-and-tested reputation: 

• Better class of recruits 

• Greater investor loyalty 

• Greater long-term stability 

• More stable revenue 

• Reduced susceptibility to crises 

• Higher benefit of the doubt from 

stakeholders 

Pay attention to what you say 

A final point from Argenti about safeguarding 

your brand’s reputation is to be careful 

what your executives and spokespeople 

say. 

Many businesses have landed in hot 

water not because they are doing anything 

wrong, but because their communication 

has been misguided. In a world of social 

media where things can quickly go viral, 

you don’t want to speak flippantly, thoughtlessly, 

or speak out of turn, as the damage 

can quickly escalate outside of your control 

to contain it. 

The adage “Say what you mean, and 

mean what you say” will stand you in good 

stead as a guiding principle for communications 

that will protect – even bolster – your 

reputation. 

Long-term horizons, current income and 

diversification drive investment decisions 

LONG-TERM 

HIGH net worth individuals (HWNIs) 

invest for three main purposes: 

• Long-term capital appreciation, 

• Current income, and: 

• Gaining a level of diversification. 

Long-term capital appreciation ranks as 

the primary reason HNWIs invest in familyrun 

businesses according to the report Family 

Matters – Financing Family Business Growth 

through Individual Investors. (The report 

was based on the findings of the KPMG 2014 

Family Business Global Survey, which in turn 

interviewed 125 family businesses and 125 

HNWIs from around the globe.) 

The second main reason HNWIs gave for 

investing in family firms is current income, followed 

by gaining a level of diversification. That 

said, many HNWIs also seek to match their 

investment choices with their expertise and 

experience in running companies – entrepreneurship 

and a passion for business are also 

important drivers for HNWI investments. 

A risky business 

The desire for long-term capital appreciation 

is reflected in HNWIs’ appetite for risk. 

The majority (60%) of HNWIs canvassed in 

the survey said they take a balanced approach 

to risk for investments outside of their main 


business, searching for reasonable risk with 

reasonable returns. As one entrepreneur said: 

“Wealth management for me is a focus on 

maintenance rather than rapid growth and 

mostly I prefer slow and steady gains to risky 

investment opportunities.” 

Nevertheless, there are HNWIs at both 

ends of the risk spectrum. One-fifth of 

HNWIs are prepared to assume high risk 

investment strategies in a bid to generate high 

returns. A further fifth are risk-averse and will 

settle for low returns in exchange for low risk. 

This is an encouraging scenario for family 

businesses wishing to investigate the pool of 

HNWIs – there may well be an investor suited 

to your needs and requirements. 

What is the appetite for HNWIs 

investing directly in businesses? 

HNWIs are extremely active business 

investors and the vast majority invest directly 

in companies. While some have an appetite 

for investing in larger companies and startups, 

the sweetspot for most HNWIs is small 

and medium-sized companies where their 

capital and expertise may be highly valued and 

where there is significant potential for upside 

through growth. 

Direct investing second 

only to listed equities 

Direct investment in businesses is a large 

part of the typical HNWI portfolio. These 

investments account for the second-highest 

proportion of committed investment from 

HNWI overall. Only listed equities account 

for a larger share. Moreover, direct investment 

in business is the most important part 

of the investment portfolio for nearly a third 

of HNWIs (29%). Some 73% of respondents 

already invest directly in other businesses. 

The reasons for investing directly in businesses 

vary, although are generally centered 

around the need for some diversification 

from their own businesses and from stock 

market volatility, and also because this type 

of investment often closely matches HNWIs’ 

risk appetite. As one HNWI commented: “We 

expect a good amount of liquid returns from 

our investments. We invest in businesses so 

that we can procure adequate working capital 

for our operational needs.” 

The value of familiarity 

Familiarity is another reason for investing 

directly. “With the rise in media and communication, 

a substantial amount of our investments 

go towards direct businesses, mainly 

businesses which are in the same sector,” said 

an Australian HNWI. 

Favouring small and midsized 

businesses 

Consistent with the risk profile and 

long-term return horizons preferred by most 

HNWIs, small and middle-sized companies 

are their most popular investment targets, 

with 62% and 68% respectively citing these, 

and a smaller proportion targeting start-ups 

and large companies. This is because many 

HNWIs see these types of business as offering 

the potential for a degree of stability but also 

rapid growth. 

Another entrepreneur noted: “Small companies 

have more phases to go through and if 

managed well in the initial stages, a lot of success 

can be expected in little time by defining 

processes, monitoring financial synergies, and 

adapting to the latest technology.” 

Another investor added: “As small companies 

have more possibilities to be tweaked 

and appraised, I feel comfortable approaching 

small companies who have opportunities to 

make it large in the near future. I prefer investing 

for at least three years and I reinvest the 

best I can.” 

“Mid-size companies are good targets as 

they are partially developed businesses … and 

with proper guidance they could outperform 

larger companies,” said a French HNWI. 

Unsurprisingly, given HNWIs’ preference 

for largely managing their wealth themselves, 

the majority (67%) like to make fewer, more 

significant investments. The remaining third 

prefer to make multiple, smaller investments. 

This article is based on the KPMG Family 

Business report “Family Matters – Financing 

Family Business Growth through Individual 

Investors”. 

19

Thinking 

Beyond 

today 

Positioning for continued success in a rapidly changing 

environment means thinking beyond today’s business models. 

KPMG’s Private Enterprise group works with family businesses 

to help them envision what tomorrow might look like. 

We help them harness innovation to enhance productivity, reduce 

costs and develop new products and services. 

We think big and we think long-term, just like you do. 

Contact David Pring on 9455 9996 or 

Leanne Hegarty on 9335 7397. 

kpmg.com/au/familybusiness 

© 2015 KPMG, an Australian partnership. All rights reserved. August 2015. VICN13132PE. 


BF 

FAMILY 

BUSINESS 


Essential tips for business owners 


IMPROVEMENT 

By Chelsea Winter 

Solicitor Watts McCray 

HERE are our six tips for business success. 

1) Cash Flow – all businesses, at 

some point or another, may cash flow 

challenges. This may be as a result of; 

• Revenue decline due to your marketing 

mix not performing, a new entrant 

into your market segment or your 

competitors becoming stronger in 

their sales and marketing programs; 

• Overhead mismanagement; 

• Increase in rent not budgeted; 

• Ongoing debtor issues that need to 

be chased; and 

• Under-valuing your product by offering 

“free” samples or advice. 

Cash flow makes the world continue to 

go around for any business, therefore regular 

reporting, review of the 5 key elements above 

and those closely related, is the only answer. 

Seeking input from your accountant, other 

professionals and building a trustworthy 

relationship with your banking institution/s 

to support your knowledge and understanding 

is also critical to your ability to remain in 

business. 

2) Review your business purpose? 

How - review your business plan weekly or 

at least monthly 

• What do you really want your business 

to be; is your business what you 

originally planned it would be? 

• What does your business look like, 

compared to your original plan? 

• Have you achieved your objectives 

– Strategic .v. Operational 

.v. Financial; 

1. Do you understand the 

“where to compete versus 

how to compete” model 

for the business 

• Who is your typical customer/ 

client and what are their needs 

or wants? Are your customers/ 

clients who you planned to 

target? 

• Are you delivering on your 

mission statement to those customers/clients 

and yourself? 

• Are you Value Proposition/s 

correct for the segments you 

are targeting (the unique benefit 

your product/s will provide 

customers/client segments)?; 

• Finally, is your “Unique Selling 

Proposition (USP or market 

gap)” working? 

• Have you conducted a detailed 

S.W.O.T. of your business lately? 

Include here potential substitute or 

new entrant considerations due to 

the on-going context in which your 

business will operate i.e. think about 

any political, economic, social/ 

cultural, technological, legal & environmental 

potential impacts, short, 

medium and longer term that may 

affect the business; 

Competitors 

• Who are your top three? Are they the 

same as when you begun, if not what 

are the differences and what is their 

S.W.O.T. characteristics compared to 

yours? Consider also; 

• Define their customer segments. 

Are you targeting these 

segments as well? 

• Which competitor has grown 

faster than any other? Why do 

you think? 

• Why are your competitors 

good at what they do? 

• Can they do things better if 

they received some help? 

• What will set your business 

apart from them? Can your 

competitors copy you quickly, 

if so how? 

Human Resources 

• Has your culture evolved as planned? 

• Is your management framework generating 

value?: 

• How is the firm managed/led/ 

directed. Which family members 

will do what? and: 

• How are strategic and operational 

(day to day) decisions 

made and who by? 

• What are your key Human Resource 

and culture policies/procedures? 

• How are people to be trained? 

• What is the recruitment, development, 

review, performance management 

and termination criteria that 

you will use? 

• What is the organizational structure 

including role definitions and credentials? 

Technology information 

• Is your management information 

system ideal? Can it help you manage 

and understand all operational and 

financial elements i.e. information 

on clients, products, competitors, 

creditors, debtors, expenses, profit/ 

loss etc; 

Marketing 

• Is your marketing informing your 

customer/client segments that you 

are in business and can help them? 

• Advertising – what has 

worked? 

• Personal meetings – have they 

worked? 

• Other promotional elements – 

if so what? 

1. Culture matters – you 

will retain good people 

for the long term if you 

have a good workplace 

and practice. Establish a 

good and friendly yet professional 

culture from the 

beginning. Think carefully 

about what is important 

to you in a workplace and 

lead by example. Ensure 

your staff feels valued, 

appreciated and part of 

a team. Hire interesting 

people who have energy 

and can energise others 

around them is the secret. 

• Keep going – There will be challenges 

and hard times. Success and 

results takes time. There is a time for 

building, a time for sowing, a time 

for growth and a time for rest. Stay 

on the path despite the business 

season you are experiencing. Keep 

going and know that your determination 

will pay off. Perhaps consider 

talking things through with a business 

coach. Surround yourself with 

positive and can-do people. Work 

with people who hold to your vision 

and are fun to work with. These 

people will get you through the challenges. 

• Make procedures and process for 

your people – One of the most common 

challenges for business owners 

is staffing. By establishing procedures 

for staff to follow with their input, 

your employees will understand their 

responsibilities and what you expect 

from them. No successful organisation 

operates without processes in 

place whether it is a restaurant, accountancy 

firm, electrical business 

or so on. These are essential for any 

business owner. 

• Let others come along on the business 

journey – I know many people 

who have been in business but have 

not taken their great ideas much further 

as they were never able to partner 

with people and delegate. They 

failed to see the value in working 

with others. It if often said that the 

most important person in a company 

or business is the person who comes 

along second. The first person has 

the idea but the second takes the idea 

and makes it a reality. If you are that 

first person and have never allowed 

another person to come on board, 

perhaps this is your next step. Speak 

up and branch out. Bring others on 

board and let them take hold of the 

vision. 

• Don’t procrastinate – You should 

operate by the 2 important D’s - 

delegate or do it now. Procrastination 

postpones the inevitable. Take 

reading an email and responding for 

example. You take time to read the 

email and understand what it says. 

If you then leave the email and do 

not respond then and there, you use 

pointless time coming back again 

later on to re-read the email and then 

responding accordingly. Of course, 

there are times in which you will 

need to consider what response is 

appropriate so please take your time 

in responding but do not delay, do it 

now. I recall during my first year as 

a lawyer a very senior and successful 

partner said to me that he only reads 

a letter, an email or an article once. 

He gives his mind one opportunity 

to read the content and that’s it. If his 

mind knows there is only one shot, 

then his mind will take it all in and 

use the time in an efficient and timely 

way. 

For more information and assistance in 

any of the above, please do not hesitate to 

contact Chelsea Winter, Commercial Lawyer 

or Mr Tony Hercok, Partner & Chief 

Operating Officer. Visit www.wattsmccray. 

com.au 


21

Legal solutions 

delivered differently 

Watts McCray Lawyers – legal specialists for 

individuals, small to medium and corporate 

enterprises that require tailored legal solutions 

delivered differently. 

To know more go to www.wattsmccray.com.au 

 


BusinessLIFE 

UNSUNG HEROES • LEGACY BUILDERS • NETWORKERS 

www.wsba.com.au 

Something good can come from something bad 

A 

SPECIAL event is planned for February 2 to raise fuds for 

victims of these homicides. Their lives are changed forever. We 

Grace’s Place. Grace’s Place will be there to provide support 

in a safe place where children, teenagers, and their 

rely on the generosity of individuals, businesses, and the com- 

will never charge families for our services. Grace’s Place will 

families grieving the death of someone they love through 

munity to he lp the HVSG with its vision. Grace’s Place will be 

homicide can share their experiences, receive counselling, be 

a world first - a residential trauma recovery centre for children 

involved in therapeutic programs and to learn life skills on how 

after homicide. It will be a have two areas - the programs building 

and the residential building which will be a twelve bedroom 

to survive the trauma without their loved one. It will be a place 

to get care and respite. There are limited services and facilities 

available to assist children with their trauma, healing and 

the mother of Anita Cobby, who with her husband Gary and 

facility. Grace’s Place will be named in honour of Grace Lynch, 

recovery after a homicide. By having this specifically targeted 

the parents of Ebony Simpson, Peter and Christine founded the 

facility we will be able to provide many services now lacking to 

HVSG. Grace was a gentle, caring woman who shared her life 

the younger members of the Homicide Victims’ Support Group 

and loss with so many, becoming a mother to so many. Grace’s 

(Aust) Inc. (HVSG). In NSW one homicide is committed on 

Place will be a special place where our young members can heal 

average every 3-4 days. Children are often the unseen, unheard 

and survive. 

Nightmare on Newton Rd 

REMEMBERING ANITA COBBY 

EXCLUSIVE reflections 

o f an investigating officer 

By Chief Inspector 

Gary Raymond APM, 

OAM (Ret’d) 

IT was a hot summer’s night on 

February 4, 1986. 

The attractive 26-year-old 

Registered Nurse Anita Lorraine 

Cobby stepped off the train at 

Blacktown. As she had done many 

times, she’d decided to phone her 

Dad and get him to meet her at the station and drive her home. 

This was the normal arrangement but no public phones 

worked, due to vandalism. I don’t think vandals calculate the 

enormous inconvenience they cause people when they damage 

public or private property. The cost and time it takes to replace 

or repair things can be substantive. 

Sometimes damaged property is irreplaceable. Because 

mobile phones were rare back then people like Anita relied on 

public phones. I wonder if the vandal(s) who damaged those 

phones at Blacktown in 1986 ever counted the cost of that 

senseless act of damage - a woman murdered. 

Anita decided to walk home after a happy time at a Lebanese 

restaurant in Redfern, Sydney with two female nursing 

friends; she felt good. All was well. All was right with the world. 

She’d walk to her parents as the weather was good. As she 

left the train, she had no idea monstrous things would happen 

to her within minutes. She would never reach home, but in fact 

only reach the end of her life. 

For the nurse it was a routine walk, one she’d done many 

times being raised in Blacktown. It wasn’t too late, no danger. 

This night was to walk not be driven. No need to disturb her 

parents. 

If only she’d spoken to her Dad. But life cannot be lived 

backwards on if only. That’s too late. 

SPECIAL 

FEATURE 

Meanwhile, five intoxicated men, all with lengthy criminal 

records, were on the prowl looking for a woman to abduct and 

abuse. One had seeded the idea and all agreed to “get a Sheila”. 

It’s unclear whether they wanted money, a sexual victim or 

both. Probably both. They talk about terrorism today, yet every 

act of violent crime terrorises the victim, so every such crime 

is an act of terrorism not only those committed by Islamic 

extremists. 

However, not even the most hardened people and police 

officers could have expected these criminals to act the way they 

did against this innocent female. 

A steady walk on a pleasant Australian evening and in a 

safe Sydney suburb and enter five evil men in a stolen car. The 

car slowed beside the walking nurse. When the car stopped, a 

crime followed. 

Julia Sheppard, author of Someone Else’s Daughter believes 

it was a crime so shocking it should never be forgotten. 

As the parents, Garry and Grace Lynch, waited at home 

for the arrival of their daughter they had no idea of the tragic 

circumstances that would soon engulf them and change their 

lives forever. 

It was not a long walk from the Blacktown Railway Station 

to the Lynch home. With five men, high on a cocktail of 

alcohol and drugs and fueled by each other’s lust, looking for 

trouble, anything can happen. 

Anita Cobby could never in her wildest dreams have even 

begun to imagine the evil that was about to launch itself upon 

her. 

Certainly shades of a Nightmare on Elm Street had to be far 

from her mind. The foul deeds that would be committed were 

worse than any horror film Anita may have seen at a cinema or 

read about in a book. 

The gang of five was led by John Travers, a person who’d 

been in endless trouble with the police since the age of 13. His 

four followers were like willing slaves that dark night as they 

drove around the Blacktown streets seeking someone they 

might treat as the object of their wicked desires. 

For Travers, a predator, rape was his favourite crime. He 

had done it many times before with men, women and animals. 

He saw Anita as she walked along Newtown Road. Suddenly 

she became his target. “Stop the car.” 

The men needed no second command. They pounced on 

Anita. She shrieked with fear, writhed, struggled and kicked as 

she was shoved without ceremony into the back seat of the car, 

then onto the floor. 

The car sped off with its unwilling captive. The gruesome, 

degrading process began immediately. From the moment she 

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BusinessLIFE 

UNSUNG HEROES • LEGACY BULIDERS • NETWORKERS 


Continued from page 23 

was dragged into the car, indecent acts followed. 

She was told to strip. She refused. Her 

clothes were ripped off. Money for petrol was 

taken from her purse. The process of taking 

everything started from her money to her life 

itself. They obtained petrol with her money 

and drove off as Anita was kept quiet, under 

threat, on the back floor. 

Since there was no phone call to pick her 

up at the station, Anita’s parents thought their 

daughter had decided to stay in the city with 

friends. 

Next day, after a nursing sister from 

Sydney Hospital called to find out why Anita 

hadn’t reported for work without a call being 

sick, her father went to Blacktown Police Station. 

He reported his daughter missing. 

Out went a description. Aged 26, thin 

build, 175cm tall, black wavy hair, hazel eyes 

and a light olive complexion. Blacktown Police 

had already received reports of a girl being 

abducted into a car that night in the area of 

Newton Road. 

They were starting to put two and two 

together. One of the most extensive Australian 

manhunts was on. Time was of the essence. 

When I heard about what happened to 

Anita Cobby like many others, I found it hard 

to believe. Not even a crime writer could have 

thought of something like this. 

Even after five years in the Ambulance Service, 

10 years in Police Rescue and Detectives, 

I thought I’d seen it all. 

Was it possible that in Sydney in the 1980’s 

a woman could be restrained, bashed, raped, 

tortured, brutalized, have her throat slashed 

so badly she was almost decapitated, have her 

fingers broken and all this happen while she 

was still alive? 

Defense wounds from the sharp blade of 

the knife on her hands and fingers proved that 

she fought for her life to the bitter end. 

As I looked at the crime scene I found 

it hard to believe anything like the rape and 

murder of Anita Cobby could happen. It was 

a somewhat isolated place with dairy farming 

and grazing land with eucalypt trees. 

It also had long grass which helped to 

hide the crime scene. There was blood, Anita’s 

blood, on the blades of grass. It was not that 

far from the Great Western Highway, a busy 

motorway. 

Yet far enough away so that no one heard a 

cry for help as Anita fought for her life. 

A herd of dairy cows first found her body. 

They gathered around her almost like a curious 

protective cordon when the dairy farmer, 

Mr Reen, investigated and found her. He had 

seen his cows in a circle facing inwards which 

was unusual causing him to “sus it out’. 

My thoughts turned to the police who 

had to tell Anita’s family that a body had been 

found and was believed to be Anita’s. 

No longer a missing person but a found 

person in the worst possible condition, dead. 

The missing person investigation had regrettably 

turned into a homicide investigation; a 

family’s worst nightmare. 

How would we tell them that all that’s left 

of their beautiful missing daughter? 

I remembered the many times when as a 

police officer I’d had to knock on a door to tell 

a family their loved one was not coming home. 

I used to pray, swallow hard and take deep 

breaths as I approached the front door. 

Then I had to watch as I delivered the 

terrible news to a stunned family. It was often 

late at night or the early hours of the morning 

when people were awakened from their sleep 

and expected to comprehend what I was telling 

them. 

Often babies woken by people in the 

lounge room added to the already hard job. 

Then I watched as the terrible news was delivered 

and began to sink into stunned minds. 

Tenderly, with God’s help I comforted the 

people and often prayed with them. I’d wait 

for the reaction which was accompanied by 

denial, disbelief, anger, bargaining with God 

and shock. 

It was like the family was hit by a freight 

train they didn’t know was coming. Some 

thought it was a practical joke or a prank. 

Many said: “Come on Inspector you’re having 

a lend of me”. 

Some would walk out of their door, look 

around for their loved one thinking they were 

hiding and would jump from behind the 

bushes as a surprise. 

Although, sometimes with drug users or 

crazy drivers the family would say to me: “We 

knew one day this knock on the door would 

come.” 

That wasn’t the case with the Lynch or 

Cobby family. Their knock on the door had 

no forewarning although Anita’s father had an 

inkling that something was wrong with Anita’s 

unusual disappearance. 

She was a very responsible person and 

would never not come home or be absent 

from work without notifying someone. The 

shock still resonates whenever Anita’s name is 

mentioned. 

The sheer horror of what was to be revealed 

to Anita’s parents is hard for us to even 

start to imagine. 

At the time of the murder, I was out of 

Sydney on an investigation with Detective 

Tony (Muddy) Waters. We were urgently 

called back to Blacktown Police Station. Once 

there we were briefed on the murder. 

I was given the job to hit the streets go 

gather information and get leads on possible 

suspects for the murder. My task was to find 

out as much as possible about individuals 

who’d recently been released from gaol, mental 

health units or juvenile institutions that 

may have the Modus Operandi (MO) and be 

capable of committing such a crime. 

With other Detectives I was instructed to 

leave no stone unturned to get information. 

A vital lead on the case was out there on the 

streets just waiting to be found. 

Junkies, drug dealers, gang members, the 

homeless, prostitutes and thieves were all to 

“ 

The paddock had become 

a torture chamber. Even 

though I looked at the 

photos forensically, 

I couldn’t help but 

contemplate what Anita 

went through; those last 

hours.” 

be approached. A sense of urgency hovered 

over us. 

The killers were on the loose and they 

could rape or kill again, especially if they knew 

they’d get caught and spend a long time in 

gaol. 

They may use their short freedom to cram 

in as much evil pleasure as possible. The other 

detectives and I were afraid the offenders 

might go on a frenzy feed of violence before 

they were captured. A last perverted fling. 

Like many others close to the investigation, 

I saw them as monstrous criminals who 

attacked a woman in an uncontrolled frenzied 

outburst. 

They’d acted like a pack of wild animals, 

although wild animals have a reason to attack; 

being food or self-defense. This pack didn’t 

have that reason or any other reason except 

their self-gratification. They must be caught, 

and caught soon. 

Looking back, there was fear throughout 

Western Sydney. You could just about smell 

the fear in the air around Blacktown. Fear the 

crime might be repeated was front of people’s 

minds. 

The crime was taken so seriously many 

stayed home, locked, barricaded their doors 

and windows, especially single women or 

those with children. 


Proud Supporter of the Anita Cobby Memorial Dinner. 

Serving the community for over 50 years. 

guardianfunerals.com.au 


BusinessLIFE 




Some even obtained weapons, whether 

legally or otherwise. Men were over-protective 

of their wives and daughters. They met them 

at railway or bus stations and took them 

straight home. Some employers engaged security 

guards to escort women from home to 

work and return. Staff at Blacktown Hospital 

were escorted by security guards to and from 

the carpark. 

Every woman in the area was terrified and 

it was real fear, not perceived. I had never seen 

people so scared, hypersensitive and hypervigilant. 

Even the toughest blokes around the 

streets of Blacktown were anxious for two 

reasons. 

They were disgusted by the crime and it 

had caused an unusual amount of police attention 

on their activities. The heat was on. 

It also deeply affected police like me who 

left their families at home as we investigated 

the crime. Many police sent their family to 

relatives or friends houses until the offenders 

was arrested. I kept a constant check on my 

wife Michelle who was home alone. All this 

adds to the stress of the manhunt. 

Your mind goes to and fro; investigation - 

home - investigation – home and so it goes on. 

Along with other police officers, I attended 

a homicide briefing at the Detective’s Office. 

Photographs, diagrams of the crime scene and 

autopsy photos were displayed. As I looked 

at the photographs, I couldn’t believe human 

beings could treat another human being in 

such a way. 

The paddock had become a torture 

chamber. Even though I looked at the photos 

forensically, I couldn’t help but contemplate 

what Anita went through; those last hours. 

As I gazed at the photos a shiver rippled 

through my spine. The hairs on my neck were 

standing. How could they have done this, 

I kept repeating to myself. As a hardened 

ambulance officer and police veteran, I was 

used to seeing human remains but this one 

was different. 

Retired investigator, Gary Raymond pictured in the 

days on the investigation. 

For details about 

booking tickets to the 

Anita Cobby Memorial 

Charity Dinner on 

February 2 see page 26 

With Anita’s murder, the sheer force of the 

attack on this innocent nurse beggared description. 

Words failed me. If some ravenous 

beast had been responsible it might have been 

easier to cope with, but humans? In trying to 

defend herself, it was evident she had fought 

hard to her last breath. 

John Travers had a distinct teardrop tattoo 

under his left eye. Maybe in the moonlight 

Anita saw this teardrop and by this she might 

identify her assailant and put him in gaol. 

Travers thought it far too risky. 

On that fateful night, after a discussion 

with Travers, they all agreed she must die. This 

permission by the gang to kill, fuelled Traver’s 

lust for blood. 

The way they sniggered together in court 

later meant they probably laughed as Traver’s 

cut her throat and left Anita lying dead in the 

muddy grass dairy paddock. 

Justice Alan Maxwell was later to describe 

the crime as: “One of the most horrifying 

physical and sexual assaults. This was a calculated 

killing done in cold blood.” 

I thought about that and realised in my 

mind the judge was not accurate. It wasn’t cold 

blood. It was Anita’s warm blood circulating 

giving her life until a cold blooded Travers 

caused her life blood to ebb away. 

As the investigation proceeded, a neighbour 

saw clothes being burnt in a backyard the 

morning after the crime had been committed. 

There was also a report of a stolen car. As 

information came in, the search was on for 

where the offenders might stay. Who might 

shelter them? There were many tips. 

Some by phone others by people going 

to the Police Station. The TRG (Tactical 

Response Groups) was called in. After a tip, 

police sped off in convoy to a place where the 

suspects might be. 

There’s never an excuse for rape. Nobody 

has the right to rape another. It’s been said: 

“Rape is the only crime in which the victim 

becomes the accused.” (Freda Adler). 

Sadly: “Rape is the easiest charge to make 

and the most difficult to prove.” (Anon). 

From a Christian viewpoint we must be 

reminded of the words of Eli Khamarov: “To 

admit there’s no God is to provide free license 

to pillage and rape with clear conscience.” 

One thing is certain, there’s no way a 

Christian can rape for it takes away a person’s 

inalienable right. 

A ring was taken from Anita’s finger. Detective 

Sgt Ian Kennedy had the responsibility 

of taking that tiny ring to the Lynch home. 

The ring was identified as belonging to 

Anita. Garry Lynch was taken to Westmead 

Hospital. He identified the broken and 

bruised body of his daughter. 

As it was a Coroner’s homicide investigation, 

no contamination of the body was 

allowed which meant Gary was unable to 

embrace his daughter’s body. The ache was 

unfathomable and hurt Garry Lynch deeply. 

In tracking those who raped Anita Cobby 

at one stage police chased a car but lost it. Many 

tips came in. 

The critical break came when a hidden 

microphone carried by an informant at the cell 

complex at Blacktown Police recorded Travers’ 

confession of his deadly deeds. 

At one stage when I was back at the police 

station, I helped and purchased some take-away 

food for my fellow police officers. I made coffee 

after they had conducted a raid looking for the 

offenders. 

“ 

John Travers had a distinct 

teardrop tattoo under 

his left eye. Maybe in the 

moonlight Anita saw this 

teardrop. By this she might 

identify her assailant and 

put him in gaol: Travers 

thought it far too risky.” 

The offenders had got away before police 

arrival on that raid. I heard a banging noise 

coming from the locker room. It was a loud 

metallic echoing sound like thunder. 

I went to the door of the locker room. 

He stood for a moment amazed. There was a 

detective pounding his fists into a metal locker 

door. I paused and just watched. I didn’t know 

what the punching was all about. 

The detective turned, looked at me and 

with gritted teeth and an angry look said: “We 

missed the bastards.” 

It was frustrating and beyond belief that 

the people who harboured them were women. 

Fear of reprisal may have been a factor. 

I felt sorry for the detective but even sorrier 

for Anita’s parents who were at the Police 

Station. 

Garry and Grace Lynch just had blank 

looks on their faces. I gently said to them: “Can 

I get you something to eat or drink?” Garry 

said: “No thanks. I want information. Informa- 



25

BusinessLIFE 




tion no matter how bad it is that you and your 

colleagues find out and I want to know every 

bit of information. Some people left behind 

after a homicide don’t want to know or need 

to know. I want to know and I need to know 

everything.” 

When all the offenders were subsequently 

caught, I was away from the police station following 

a lead. 

As I arrived back at the station, the offenders 

were being brought in. Ugliness on two 

legs. They were interviewed, walked around 

the crime scene and charged. They showed no 

emotion, no remorse or no regret. They were 

only sorry they got caught, not sorry for the 

murder. 

When the interviewing, charging and 

court appearance were finished an announcement 

came over the station public address 

system: “All available police to urgently 

assemble at the front of the police station for 

crowd control. I immediately put on my gun 

and handcuffs. The entire Kildare Road was 

packed with a crowd of about or so 500 people 

yelling obscenities and threats towards the 

perpetrators. I have never seen anything like it 

before or since. 

What amazed me was the composition 

of the crowd. All ages, nationalities and both 

genders. The terror and rage on their faces was 

noticeable yet with some relief the offenders 

had been captured and charged. It was a crowd 

yelling threats of reprisal and wanting an eye for 

an eye. 

The Westfield Shopping Centre is opposite 

the police station and word had spread 

through the media and by word of mouth that 

the Cobby killers were at Blacktown Police 

Station. 

Gracious: Anita’s parents Gary and Grace Lynch being interviewed. 

Hanging from the roof of the Shopping 

Centre carpark was a rope noose. The crowd 

wanted to lynch them on the spot. The area 

was in lockdown. The police virtually faced a 

modern day lynch mob. 

As the police vehicles came out with the 

offenders, I recall the crowd lunged forward. 

Along with other police I yelled: “Move back, 

Move back.” Physical encounters started 

occurring between the crowd and the police. 

People looked straight through me and continued 

to push forward. 

They wanted a look at the offenders and 

give them a mouth full of abuse. An elderly 

lady of about 80-years-old looked at me and 

said as she pointed to the nooses hanging from 

the building opposite: “That’s what we’re going 

to do with them and you’re going to let us.” 

The rhythmic cries of: “Hang the bastards” 

became very loud. Another woman looked at 

me and said: “Do you have a daughter?” I said, 

“No”. She said with rage in his eyes: “I do, let 

me get the mongrels and string ‘em up.” 

For John Travers, the word mercy was an 

unknown. Even in the last act of throat slitting. 

A wild cowardly act however, we couldn’t allow 

street justice to prevail and the lynch mob was 

restrained and controlled with a lot of difficulty 

and high emotion. 

One policeman told me he wanted to leave 

the cops join the lynch mob and hang the 

bastards. 

So the police cars moved away and the 

crowd slowly dispersed, but I have never 

forgotten the scene. I am convinced beyond 

doubt had the police lost control of the crowd, 

they would have released the offenders from 

the vans and hung them all by the neck until 

dead. 

One of the most amazing things about the 

whole Cobby killing is the sheer grace shown 

“ 

Every woman in the area 

was terrified and it was 

real fear, not perceived. 

I had never seen people 

so scared, hypersensitive 

and hypervigilant. Even the 

toughest blokes around the 

streets of Blacktown were 

anxious for two reasons.” 

by Anita’s parents and the fact her father served 

on the Parole Board for some years after the 

murder. 

One thing he did stipulate was that if any 

of his daughter’s killers came before the board, 

he would not attend as he had a conflict of 

interest. 

For Garry Lynch the loss of his daughter 

pained him to his dying day. He said: “It feels 

like a dagger goes through your heart.” 

Grace Lynch said it was: “An experience 

beyond thinking.” They helped establish the 

Homicide Victim’s Support Group which is 

an amazing non-profit organisation working 

miracles in those left behind after a murder, 

especially children. For a Christian like me, to 

put such an act as the Anita Cobby murder into 

perspective has been hard. 

As I turned to the scriptures I thought perhaps 

there’s help in the words of Romans 8:28: 

“ 

And we know that all things work together for 

good to those who love God, to those who are 

the called according to His purpose”. 

After all, there’s no way in which God can 

be blamed for the crimes of the Travers gang. 

This gang of five made their decision against 

God’s will and the consequences of their sins 

were catastrophic. 

Does this offer some explanation? For 

surely it well describes those who have no time 

for God and God was the last person in the 

mind of those five when they attacked Anita 

Cobby. Perhaps they did know it was grossly 

wrong but went ahead anyway. 

At the trial, the judge said: “Wild animals 

are given to assault and killing for the purpose 

of survival. Not so these prisoners. They assaulted 

in a pack for satisfying their lust and 

killed for the purpose of identification.” 

As Steve Liebmann, television presenter, 

put it the Cobby case is: “A scar that will never 

go away.” After an urgent change in legislation, 

justly the files on the accused were marked, 

never to be released. 

For me there’s hope. As a Christian I believe 

things will not always stay as they are. 

A change is on the way: “God will wipe every 

tear from their eyes. There will be no more 

death or mourning or crying or pain, for the 

old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 

21: 3-4). 

The memory of Anita Cobby should and 

must be kept alive. Anita’s parents were never 

the same after her murder. Garry Lynch passed 

away recently followed by her mother. 

The dark deeds of that night should never 

be shrouded in mystery but kept clearly in the 

light of truth. A woman was violated in a most 

despicable way and we should never let this 

act be forgotten. 



27

FEATURE 


10 professions 

with the 

most 

psychopaths 

Is your job on the list? 

OCCUPATIONS 

WHAT comes to mind when you 

picture a psychopath? A crazy axemurderer? 

Psychopaths don’t always 

fit that mould. 

The clinical diagnosis is a person who has 

shallow emotions or lacks empathy. Sounds 

like corporate America is loaded with them! 

Kevin Dutton, a research psychologist at 

the University of Oxford, has dedicated much 

of his life to studying the brains of psychopaths 

and he’s been able to piece together a list 

of the most likely professions psychopaths end 

up in. Is your career on the list? 

1. CEOs 

Corporate America is loaded with brutal 

metaphors. When you succeed, it’s because 

you were cutthroat and ended up making 

a killing, and now you’re known as a shark. 

Doesn’t that just sound like a wonderful place 

for a psychopath? I’m sure plenty of CEOs are 

great people, but several studies suggest that 

4% of CEOs qualify as psychopaths. That’s 4x 

as many people as in the general population. 

2. Lawyer 

There are lots of heartless lawyer jokes, but 

there may be some credence to them. Many 

lawyers exhibit signs of psychopathy, which 

makes lying, cheating, and obsessing with 

profit nothing to bat an eye at. As one lawyer 

he interviewed said: “Deep inside me there’s a 

serial killer lurking somewhere. But I keep him 

amused with cocaine, Formula One, booty 

calls, and coruscating cross-examination.” 

3. Media (Radio/TV) 

How could one be attracted to a job 

involving the limelight and/or the admiration 

of one’s work without having an over-inflated 

ego? If a person did not have a big ego to begin 

with, would this be possible to avoid after 

spending time pursuing such a career path? 

The career attracts people who like their faces 

and voices to be recognized. It’s important 

in this line of work to be able to make light 

conversation on a regular basis (read shallow 

and insincere), to not have (or at least not 

exhibit) fear, to be overly confident, and to 

Celebrity chef, Gord on Ramsey as depicted at one of his restaurants. 

have somewhat of a narrow focus to the task at 

hand, each job being very particular. Obviously, 

not everyone in the media industry scores 

high on the psychopath meter, but if you think 

of some of the most prominent psychopathic 

personalities in our world right now, it all 

seems to make sense. 

4. Sales People 

In Working With Monsters: How to Identify 

and Protect Yourself from the Workplace 

Psychopath, John Clarke says that having a 

psychopath on your team can be a really good 

thing. “The psychopath is very likely to be a 

good salesperson, if they are intelligent as well 

as glib and superficial,” Clarke writes. “In fact, 

a study done in 2001 by Marc Hamer found 

that superior sales performance was associated 

with higher levels of narcissism (egocentric 

and grandiose), sociopathy and cognitive 

empathy.” The drawback there is that you’re 

bound to run into their self-centered attitude. 

They’re also more likely to exploit the system 

in which they work. 

5. Surgeons 

This one really surprised me. Doctors 

and nurses landed on the list of careers with 

the fewest psychopaths, but surgeons are one 

of the most psychopathic around. In a 2014 

piece in Pacific Standard, Wen Shen states 

“the trouble with surgeons [is]...[m]any are 

abrasive, abusive, and wildly self-centered— 

so much so that observers have speculated 

that they suffer from psychiatric disorders.” 

She thinks this can be traced back to when 

surgery was performed without anesthesia. 

Being a surgeon meant you had to operate to 

“a soundtrack of screams” and keeping it cool. 

There’s an active push for kinder surgeons 

today. 

6. Journalists 

Jeff Cash, a freelance writer, once wrote 

that, “a hint of psychopathy is actually a 

prerequisite for public purpose journalism.” 

“Psychopathy can creep in all too easily in the 

world of journalism, as any reporter who’s had 

an after-hours fight with some obnoxious public 

relations officer can attest to. (That’s pretty 

much all of them, by the way). Seeing your 

name in a national newspaper on a daily basis 

is enough to turn even the most humble being 

into a fountain of narcissism. And if you think 

that’s bad, just imagine how much appearing 

on national television would contribute to 

one’s superiority complex.” I can see that being 

the case. 

7. Police officer 

Most disturbingly, the people charged 

with keeping the peace may be the most 

likely ones to shatter it. According to Police 

Domestic Violence: A Handbook for Victims, 

“Women suffer domestic abuse in at least 40 

percent of police officer families.” Additionally, 

“Police families are two to four times more 

likely than the general population to experience 

domestic violence.” 

8. Clergy 

This one is pretty amusing to me. The 

clergy is supposed to promote the gospel and 

make the world better, but as we saw with the 

Catholic Church’s child sex abuse scandals, 

psychopathy was at play. First in the act of 

molesting these children, then in the church’s 

desire to cover it all up. Psychopaths may be 

attracted to the clergy because of easy access 

to victims. Many televangelists and preachers 

have been accused of megalomaniacal behavior, 

like Ted Haggard, Bill Gothard, Creflo 

Dollar, and Geronimo Aguilar. 

9. Chefs 

Chef Gordon Ramsay once told Vanity 

Fair that “Chefs are nutters. They’re all 

self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little 

souls and absolute psychopaths. Every last one 

of them.” It seems like such a strange profession 

for that kind of behavior, but Anthony 

Bourdain perhaps correctly chocked it up to 

a combination of working with assholes and 

being a perfectionist. “Some chefs borrow 

money, they do everything they can, they kill 

themselves, it’s the culmination of a career 

working 100 hours a week or more. They 

finally open a place and within eight minutes 

of opening, some asshole has posted on Yelp, 

‘Worst meal ever.’ You can understand why 

they go insane, and do everything they can to 

ameliorate that.” 

10. Civil Servants 

It certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility 

that a DMV worker might be kind of 

a psychopath. There’s power in the roles of 

civil servants, and psychopaths often singlemindedly 

crave power. Dennis Rader, who 

was the self-dubbed BTK killer, was a census 

field operations supervisor in Kansas. He was 

later a dogcatcher. From wikipedia: “neighbors 

recalled him as being sometimes overzealous 

and extremely strict; one neighbour 

complained that he euthanized her dog for no 

reason.” 

THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED AT WWW.HIGHERPERSPECTIVE.COM.AU 


Merrylands City Centre Revitalisation 

Public Domain Project 

Did you know 

Holroyd City Council is investing in a bold new future 

for Merrylands. A modern public domain for the new 

City Centre will provide a fresh, welcoming and vibrant 

experience for residents, shoppers and visitors. 

As part of the Merrylands City Centre Revitalisation 

Project, Holroyd will create a fresh new modern look 

and feel for the streets of the Merrylands CBD. 

The project will provide a consistent look across 

the City, specifically in the areas of hard and soft 

streetscape landscaping for existing and future 

developments. The City Centre Revitalisation (Public 

Domain) Project will promote activation between 

laneways and transport areas for pedestrians 

throughout the Merrylands City Centre by providing 

suitable lighting and walkways. 

The project will involve all public areas of hard and 

soft landscaping within the streetscape across the 

Merrylands City Centre. 

Design concept designs are currently being 

developed to cover all streets, laneways, open space, 

transport areas, City Square and retail strips. Designs 

will include: 

• Seating 

• Lighting 

• bins 

• bus stops 

• footpaths 

• cycling facilities 

• companion and animal facilities 

• street signage 

• trees and soft landscaping 

• hard paving 

For more information about how the public domain 

of Merrylands City Centre will transform in coming 

years visit www.holroyd.nsw.gov.au 

Holroyd City Council 

16 Memorial Avenue 

PO Box 42 

Merrylands NSW 2160 

T 9840 9840 

F 9840 9734 

E hcc@holroyd.nsw.gov.au 

www.holroyd.nsw.gov.au 


29

Blacktown City Council raises 

the bar on water safety 

INNOVATION 

BLACKTOWN City Council recently 

showcased its commitment to innovative 

when it took part in the World 

Conference on Drowning Prevention 

(WCDP). The conference took place in Penang, 

Malaysia. 

Joining other leading experts from 

around the world and representing Blacktown 

City Council at the annual conference 

was Blacktown Venue Management Chief 

Operations Manager, Nichole Edsall. 

Blacktown 

and Liaocheng 

sign exchange 

agreement 

Nichole was invited to present on the 

initiatives Blacktown City Council has 

employed to support water safety and education 

including the installation of Australia’s 

first and only computer aided drowning 

detection system, Poseidon at Blacktown 

Leisure Centre Stanhope. 

“With an alarming 271 people drowning 

in Australian waterways between July 2014 

and June 2015, according to the Royal Life 

Saving National Drowning Report 2015, 

the need for knowledge in survival swimming, 

water safety and basic rescue is vital,” 

said Mayor of Blacktown City, Councillor 

Stephen Bali. 

Launched at Blacktown Leisure Centre 

Stanhope in 2007, Poseidon integrates stateof-the-art 

technologies in computer vision 

and aquatic image processing, using a network 

of cameras above and below the water 

surface and specialised software that analyses 

the activity of all swimmers in the pool. 

The system can alert lifeguards via an 

audible alarm and a visual display when a 

swimmer is motionless or having trouble 

beneath the surface in as little as 10 seconds. 

It also identifies the exact location of 

the swimmer in the pool, saving precious 

seconds in a rescue situation. 

Not a replacement for lifeguards or 

parental supervision, Poseidon is another 

way to support the lifeguards who supervise 

the pool. 

The system has helped detect eight near 

drowning rescue situations at the Centre 

since its installation at the Leisure Centre. 

“Although we have fantastic systems such 

as the Poseidon in place and highly qualified 

staff at our leisure and aquatics facilities, 

it remains the responsibility of parents to 

actively supervise their children when enjoying 

our facilities. It is only through education 

and supervision we can hope to reduce these 

statistics,” added Mayor Bali. 

SISTER CITY 

BLACKTOWN City and its Chinese 

sister city, Liaocheng, have signed a 

memorandum of cooperation, which 

will increase the cultural, social and 

business exchange between the two cities. 

The Mayors of both cities signed 

and exchanged agreements at the recent 

National Sister Cites conference, held at 

Rooty Hill RSL. 

“Blacktown and Liaocheng have been 

Sister Cites since 2003,” said the Mayor of 

Blacktown City, Councillor Stephen Bali. 

“This memorandum increases the level 

of economic, educational, cultural and commercial 

interaction between the two cities. 

One of the key note speakers at the 

National Sister Cities Conference was 

former Foreign Affairs Minister and NSW 

Premier, Bob Carr. 

“It was appropriate that the document 

was signed the same day Bob Carr highlighted 

the need for Australia to move fast 

in order to take advantage of its favoured 

nation status in China,” Mayor Bali said. 

Mr Carr told delegates to the Sister 

Cities conference that Australia currently 

held a unique and highly favourable economic 

and strategic status with China that 

won’t last long. 

“The free trade agreement with China 

gives us a privileged access to their markets,” 

he said. 

“At the moment, we are one of the very 

few countries to have such unfettered access, 

but this won’t last. “As other deals are 

signed, so the competition will increase. 

“As China completes other Free Trade 

Agreements with other countries, we will 

lose exclusivity,” Mr Carr said, strongly 

emphasising just how enormous the 

economic impact on Australia (and globally) 

of the massive Chinese economy and 

rapidly growing spending power of the 

Chinese population. 

Under the agreement, the two cities 

will promote: trade and business contacts 

Chairman of Liocheng Municipal Committee, Mr Jin Weimin and Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali. 

and deals, exchanges and cooperation 

between educational institutions, and 

undertake cultural activities. 

“The economic potential is huge,” 

Mayor Bali said. “Blacktown businesses 

were given an early start at the “Doing 

Business with Asia” trade show, which was 

held at the Sister Cities conference. 

“The event was booked out with more 

than 100 delegates and local businesses 

getting an inside running to make contact 

and strike deals.” 


INDIAAUSTRALIA 

Business Connect 


Fascination continues with Indian fashion 

By Rani Benepal 

FASHION 

GARIMA Walia and Hanin Jones are the 

masterminds behind the brand Walia- 

Jones. 

Friends, bio-medical graduates, 

professional work colleagues and business 

partners are the face of what the new breed of 

smart sassy young entrepreneurs are all about. 

I had the opportunity to meet the charming 

young girls ‘Ms Walia and Ms Jones’ at 

their first ever exhibition recently at the luxury 

Langham Hotel in Sydney and was instantly 

blown away. 

We were greeted with champagne and 

cocktails upon arrival to the spectacular 

showcase of top designers with their exquisite 

collections from party wear to formal bridal 

wear. 

The designers were at hand to discuss 

styles and offer advice. Both Garima and 

Hanin charmingly moved around the exhibition 

gleaming over the beautiful handpicked, 

hand curated designer collection, meeting and 

greeting clientele during all three sold out sessions 

on the day. 

They were both overwhelmed and humbly 

satisfied with the amazing public response 

well exceeding their expectations. 

“We’re very fortunate to be working with 

India’s finest young, fresh talent, including 

Little Black Bow, Sapana Amin, Bhaavya 

Bhatnagar, Reneé, Malasa and many more. All 

these designers have added a breath of fresh 

air to Indian fashion bringing in their unique 

styles and modernising Indian fashion. We 

also have designers like Anita Dongre and 

Payal Singhal who are seen as the epitome of 

the Indian fashion industry,” said Garima. 

It was during Garima’s own wedding in 

New Zealand that thoughts of such a business 

started running through her mind. 

It was so difficult to find nice Indian outfits 

for the wedding, Garima said. 

The same trend was being repeated globally 

and what made it real was that her cousins 

and friends would soon be in the same 

predicament. 

There was a much younger age bracket 

(from early teens) out there with a strong 

fashion sense. 

Indian fashion was becoming so versatile 

you could wear it anywhere; a western event, 

a work party. 

How many red carpets around the world 

have we seen with stars shining in Indian wear. 

In recent times Indian fashion has been 

producing quality stuff. The traditional heavy 

embroidery look has given way to a simple yet 

elegant designer look where less is more. 

They were ready to take calculated risks 

and after careful planning of finances and 

logistics the Brand WaliaJones was launched 

in August 2014. 

As directors and working to their 

strengths Garima and Hanin took charge of 

WaliaJones with Garima managing corporate 

strategy and designer expectations and Hanin 

marketing, social media and web development. 

Passion was and always will remain the 

main driving force of WaliaJones with financial 

gain playing second fiddle. 

Although they have a formidable global 

following of 24,000+, they keep a low profile 

minimising risks and streamlining processes. 

They oblige to orders based on capacity. 

They prefer quality over quantity. They thrive 

on customer satisfaction. Moving ahead in 

2016, they wish to become more community 

focussed, attend gala events and establish their 

brand further. 

It was obvious how far Garima Walia and 

HanIn Jones had come in such little time at 

their most successful exhibition. 

ACCESS extends best wishes to the two 

creators of WaliaJones as they continue their 

journey in this glamour world we now call the 

fashion industry. 


31

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HEALTH 


What’s the best time to exercise? 

FITNESS 

By Michele Lo 

PhD candidate in Sport Science at the 

College of Sport & Exercise Science 

and Institute of Sport Exercise & 

Active Living, Victoria University 

David Kennaway 

Professor, University of Adelaide 

MOST people are aware of the importance 

of being active and exercising 

daily. Unfortunately, due to busy 

schedules, most people are forced to 

exercise around other numerous commitments. 

However, the timing of exercise can 

have profound effects on performance. 

All the functions and systems of the human 

body are moderated by a pattern called 

circadian rhythms (from Latin circa dies about 

a day). As the name suggests, these rhythms 

are a biological phenomena with a periodic 

oscillation of 24.2 hours on average. 

Examples of these rhythms include our 

body temperature, sleep/wake cycles, and the 

production of hormones. Human and animal 

lives are synchronized with the solar day and 

the cyclic alternations of light and darkness. 

When the eyes are exposed to light, a 

signal reaches light/darkness receptors in the 

brain called zeitgebers (German for “time 

givers”). This portion of our brain, the suprachiasmatic 

nucleus, also often referred to as 

the “master biological clock”, is the head of a 

complex hierarchical system that controls how 

the rhythms of our body are synchronized. 

When to exercise 

These rhythms are also related to many aspects 

of exercise, although their influence on 

athletic performance is still a matter of debate. 

Some argue the performance of professional 

athletes might be influenced by the scheduled 

time of a competition. 

However, performance is a complex 

process involving many different factors and 

the influence of circadian rhythms on the 

outcomes of athletes is still uncertain. 

The time window of performing physical 

activity is broad and can change according to 

individual differences. In particular, people 

can be assigned to two broad groups: larks 

(people who go to bed early and rise early) 

and owls (people who go to bed late and rise 

late). 

This time preference affects all biological 

rhythms, including the ability to exercise and 

perform. In general, it seems the best athletic 

performance is achieved late afternoon/early 

evening when several exercise related rhythms 

reach their circadian peak. This means 

exercising at this time has the best results for 

increasing fitness, increasing lean muscle, and 

reducing fat tissue. 

The ability to perform endurance exercise 

is stable across the day but it is during the 

evening that reaction time, joint flexibility, 

muscle strength and power reach their highest 

level. 

During evening hours, the rating of 

perceived exertion (a measure that represents 

how hard a person feels their body is working) 

is lower. This means we feel less exerted 

so we can work harder and get better results. 

Several world records in a number of 

sports have been broken in the late evening. 

However, training too late during the evening 

can have detrimental effects on the sleepwake 

cycle. 

Cost of exercise on sleep 

Sleep is a particular circadian rhythm. 

The function of sleep is still not completely 

understood although it is known that sleep is 

very important for many biological functions. 

In particular, sleep is one of the best ways to 

recover after exercise. 

The onset of sleep is generally associated 

with a decrease of body temperature and 

an increase in the production of a hormone 

called melatonin. 

Exercising late at night causes an increase 

in body temperature and reduces the production 

of melatonin, affecting our ability to sleep. 

Although certain strategies such as diet may 

somewhat counteract these effects on sleep. 

Physical activity results in energy consumption. 

It is important at the end of a 

training session to replenish our tank with the 

appropriate quantity and quality of fuel. The 

human body is propelled by food but choosing 

the right diet can be difficult. 

Nevertheless, there are guiding principles 

that have to be followed. For instance, diets 

should be personalised and based on individual 

needs and goals. 

All that is lost during exercise should be replenished 

with a balanced meal post-exercise. 

In the case of a late evening training session, 

the quality and the time of the post-exercise 

meal can be crucial for the subsequent night 

of sleep. To enhance our sleep quality, the last 

meal of the day should be eaten no later than 

one hour before going to bed. 

This last meal should be high in both 

carbohydrates and proteins. These two macronutrients 

can respectively reduce the time 

required to fall asleep and improve the quality 

of sleep. On the other hand, meals high in fat 

should be avoided since they appear to reduce 

the duration of sleep. 

The timing of exercise can have a meaningful 

influence on the quality of training and 

recovery, especially for athletes. However, 

most people should be more concerned about 

the act of exercising itself than its timing. 

THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED AT WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM.AU 

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33

WOMEN IN BUSINESS 


Screen Australia sets minimum targets for female-led projects 

Reel action on gender 

IMBALANCE 

By Lisa French 

Deputy Dean, School of Media 

and Communication, RMIT 

University, RMIT University 

SCREEN Australia has announced a A$5 

million plan called Gender Matters, a 

three-year suite of initiatives aimed at addressing 

gender imbalances in the Australian 

film industry. 

In order to attract funding, projects 

must have at least three of their four key 

creative roles – director, writer, producer 

and protagonist – occupied by a woman. 

This plan follows a string of initiatives 

aimed at addressing gender 

diversity from within the Australian 

film industry. 

In the past month, Screen NSW 

set targets for 50/50 gender equity 

for development and production 

funding by 2020; Film Victoria 

announced a A$50K partnership 

with the Natalie Miller Fellowship 

to advance the careers/leadership 

roles of women in the screen industry; 

and the Australian Director’s 

Guild has proposed quotas of 50% 

for directors getting Screen Australia 

funding. 

Women are a vital and underappreciated 

part of Australia’s film industry. If Screen 

Australia can follow through on these targets, 

we might see real change in a stubbornly 

persistent gender imbalance. 

Best in show: why gender matters 

The industry has been slow to acknowledge 

the low participation of women, that 

they get paid less, and that they are a minority 

across key creative fields. 

And more significantly, there has been no 

acknowledgement that not only are women 

not increasing their participation – but in 

some areas it is declining. In 1992, women 

were 18% of directors of feature films; today 

they are only 16%. 

One reason this issue has been slow to attract 

attention is that Australian women punch 

well above their weight in the film industry. 

The presence of highly successful women 

makes the industry look more representative 

than it actually is. 

According to my research of the AFI (now 

AACTA) feature film categories between 

2000 and 2010, women won Best Film 80% of 

the time, Best Direction 40% of the time and 

Best Original Screenplay 50% of the time. 

In that period, women made up, respectively, 

33%, 18% and 20% of the workforce in 

those 

categories. 

The Dressmaker. 

Courtesy of 

Universal Pictures. 

The strong performance 

of women illustrates the business 

case for drawing more women 

into the industry. Promoting the work of 

women also promotes innovation and diversity 

in the stories that are reaching our screens. 

It is becoming difficult to ignore that 

audiences are flocking to the cinemas to see 

films such as The Dressmaker (2015), or to 

the small screen to see female-centred Australian 

shows such as Puberty Blues (2012), 

Wentworth (2013-), Paper Giants: The Birth 

of Cleo (2011). 

Shows made by female creatives have also 

made an impact, such as Miss Fisher’s Murder 

Mysteries (2012–), created by Deb Cox and 

Fiona Eagger, and Offspring (2010–), created 

by Debra Oswald, John Edwards and Imogen 

Banks. 

Scene from The 

Dressmaker. 

Quotas or targets? 

Senior leadership at Screen 

Australia has been very firm 

in saying these initiatives 

are targets, not quotas. The 

operative difference is that a 

target is optional and a quota 

is mandatory. 

The issue of quotas is 

complex, but many, including 

myself, believe quotas (and affirmative 

action) are necessary 

to get some change. 

However, some women 

are ambivalent about them 

and it does mean they 

have to deal with perceptions 

that they got 

an unfair 

leg-up. 

Quotas 

can be 

seen as 

divisive, at at a 

time when everyone, men 

and women, should be working together to 

get the best possible industry. 

Setting targets, with firm plans on how 

to achieve them, may counterbalance the 

perceived drawbacks of quotas. 

It’s worth noting that a comparable situation 

has played out in the political arena: in 

1994 the ALP adopted a quota system, which 

Howard rejected as “patronising women”. Today, 

the ALP has around twice as many female 

“ 

It’s worth noting that a 

comparable situation 

has played 

out in the 

political 

arena: 

in 1994 the ALP 

adopted a quota 

system, which Howard 

rejected as patronising 

women. Today, the ALP 

has around twice as many 

female MPs as the Liberal 

party.” 

MPs as the Liberal party. 

Ultimately, whether you 

call it a target or a quota, the 

key will be strong leadership, and 

a commitment from Screen Australia 

to integrate this policy into every level of 

their funding policies. 

We know that dedicated resources for underrepresented 

populations can have a highly 

positive results: Indigenous filmmaking funds 

spurred a whole generation of filmmakers 

who produced some of the most vibrant work 

Australia had seen for decades. 

This is long overdue action from the industry, 

but is likely to make a significant positive 

impact on its success – and I commend the 

industry for putting gender on the agenda. 

T HIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED AT WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM.AU 

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LEGAL 


A ustralian court holds Google responsible 

DEFAMATION 

By Nicolas Suzor 

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, 

Queensland University of Technology 

THE South Australian Supreme Court 

recently found that Google is legally responsible 

when its search results link to 

defamatory content on the web. 

In this long-running case, Dr Janice Duffy 

has been trying for more than six years to clear 

her name and remove links to defamatory 

material when people search for her using 

Google. 

The main culprit is the US based website 

Ripoff Reports, where people have posted 

negative reviews of Dr Duffy. Under United 

States law, defamation is very hard to prove, 

and US websites are not liable for comments 

made by their users. 

Since it was not possible to get harmful or 

abusive comments removed from the source, 

Dr Duffy instead asked Google to remove the 

links from its search results. Google removed 

some of these links, but only from its Australian 

domain (google.com.au), and it left many 

of them active. 

This latest court decision is a big win for 

Dr Duffy. The court found that once Google 

was alerted to the defamatory material, it was 

then under an obligation to act to censor its 

search results and prevent further harm to Dr 

Duffy’s reputation. 

This case is not yet over. It now goes back 

to court on November 3 to establish damages 

that Google may be ordered to pay. Google 

may also choose to appeal to the High Court. 

Jurisdictional uncertainty 

This case highlights a complex jurisdiction 

problem: this case was against Google Inc, a 

US company, not Google Australia. Dr Duffy 

lost a case against Google Australia several 

years ago, because the court found that the 

search giant’s Australian arm had no effective 

control over search results. 

Essentially, transnational corporations 

like Google are able to structure their operations 

to benefit from US law, which provides 

them with much greater protection. Google’s 

Australian arm handles support and sales, but 

does not operate the search engine itself. 

In the United States, the First Amendment 

protects publishers, unless the plaintiff 

can show that the publisher deliberately acted 

maliciously. 

Search engines, website hosts, social 

networks and other internet operators have an 

additional layer of protection in the US under 

Section 230 of the Communications Decency 

Act. This means that they are immune from 

lawsuits over content that is posted by third 

parties. 

What this means is that foreign corporations 

can often ignore Australian judgements. 

It is practically impossible to enforce an Australian 

award for damages 

or an order that the search 

engine remove the content 

in US courts. 

It also means that 

Australian technology 

companies are disadvantaged 

compared to foreign 

operators. The uncertainty 

and risks of our law mean 

that many companies are 

unable to operate in Australia, 

which is a real loss to 

Australian innovation and 

to local consumers. 

Liability for linking 

Australian courts face a difficult question 

when interpreting defamation law. The law is 

still unclear about when someone can be held 

responsible for the actions of an unrelated 

third party. This is only the latest in a series of 

cases against Google and others – and courts 

have come to conflicting decisions. 

Defamation law protects the reputation 

of individuals. It is unlawful to publish false 

information that causes others to think less of 

another person. Historically, defamation law 

applies to everyone involved in publication 

– from journalists, to editors, publishers and 

even newsagents. 

In the digital age, the boundaries of liability 

are very uncertain. Google has argued 

that it should not be treated as a “publisher” 

just because it indexes websites created by 

others. Google also argued that it should not 

be responsible for search results produced 

automatically by its search algorithms. 

But the court here found that Google was 

liable for just linking to defamatory content. 

In this case, Google has no control over what 

people post on the Ripoff Report but it does 

help people find and access those comments. 

Balancing law enforcement 

with freedom of speech 

Australians deserve to be protected by 

the law; it is dangerous to enable US law to 

dictate our standards. This threat of American 

legal hegemony is what worried the High 

Court so much in the 2002 Dow Jones v 

Gutnick case. 

At the same time, it is dangerous to require 

private companies to decide what content is 

lawful and what content must be removed. 

The trade-offs here are extremely difficult. 

On the one hand, where search engines and 

other intermediaries are not held to account, 

people are exposed to real harm by the continued 

availability of abusive and defamatory 

content. 

On the other hand, holding these private 

companies responsible, particularly if they are 

forced to pay damages, means that they will 

often either leave the country or limit their 

risks by removing speech that may not actually 

be unlawful. 

A faster, more legitimate process 

Internet intermediaries like Google, 

Facebook and others clearly have some role to 

play in preventing the distribution of harmful 

abuse and defamatory material on their 

networks. But the law must also be sensitive 

to the real dangers of holding these companies 

liable. 

More than anything, this case shows that 

we need better, more legitimate mechanisms 

for addressing complaints about harmful 

material online. 

Ultimately, it’s likely that we need some 

compromise here – new procedures that do 

not take six years and millions of dollars in 

court costs to protect people’s rights, but that 

are able to efficiently, transparently and legitimately 

investigate complaints. 


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37

RELATIONSHIPS 


Wedding bells or single again? 

IS HE OR SHE THE ONE? 

By Gary W Lewandowski Jr 

Chair/Professor of Psychology, 

Monmouth University 

YOU know… the one to introduce to my 

parents, the one to move in with, the one 

to start a family with, the one to marry? 

At some point in every dating relationship, 

you ask yourself some version of these 

questions. 

Of course you’re invested in predicting 

the fate of your own relationship. Psychology 

researchers are interested as well. 

Are there recognizable signs that can 

foretell where a relationship is headed? 

Typically researchers have tried to puzzle out 

this question by measuring some aspect of a 

relationship at one moment in time and then 

seeing how that measurement coincides with 

relationship outcomes months or years later. 

For example, one group found that greater 

boredom now predicts less relationship satisfaction 

nine years later. 

These types of one-shot measurements are 

useful, but how you feel about any facet of your 

relationship fluctuates over time. 

Some researchers, including Ximena 

Arriaga at Purdue University, have suggested 

that the typical method of measuring a single 

moment in time may not fully capture the relationship 

experience; it might be more revealing 

to look at patterns of change as the relationship 

develops. 

To know your relationship’s fate, the ups 

and downs may matter more than its quality 

at one specific moment. A newly published 

study examined this question by tracking how 

relationships progressed over time via people’s 

own changing senses of where things were 

headed. 

Charting the course of 

love, true or otherwise 

Some days your relationship feels like it 

will be happily ever after, while other days it 

feels more like happily never after. Researchers 

call your sense of whether your relationship 

will eventually result in marriage your commitment 

to wed. 

If you could chart the story of your 

relationship, what would it look like? Maybe 

a straight, ascending line showing steady 

progress? Or maybe a curvy line showing that 

you’ve hit some bumps along the way? It’s this 

trajectory that may influence how your story 

will end. 

In the recent study, researcher Brian 

Ogolsky and colleagues hypothesized that how 

individuals’ commitment to wed fluctuated 

over time would predict future relationship 

outcomes. 

To test the idea, interviewers had 376 dating 

couples in their mid-20’s chart out graphs 

of how their sense of marriage likelihood (the 

vertical axis ranged from 0% to 100%) changed 

over time (time in months appeared on the 

horizontal axis). 

The interviewer plotted key dates, noting 

where the likelihood of marriage changed, for 

better or worse. For example, spending too 

much time with friends, fighting or just being 

too different could nudge commitment to wed 

down. 

Conversely, meeting the partner’s family, 

spending a lot of time together, having a lot in 

common and receiving positive feedback from 

friends or family could make commitment to 

wed rise. 

Participants updated their graphs via short 

interviews for each of the next seven months, 

concluding with a final interview nine months 

after the start of the study. 

Participants also provided information 

about changes in relationship status – such as 

transitioning from dating to broken up, from 

casual to serious dating, from serious dating to 

engaged, and so on. 

Researchers analyzed the graphs for 

the number of turning points or changes in 

commitment to wed, particularly noting any 

downturns or times when chances of marriage 

decreased. 

They also examined the slope or degree of 

change during turning points to see if things 

were escalating quickly, slowly eroding or following 

any of the other trajectories a relationship 

can take. 

Breaking commitment 

types into four groups 

Using participants’ monthly feedback, the 

researchers identified four distinct commitment 

patterns. 

Dramatic (34% of the sample) – This 

group had an “up and down” type of relationship, 

with more downturns and steeper 

changes in commitment than other groups. 

These individuals spent more time apart and 

had lower opinions of the relationship, and 

their families and friends were less supportive 

of their relationship. 

Partner-focused (30% of the sample) 

– This group had a “my partner is the centre 

of my universe” approach to commitment 

and experienced very few downturns. Their 

changes in commitment hinged on how much 

time they could spend together. 

Socially involved (19% of the sample) – 

This group experienced very little variability, 

and fewer downturns than those in the dramatic 

and conflict-ridden groups. When changes 

occurred, they were largely determined by the 

amount of interaction with their social network 

and what those friends and family thought of 

the relationship. 

Conflict-ridden (12% of the sample) 

– This group includes the fighters. Like the 

dramatic group, this group had a large number 

“Some days your 

relationship feels like it 

will be happily ever after, 

while other days it feels like 

happy never after.” 

of downturns. The sizes of the changes were 

not as steep, but they were disproportionately 

due to conflict in the relationship. Those in this 

cluster also reported fewer positive things to say 

about the relationship than those in the partnerfocused 

group, and less support from family and 

friends than the socially involved group. 

Much like boiling your entire personality 

down into a color or series of letters, fitting 

your relationship into one of four tidy categories 

has intuitive appeal. Yet classification is 

simplification. 

Our relationships and psychological 

experiences are complex in a way that defies 

basic categories or groups; every relationship 

cannot fit neatly within these four categories. 

However, they provide one framework for 

understanding how relationships progress. 

So is my relationship doomed? 

Importantly, knowing how commitment 

to wed changed over time was a better 

predictor of relationship outcomes than 

the basic measure of relationship quality at 

the first interview. 

Individuals in the dramatic group were 

more than twice as likely to break up than 

any of the other three groups. Those in the 

partner-focused group were more likely 

to have their relationship progress (for 

instance, advancing from casual to serious 

dating) than those in the dramatic group, 

while the conflict-ridden group was more 

likely to keep their relationship status 

stable compared to the dramatic group. 

Taken together, these results suggest 

it is good to be partner-focused, but not 

dramatic. In other words, those who frequently 

experience substantial fluctuations 

in their commitment should have concerns 

about the relationship’s long-term sustainability. 

The dramatic group may be particularly 

susceptible to breakup because they 

maintain so much contact with their social 

network. Some of these pals may serve as 

“backburner” relationships in which the 

person maintains contact for the possibility 

of starting a later relationship. 

Relationships move at difference paces 

and in different patterns. Whether your 

relationship is moving quickly or slowly, 

smoothly or has been a bit rocky, this research 

demonstrates how your relationship’s 

past trajectory can offer a glimpse into its 

future. 


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ARTS 

Major award for Flood! exhibition 


MUSEUMS 

HAWKESBURY Regional Museum in 

Windsor has won the award for Best Exhibition 

(Exhibition Projects – Museums; 

3-10 Paid Staff) in the 2015 IMAGinE 

awards, presented annually by Museums & 

Galleries NSW. 

Museums & Galleries NSW is the peak 

body representing 500 museums, galleries and 

Aboriginal cultural centres across the state. 

Promotional image for the award-winning Flood Exhibition. 

The annual IMAGinE awards recognise the 

outstanding achievements of over 8,000 professionals 

and volunteers, and the work they do to 

enhance the state’s vibrant cultural economy. 

The winning exhibition, Flood!, set out 

to raise awareness about what it means to live 

on a flood plain and how flooding shaped the 

Hawkesbury community. 

Creative visual displays illustrate what has 

happened to people in the Hawkesbury in the 

past, and what could happen in the future. 

The exhibition features rarely-seen archival 

film footage, including the first ever moving pictures 

of the Hawkesbury 

in flood (dated 

1913), TV reports 

from the 1960s, 

70s and 80s, and a 

display of still photographs 

showing parts 

of the district in 

flood and how they 

look normally. 

The exhibition 

has a strong 

educational element, 

looking at why 

floods happen, and 

the history of flood 

rescue, including a 

presentation by the 

State Emergency 

Services (SES) on 

how to protect your 

home, business and 

family in times of 

flood. 

Since opening in 

2008, the Museum 

has won several 

awards including 

tourism awards, 

an award for its 

volunteers and an 

award for cultural 

infrastructure. The 

Museum has also 

been successful in 

securing ongoing 

financial support 

from the Arts NSW, 

the NSW Government’s 

arts and 

culture policy and 

development body. 

Visitors particularly like the photographic display showing familiar scenes as they 

look today and as they looked during times of flood. 

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39

CHILDSCENE 


Why teach your kids code? 

LITERACY 

By Steve Goschnick 

Adjunct Professor, Swinburne 

University of Technology 

AMONG Malcolm Turnbull’s first words 

as the newly elected leader of the Liberal 

Party, and hence heading for the Prime 

Minister’s job, were: “The Australia of 

the future has to be a nation that is agile, that 

is innovative, that is creative.” 

And near the heart of the matter is the 

code literacy movement. This is a movement 

to introduce all school children to the concepts 

of coding computers, starting in primary 

school. 

One full year after the computing curriculum 

was introduced by the UK government, a 

survey there found that six out of ten parents 

want their kids to learn a computer language 

instead of French. 

The language of code 

The language comparison is interesting 

because computer languages are first and 

foremost, languages. They are analogous to the 

written versions of human languages but simpler, 

requiring expressions without ambiguity. 

They have a defining grammar. They come 

with equivalent dictionaries of nouns, verbs, 

adjectives and adverbs; with prepositions and 

phrase patterns, conjunctions, conditionals 

and clauses. Of course the dictionaries are less 

extensive than those of human languages, but 

the pattern rendering nature of the grammars 

have much the same purpose. 

Kids that code gain a good appreciation of 

computational thinking and logical thought, 

which helps them develop good critical 

thinking skills. I’ve sometimes heard the term 

“language lawyer” used as a euphemism for a 

pedantic programmer. Code literacy is good 

for their life skills kit, never mind their career 

prospects. 

Scratch is one of a new generation of block 

programming languages aimed at teaching 

novices and kids as young as eight or nine to 

write code. 

Scratch teaches code with movable instruction 

blocks. Screenshot from code.org 

The Scratch language uses coloured blocks 

to represent the set of language constructs in 

its grammar. A novice programmer can build 

up a new program by dragging-and-dropping 

from a palette of these blocks onto a blank 

canvas or workspace. 

The individual shapes of the blocks are 

puzzle-like, such that only certain pieces can 

interlock. This visually enforces the grammar, 

allowing the coder to concentrate on the 

creativeness of their whole program. 

The Scratch language (and its derivatives) 

are embedded in a number of different 

tools and websites, each dedicated to a 

particular niche of novice programmers. The 

code.org website is a prime example and has 

a series of exercises using the block language 

to teach the fundamentals of computer science. 

Code.org is a non-profit used by 6 million 

students, 43% of whom are female. It runs the 

Hour of Code events each year, a global effort 

to get novices to try to do at least an hour of 

code. 

For a week in May this year, Microsoft 

Australia partnered with Code.org to run the 

#WeSpeakCode event, teaching coding to 

more than 7,000 young Australians. My local 

primary school in Belgrave South in Victoria is 

using Code.org successfully with grade 5 and 

6 students. 

Unlike prose in a human language, computer 

programs are most often interactive. In 

the screenshot of the Scratch example (above) 

it has graphics from the popular Plants vs 

Zombies game, one that most kids have already 

played. They get to program some basic 

mechanics of what looks a little like the game. 

But code.org has a ‘Show Code’ button 

that reveals the JavaScript code generated 

behind the coloured blocks (see above). This 

shows novices what they created in tiles, translated 

into the formal syntax of a programming 

language widely used in industry. 

It’s not all about the ICT industry 

Both parents and politicians with an eye 

to the future see the best jobs as the creative 

ones. Digging up rocks, importing, consuming 

and servicing is not all that should be done in 

a forward-thinking nation. 

But teaching kids to code is not all about 

careers in computer programming, science 

and software engineering. Introducing young 

minds to the process of instructing a computer 

allows them to go from “I swiped this” 

to “I made this”. From watching YouTube stars, 

to showing schoolyard peers how they made 

their pet cat photo meow. 

It opens up young minds to the creative aspects 

of programming. Not only widening the 

possible cohort who may well study computer 

science or some other information and communications 

technology (ICT) professions, 

but also in design and the creative arts, and 

other fields of endeavour yet to transpire or be 

disrupted. 

For most kids, teaching them to code is 

about opening their mind to a means to an 

end, not necessarily the end in itself. 



CHILDSCENE 

How parents can 

prevent and deal 

with bullying 

PARENTING 

By Sheryl Hemphill 

Professor of Psychology, Australian 

Catholic University 

PARENTS are one of the most influential 

factors when talking about bullying - in 

that they are the most likely to be able to 

prevent it. 

The way parents model appropriate interactions 

and communication to their children 

(for example, resolve disagreements, be assertive 

when appropriate) will impact on how 

their children interact with others – at school, 

online, or in the workplace. 

In particular, children learn about interacting 

with others through their observations of 

others (for example how their parents treat 

one another and other family members). 

Parents should aim for an authoritative 

parenting style: one that includes showing 

love and care towards a child, gives a child an 

appropriate level of independence for their 

age, and also sets clear rules and consequences 

for inappropriate behaviour. 

Parents can help children to develop 

empathy and learn to take the perspective of 

another by talking with their children about 

how others might feel when they behave in 

certain ways and how they feel given certain 

behaviours by others. 

Providing children with opportunities 

to play with other children and learn how to 

do so in social ways under the supervision of 

parents, gives children the chance to practice 

interacting in socially acceptable ways from an 

early age. 

But how can the parents know 

what goes on at school? 

Despite our best efforts to prevent bullying, 

it may still occur and parents need to 

know what to do in situations where their 

child is bullying others or being bullied by 

others. Parents should be aware of signs that 

their children may be bullying someone. 

This comes down to knowing your child 

well and detecting changes in behaviour. This 

includes changes in demeanour, and more 

obvious signs such as acquisition of money or 

expensive possessions. 

Alternatively, another parent, child, or 

school staff member may alert a parent that 

their child is bullying others. In situations 

where a child is bullying others, parents need 

to focus on the behaviour (and avoid labelling 

their child) as behaviours can be changed. 

Important steps are for parents to find out 

from their child’s perspective what has been 

happening and why s/he may be bullying 

others. 

Parents also need to clearly explain that 

such behaviour is not acceptable and discuss 

with their children appropriate ways of behaving. 

In general, punishment is not effective 

because it does not teach the child alternative 


ways of behaving. 

It is a good idea for parents to seek advice 

and help from others who may be able to assist 

the child to learn new ways of interacting 

as early as possible. 

Parents may like to talk with a trusted 

friend or family member, their GP, the school 

principal or welfare co-ordinator, or search 

for information from reliable sources on the 

internet such as the Raising Children Network 

and National Centre Against Bullying. 

For parents who are concerned that their 

children are being bullied by others, communication 

with their children is crucial. 

Ensuring that there are open lines of communication 

makes it more likely a child will 

talk with a parent about being bullied. Parents 

should listen to their child’s experiences and 

then discuss possible solutions with him/her. 

It is important that parents convey to their 

children that they are taking what the children 

say seriously, that bullying is not okay, and that 

there are solutions available. 

Consistent with the approaches mentioned 

for preventing bullying, parents need to 

ensure that any solutions explored are socially 

acceptable and do not escalate the situation 

(for example, fighting back). 

Cyberbullying 

Bullying using technology (or cyberbullying) 

presents new challenges for parents. 

Given rapidly changing technologies, it can be 

difficult for parents to keep up with how to use 

the technology their children are using. 

However, monitoring a child’s behaviour 

is an important way of ensuring that their 

behaviour does not get out of hand. 

Monitoring that is focused on keeping 

children safe and ensuring acceptable behaviour 

is good parenting. 

Parents need to take an interest in the 

technology and sites their children are using. 

As for the offline environment, parents need 

to set ground rules for behaviour online. 

And just as parents teach children how 

to stay safe in the offline world (“don’t talk to 

strangers”, “look both ways when you cross 

the road”), children also need to learn how 

to stay safe in the online world for situations 

when parents are not present. 

A really important message for all parents 

is that as children grow up and enter adolescence 

and early adulthood, they still need 

and value their parents - although it may not 

always seem to be the case! 

It is therefore important that children, 

regardless of their age, can access their parents 

when situations such as being bullied or bullying 

others arise and know that they can rely 

on their parents to help them to resolve the 

situation. 

Finally, parents should not be expected to 

handle bullying on their own – they may need 

to work with their children’s friends and their 

parents, the school, a social networking site, or 

seek assistance from appropriate support and 

health services. 


41

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through 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Its stunning beauty and tremendous energy leave 

audiences uplifted and inspired. 

A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique 

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TECHNOLOGY 


Deus sex machina: ethics of robot love 

INTELLIGENCE 

By Sean Welsh 

Doctoral Candidate in Robot Ethics, 

University of Canterbury 

THERE was to have been a conference in Malaysia 

recently called Love and Sex with Robots 

but it was cancelled. Malaysian police 

branded it “illegal” and “ridiculous”. “There 

is nothing scientific about sex with robots,” said 

a police chief. However, others believe there are 

many interesting and important aspects of intimate 

robot partners that are worth researching 

and discussing. 

There is a lot of science in Ava and Kyoko, the 

sexually capable robots in the movie Ex Machina, 

for example. Concepts raised in the film include 

the Turing Test and the Mary’s room thought 

experiment of ANU’s Frank Jackson, among others. 

Although, inevitably, as is the way of fiction, the 

robots turn on the humans. 

Putting aside the Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

and robophobic tropes of movies such as Oblivion, 

Robocop and Transcendence, is there a moral 

issue when it comes to intimacy with a robot? 

Some believe there is. There is a Campaign 

to Stop Sex Robots, which has called for sex with 

robots to be banned. The organisation’s argument 

is that sex robots would reinforce gender 

inequality. It links to similar arguments made 

against pornography and prostitution. 

However, if you argue that something 

ought to be banned because it reinforces gender 

inequality, you would be committed to banning 

the Iliad or various plays by Shakespeare, or 

novels by Jane Austen. If this is the objection, 

one could no doubt develop sexbots that do not 

reinforce gender stereotypes, either in behaviour 

or form. 

A more salient concern about sexbots might 

be: what would happen if everyone started 

bedding bots? What would be the trajectory? 

Where would humanity end up if these devices 

proliferated? 

Perhaps we’d be in much the same place as 

we are now. The invention of sex toys has not 

stopped people getting married and having 

babies. Slippery slope arguments are intuitively 

tempting but they need strong gravity and weak 

friction. 

Arguments in favour of sexbots put by 

proponents, such as David Levy, are that robot 

prostitutes are a lesser evil than human prostitutes. 

They will reduce incentives to traffic humans 

and subject them to the “degradation” of sex 

work. Robot prostitutes might be safer than human 

ones, and therefore preferable. 

Perhaps the stickiest moral problem is 

whether sex with a robot would count as 

adultery. But does an orgasm with a toy count 

as adultery? A sexbot today might be little more 

than a programmed artefact, but by 2050, who 

knows what it might look resemble? 

Artificial bonding 

Perhaps a more tractable moral issue in 

the short term is what Matthias Scheutz, 

Director of the Human Robot Interaction 

Lab at Tufts University, calls “unidirectional 

emotional bonds”. This is where someone falls 

in love with a robot, but the robot cannot fall 

genuinely reciprocate the sentiment. 

It is well-known that humans affectively 

bond with robots. People name their robot 

vacuum cleaners, and even introduce them to 

their parents by name. Gnarly bomb disposal 

specialists beg the Baghdad robot hospital 

to fix their beloved blown-up robots because 

they have gone through hell together. 

One could plausibly program a robot to 

go through the motions of expressing love. It 

could gaze at you with robo-dilated eyes, or 

could hold your hand and smile at you. 

It could play music like the “Gigolo Joe” 

character in Steven Spielberg’s movie Artificial 

Intelligence. It could do all this and yet feel 

nothing. 

With a flick of the head, Gigolo Joe plays 

music. 

It might have an ability to sense your affective 

states and produce actions that you would 

interpret as emotions, but inside the robot 

there would be no feeling, just a Turing machine 

applying its rulebook to sensory inputs, 

passing scripted outputs to its actuators. 

The robot would act “as if ” it loved you, 

but it would not love you any more than a rock 

would love you. Is this moral? Should such 

devices be banned? 

Personally, I think not, as long as we 

understand exactly what we are getting into 

bed with. People already get into bed with 

animated yet lifeless artefacts. 

There are artefacts on the market that 

enable people to experience orgasms. Are 

machine generated orgasms as good as the real 

human deal? Who is to judge? Opinions differ. 

I do not see a persuasive case for banning 

sex toys, whether they are manually 

or remotely piloted or even embodied and 

autonomous. 

However, there is a case for a health warning 

to ensure people know about unidirectional 

emotional bonding. 

Robots may be able to perform sex acts 

today but it may be decades or centuries before 

they can return your love. 


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43

MONEY 


Moving beyond the mission 

NFP FUNDING 

By Simon Joyce 

Associate Director – Audit and Advisory YCG 

THE move to person-centred funding (as 

being implemented under the National 

Disability Insurance Scheme) is causing 

many organisations both within disability 

and other sub-sectors to critically assess their 

organisations. 

While Government reform is a significant 

driver of change within the sector, it cannot be 

seen as the only driver of change. 

Indeed, advances in technology, social 

media, pressures faced by donors and supporters; 

and the threat of entry of the private 

sector into service delivery, are not only seen 

as influencing the magnitude of the change, 

but also the speed with which it is likely to 

take effect. 

Many of these external factors create opportunities 

and challenges for current service 

providers and new entrants. 

Importantly, clients in an open, competitive 

market, will be able to allocate their 

support funding how they wish, and access a 

provider of their choice, giving them complete 

flexibility – possibly for the first time. 

While this is particularly pleasing for 

clients, it is unnerving for service providers. 

Many are being forced to anticipate change, 

act quickly and allocate funding to activities 

outside of the core mission. 

Many NFPs have fallen into, and in some 

instances actively fed the “Nonprofit Starvation 

Cycle” – the cycle of chronic underinvestment 

in NFP systems and infrastructure to 

allocate more money to the mission. 

Ironically, it is this sheer devotion to mission 

which is causing many NFPs to become 

unstuck in this rapidly changing environment. 

More and more, NFP organisations need 

to change their business models and challenge 

current thinking to remain sustainable. 

Equally, organisations are considering 

investment in technology and processes will 

make them more efficient. 

Spending on non-traditional activities 

(like marketing and branding) is being explored 

and embraced, and no longer considered 

the domain of the corporate sector. 

We have seen a convergence of boundaries 

that have existed between the corporate and 

social sectors. 

Corporate perspectives on CSR and social 

impact are shifting and social impact organisations 

are becoming more commercial in 

the way they are run and how they allocate 

funding. 

There is a lot to contemplate for NFP 

Boards and Management teams. Leaders 

within the sector are actively considering how 

best to respond and how they might make 

their business models more innovative and 

commercially sustainable. 

It is our view that a differentiated approach 

to running an NFP is required. Strategic 

planning cycles should be shortened from the 

traditional five year view, to a two year view, 

the power of technology (cloud computing 

and social media in particular) should be 

embraced and organisations should put the 

client at the centre of all it does, and all it plans 

to do. 

In this changing environment greater 

consideration should be given to external 

influences (like competitors, peers and the 

market) over internal influences and traditions, 

financial planning and robustness needs 

to be introduced to all new ventures, and, 

alliances with other NFPs and commercial 

organisations should be actively encouraged 

and pursued. 

Preparing an NFP for the future is fundamentally 

about embarking on a journey of 

self-discovery – who are we as an organisation; 

how will the legacy of our work succeed 

us as individuals and governance committees 

and what do we need to do to ensure we 

remain sustainable and relevant. 

Asking and seeking to answer telling key 

questions breaks th e problem down into bite 

sizes, and makes the aspiration of running a 

futureproofed organisation more realistic: 

Who are our clients (current and future) 

and what are their needs (met and unmet)? 

What are we seeking to achieve for our 

stakeholders? 

What services will we offer, and (importantly) 

what services will we choose not to 

offer? And why? 

What is our unique value proposition 

and how do we differentiate ourselves in a 

crowded and increasingly competitive market 

place? 

Who are our running mates – and how can 

we develop and incubate meaningful alliances 

and partnerships that strengthen our brand 

and increase the odds success in the long 

term? 

Will our overall strategic choices enable us 

to achieve our growth aspirations? 

It is our view that a wait-and-see approach 

is not a strategy. Boards, CEOs and Executive 

Teams must be able to shut out the noise 

and act decisively in driving towards a future 

vision. 


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The Challenges of Stress Management 

in the Workplace in Sydney mid-March 

2016 


45

TRAVEL 


Special packages on SOLSTICE and RADIANCE 

CRUISING 

EXPERIENCE award-winning 

modern luxury style aboard Celebrity 

Solstice. 

Enjoy b eautifully designed 

accommodation, globally inspired 

cuisine, activities and shore excursions 

that appeal to every taste. 

Spa services range from the 

sensory delight of an aromatherapy 

massage to the rejuvenating powers 

of an on-board chiropractic session. 

Heat up in Solstice’s aromatic 

steam room or Finnish Sauna. For 

your entertainment on-board, 

choose from stunning aerial shows, 

custom-produced musicals, comedy 

with a touch of burlesque and more. 

As you stroll among the expansive 

decks, you’ll experience the 

rich colour palettes illuminated by 

beautiful natural light, and revel 

in the extensive amenities - all delivered 

with the attentive service 

for which Celebrity Cruises is 

renowned. 

Celebrity Solstice is built 

around you and the way you long to 

travel. On the newest Solstice-class 

of ships, you will discover a refined 

level of elegance - an unrivalled 

experience making a distinctive 

statement of style and design. A first 

for Celebrity is the ‘AquaClass’ 

Experience. 

What sets Celebrity apart from 

other vacation choices today is the 

cruise line’s passionate dedication to 

providing guests with a cruise experience 

that exceeds expectations. 

This extraordinary performance 

level has become the definition of 

Celebrity Cruises, and has set the 

worldwide standard for today’s 

expression of what first made cruising 

famous -- high quality, superior 

design, spacious accommodations, 

grand style, attentive service and 

exceptional cuisine. 

The excellence of Celebrity’s existing 

cruise product continues with 

the cruise line’s Millennium-class 

ships, which embody even greater 

technical achievement and meaningful 

innovation, while retaining the 

distinctive style, sophistication and 

service elements that have become 

the hallmark of a Celebrity cruise. 

Celebrity Cruises recently announced 

a new “Extend Your Stay” 

program. Providing guests with 

convenience and relaxation, it will 

appeal to those facing waits at the 

airport before long flights home. In 

addition to the benefit of a leisurely 

last day on board, the program allows 

guests to stay in their stateroom 

for an extra hour on the day 

the cruise ends. 

Guests who participate in 

“Extend Your Stay” also can enjoy 

some of the ship’s services until as 

late as 90 minutes before the next 

cruise sets sail. 

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of 

the Seas offers the ultimate “at-sea” 

experience by combining speed, 

added comfort, greater open spaces, 

sweeping ocean vistas and an exceptional 

cruise staff committed to 

serving your every whim. 

Among her spectacular features 

are the 10-story glass-constructed 

Centrum, glass elevators facing the 

sea, and the highest percentage of 

outside cabins in the Royal Caribbean 

fleet. 

Royal Caribbean International, 

the cruise line that delivers 

the “Wow!” and the one that put 

rock-climbing walls and ice-skating 

rinks on cruise ships. Whether 

you’ve sailed with us before or have 

just seen our commercials on TV, 

you may have the sense that we’re 

not your average cruise line. 

With more than 120 destinations 

worldwide and an amazing 

array of exciting shore excursions 

and cruise tour options, we’re 

reaching out to vacationers eager 

to try something new – whether it’s 

glacier-trekking in Alaska, swimming 

with stingrays in the Caribbean 

or strolling the Champs Élysées 

in Paris. 

Do not miss out on these 

amazing deals for 2016 brought 

to you by Elite Travel. For more 

information please contact one 

of our friendly travel experts. If 

you are travelling with families 

or friends find out how to earn 

‘EliteRewards’ which you can use 

it to pay for your next holiday. 

For group bookings find out 

more about our special deals. Call 

us on 1800 627 746 or enquire 

via info@elitetravel.com.au 

FREE UPGRADE^ + FREE DRINKS PACKAGE! 

HIDDEN TREASURES 

OF THE 

MEDITERRANEAN 

34 NIGHT ITINERARY VISITING 30 PORTS ABOARD AZAMARA JOURNEY ® 

9 COUNTRIES • 5 OVERNIGHT PORT STAYS • 15 LATE DEPARTURES 

NICE TO VENICE - 20 APRIL 2016 

Revel in the unique and unknown of Europe’s least-visited gateways, getting 

closer than others can. 

• 34 night cruise from Nice to Venice aboard the luxurious Azamara Journey 

• Visiting 30 ports of call, across 10 countries with a total of 5 overnight port 

stays in Ibiza, Amalfi (Ravello/Positano), Valletta, Dubrovnik and Venice 

• Main meals onboard (excluding specialty restaurants) 

• Complimentary drinks package including select beers, wines, spirits, cocktails and 

bar drinks throughout your cruise 

• Full on board programme of entertainment, enhancement and port lectures 

• Airport transfers at the beginning and end of your holiday 

Stateroom options 

VENICE 

Ravenna 

NICE 

St Tropez 

Cassis 

Sete 

Sanary-Sur-Mer 

Palamos 

Propriano 

Olbia 

Mahon 

Ibiza 

Trapani 

Porto Empedocle 

Mgarr 

1 Overnight 

Valletta 

Leaves after 9pm 

Koper 

Hvar 

Korcula 

Dubrovnik 

1 Amalfi 

Itea 

Syracuse Hydra Marmaris 

Kas Alanya 

Gythion 

Chania 

Limassol 

34 night luxury cruise holiday 

NOW from $9,000pp twin share or $15,750 sole occupancy 

Plus FREE guaranteed stateroom UPGRADE on selected cabins! 

Category 

Twin per 

person 

Sole 

Occupancy 

Club Interior Stateroom Guarantee+ 12 $9,000 $15,750 

Club Interior Stateroom Guarantee with a 

FREE UPGRADE to Club Oceanview Stateroom^ 

8 $10,800 $18,900 

Club Oceanview Stateroom Guarantee with a 

FREE UPGRADE to Club Veranda Stateroom^ 

V3 $12,900 $22,575 

Call us now on 

1800 627 746 or 

email info@elitetravel.com.au 

WHY CHOOSE ELITE TRAVEL? 

• Award winning Travel Management Company affiliated 

with a Powerful Global Group 

• Specialists Leisure and Corporate Travel Consultants 

• 24/7 After hours emergency service for all our clients 

• Join free and earn reward points with our loyalty 

program 

• Experts in Group Travel – Cultural, Adventure, 

Corporate Conferences, Weddings, Sporting and 

School groups 

• One stop Travel Management Company where we 

ensure whichever State you depart from, you travel in 

supreme comfort 

Prices are per adult in AUD based on twin-share or sole occupancy as specified, in suite categories as shown, including all savings/discounts, taxes, gratuities and onboard charges, correct as at 25 November 

2015. Valid for new bookings, for a limited time, are capacity controlled, subject to change/availability and can be withdrawn at any time without notice. +All cabins are on a guarantee basis. Cabin numbers will not 

be assigned until approximately 2 weeks prior to sailing. Some Club Oceanview staterooms may have an obstructed view. To be read in conjunction with the Exclusive Cruiseco Charter – Hidden Treasures of the 

Mediterranean 2016 brochure. Terms and Conditions apply. Ask for details. 


BSB50215 Diploma of Business 

This course prepares you to establish and 

operate your own business or to manage 

an existing one that wants to take 

advantage of new opportunities. 

Achieve your Diploma of Business 

with AIA’s easy plan. 

Course Cost: $8,000 (includes enrolment fee) 

Affordable payment plans available 

AUSTRALASIAN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY 

TEL: 1300 242 669 

info@aiacademy.com.au 

www.aiacademy.com.au 


ABN: 41144 Provider Code: 35167538910 

47

ANITA COBBY

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