Tasmanian Business Reporter September 2018

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4 Tasmanian Business Reporter - SEPTEMBER 2018 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Over-representation breeding self-interest Susan Parr TCCI Chair TASMANIA is growing like Topsy who is outgrowing her clothes, shoes and bed. Like Topsy, Tasmania now is outgrowing our governance systems and our capacity to manage and plan across a range of current and future challenges. Tasmania’s population is just over 500,000. We have 29 councils with 263 elected members. The oft repeated motherhood statement that “local government is the tier of government closest to the people” and therefore is the “most representative” is too readily accepted. Having so many elected members for such a small state raises the question of “who is representing whom or what?” It is clear that with such a concentration of representation, self-interest, personal preferences and philosophies assume an importance that is disproportionate to the total community interest. I believe that it has encouraged Tasmanians to think that, if as an individual, I do not like or approve of a proposal, then I can expect it to be stopped or significantly modified. Because a candidate for election only needs a very few votes to succeed, the whole community perspective is not rigorously considered. There is no incentive to consider how neighbouring municipalities might be impacted, so the whole state continues to have absurd differences in service provision. The recent deplorable results of local government performance in governance, financial planning and the provision of services is a By TOM O’MEARA THREE local authorities would replace the state’s 29 councils in a bold new plan floated by the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. With the Tasmanian economy at its strongest in recent history, the state’s peak business organisation has called on the State Government and Labor Opposition to reform local government once and for all. TCCI CEO Michael Bailey said the chamber’s vision would improve efficiency and provide greater transparency. The TCCI has been a strong advocate to restore State Parliament to 35 seats, and now it wants to review what it says is an antiquated and inefficient local government sector. Mr Bailey said the system was not based on modern best practice. “The days have gone when every town in Tasmania needed a local council and it is time to ensure there is more transparency in the sector,” he said. “In Victoria rate capping is now a way of life, with consumers and business able to compare their council performance with others through the “Know Your Council” website. “Not only are consumers and business able to compare rates in their municipality with those paid T A S M A N I A’ S L E A D I N G B U S I N E S S P U B L I C A T I O N . C I R C U L A T I O N 12,000 M O N T H LY Call for council cull in neighbouring council areas, but they are also able to compare the services offered and make informed decisions about what their local government area delivers. “There is no way to do that in Tasmania.” Tasmania has 29 councils, and 263 councillors, for a population of just over 500,000 people, ranging in size from under 1000 people on Flinders Island to more than 67,000 people in Launceston. “We have 4000 local government employees, 23,000 State Government employees and just under 3500 Commonwealth Government employees, which equates to one employee for every Continued page 2 How TCCI MEMBERSHIP benefits your business The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an independent membership organisation that positively leads and supports the Tasmanian business community. TCCI provides valuable support to its members through advocacy and a range of programs and services including: > Customised membership to achieve your business objectives > Workplace relations advice > Workplace health and safety > Networking and promotion > Training and workforce development > Events Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hobart | Launceston Ph: 1300 559 122 www.tcci.com.au AUGUST 2018 AXE THEM O\ TCCI floats radical reform 29 to 3 JOIN TODAY! Last month’s Tasmanian Business Reporter’s coverage of the TCCI campaign launch. warning that we cannot continue as we have. The system is broken and threatens the future. Tasmania has a unique opportunity to create a more capable, better skilled and informed local government system to serve the 500,000 people who live here and to ensure that services provided by local government meet the current and future needs of all Tasmanians. It is time to bite the bullet. www.tcci.com.au A fair price for your business Dean Demeyer Business Broker WHEN it’s time to sell your business who should advise you on the eventual asking price – an accountant or a business broker? Some accountants specialise and have appropriate qualifications in valuing businesses. There are other professionals however who are better at providing you with the market value. Professional business brokers deal every day with buying and selling businesses. They have access to databases of sales, current market multiples for all industries, and knowledge of lender’s idiosyncrasies - all necessary to evaluate what a buyer may offer for your business in the current market. Knowing how buyers are thinking is useful. For example, an accountant will generally evaluate your business on the basis of its value on paper. This process relies on historical financial data and commonly used return on investment multipliers. Let’s say the net profit is $100,000 and the ROI is 33 per cent. The accountant will say the business is worth $300,000. A broker will use a similar process but also take into account current market trends, the bank’s appetite for lending to that industry, the number of buyers enquiring about that industry to obtain a more realistic price. So the 33 per cent ROI may actually to be closer to 40 per cent altering the listing price to $250,000. Dean Demeyer is a chartered accountant and licensed business broker Supporting those making a better community. Just one reason why our members voted us number one for customer satisfaction in Australia, two years in a row! * Mitch McPherson Founder, SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY We’re your number one health insurer. Talk to us today! 1300 651 988 stlukes.com.au for Customer Satisfaction* two years in a row! * #1 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards: Private Health Insurer of the Year – 2016 & 2017. St.LukesHealth ABN 81 009 479 618 180376
T A S M A N I A’ S L E A D I N G B U S I N E S S P U B L I C A T I O N . C I R C U L A T I O N 12,000 M O N T H LY Tasmanian Business Reporter - SEPTEMBER 2018 5 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP www.tcci.com.au Never give up on WH&S Out-of-hours Craig Hortle Workplace Health & Safety ONCE a workplace health and safety system has been consulted on with workers and agreed on by management, the next step in the process is to implement it. The process can be difficult at times due to work schedules, apathy in the workplace for WHS, lack of management support and entrenched workplace culture. How are you able to address these issues and others when implementing a WHS system? The first and most important step is to ensure that management is supportive of the process. This is not merely a tacit support of WHS policy and procedure but being actively involved. This can be achieved by: • being involved in safety meetings; • implementing well thought out safety initiatives; • make WHS a topic of conversation in the workplace; • practicing what you require from workers; and • actively auditing the system. Work schedules can be an issue if there are varied starting times in a workplace, different sites for work activities and different types of work carried out. These situations can be overcome with some suggestions including: • varying information session times for employees to attend; China leads increase in export value THE value of Australia’s exports of goods and services rose 14.8 per cent to $386.7 billion in 2017, based on the DFAT publication ‘Composition of Trade Australia 2017’. China was Australia’s largest export destination (valued at $116.0 billion) and import source (valued at $67.4 billion). Australia’s top five goods and services exports were: - iron ore and concentrates ($63.1 billion) - coal ($57.1 billion) -education-related travel services – which includes foreign student expenditure on tuition fees and living expenses Sally Chandler Tradestart Adviser BUSINESS HOBART’S BEST RANGE OF QUALITY ERGONOMIC FURNITURE FOR THE HOME AND OFFICE We specialise in high quality ergonomic chairs, alternative seating and electronic sit/stand desks. Flair Office Furniture has been providing quality, affordable office furniture to homes and offices throughout the Hobart region for nearly 15 years. We’re a locally-based, family-run business specialising in all types of products, so why not visit us today to see our fantastic range? • ensuring consistency of message across all work activities (office, production, workshop or field work); and • if a work site is significantly different in make-up than other sites there may be a need to tailor specific information for that site. Worker apathy and entrenched culture may be the two single most difficult problems to overcome. There is no silver (30% share and 21.2% growth in 2017), Japan (12.2% share and 22.8% growth in 2017), South Korea (6% share and 14.4% growth in 2017), USA (5.4% share and 1.8% growth in 2017), India (5.2% share and 32.6% growth in 2017), and Hong Kong (3.9% share and 17% growth in 2017). Other countries in order of share of total were Phone 6234 1127 p: 6212 2210 e: elise@elisearcher.com 260 Argyle Street, m: PO North Box 426, Hobart Moonah, 7009 www.elisearcher.com www.flairofficefurniture.com.au in Australia – ($30.3 billion) - natural gas ($25.6 billion) and, - personal travel (excluding education) services – which includes short-term visitors’ expenditure in Australia mainly for recreational purposes – ($21.3 billion). Australia’s top export markets for goods Alcoholic and services were China 2 ADVERTISEMENT Elise Archer YOUR QUICK GUIDE TO SERVICES AND PRODUCTS FOR YOUR BUSINESS Your local Liberal Member for Denison 62 Main Rd, Moonah Please contact me: NZ (3.6%), Singapore (3.1%), UK (3%) and Taiwan (2.7%). Interestingly, export sales to the UK retracted 25.4% compared to the 2016 year. BUSINESS Authorised by Elise Archer, 62 Main Rd, Moonah, 7009 WH&S needs to be a topic of conversation in the workplace. Australia’s merchandise trade with China saw iron ore as the number one export followed by coal, wool and other animal hair, copper ores and concentrates, edible products and preparations (not separately recorded), barley, crude minerals (not separately recorded), gold, aluminium ores and concentrates, and copper. beverages came in 12th with 62.9% growth in 2017, and beef WANTED Business movers and shakers • Promotions • Appointments • Awards • Celebrating success Share the news with the Tasmanian business community Send your news snippets, with a high quality photo, to TBReditorial@ fontpr.com.au To see your business here, call Kerri on 0419 750 267 or email kerri@thetrustedmediaco.com bullet or one solution that will solve these issues. Some suggestions are: • be consistent with the message that you trying to get across; • don’t reward bad safety behaviour; • provide adequate training in WHS principles and your system that you are implementing; • listen to concerns or problems that the system has caused and implement change when possible to address these problems; and • do not give up. Even though change in a workplace can be difficult it is not impossible and can be achieved. For information on how to achieve this please contact Craig Hortle or Janelle Whitehouse at the TCCI on 1300 559 122 or safety@TCCI.com. au 13th with 24.2% growth. Merchandise exports to Japan saw coal as the number one export in 2017 followed by iron ores and concentrates, beef, copper ores and concentrates, and aluminium. The full document can be accessed on the DFAT website at https://dfat. gov.au/about-us/publications/Pages/composition-of-trade.aspx For international trade and investment assistance contact Trade- Start Adviser, Sally Chandler, at sally. chandler@tcci.com.au or 1300 559 122. Your Partner in Print. www.footandplaysted.com.au Now incorporating THE CRAFT LIVES ON. conduct also counts Abbey George Workplace Relations THE past month has been an interesting one with several decisions being made by the Fair Work Commission that may impact workplace relations in the future. In particular, out-of-hours conduct was found to be a valid reason for dismissal in the case of Oliver Bridgewater v Healthscope Operations Pty Ltd T/A Prince of Wales Private Hospital.* In this case the applicant was dismissed for serious misconduct after being found to have breached the employer’s sexual harassment policy by sending a highly offensive and unwelcome message of a sexual nature to a colleague. This was despite the message being sent out of work hours and not on work property. From 1 August 2018, employees that are covered by Modern Awards will have access to five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave where an employee is: • experiencing domestic violence; and • needs to do something to deal with the impact of domestic violence; and • it is impractical for the employee to undertake that outside their ordinary hours of work. This leave is available “in full” at the beginning of each 12 month period of employment, applies to all employees (including casuals) but does not accrue from year to year. This amendment in turn places obligations on employers regarding the storage and access to relevant information regarding the taking of family and domestic violence leave. Finally, another case to note is the termination of an employee from Cricket Australia following tweets being made about abortion. This matter is listed with the Fair Work Commission and has also resulted in proposed new social media guidelines for public servants produced by the Tasmanian State Service Management Office. *(U2018/2872) http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/ cth/FWC/2018/3921.html You can contact TCCI by the Helpline on 1300 765 123 or the TCCI on 1300 59 122 or workplacerelations@tcci.com.au where we can assist with your questions about employment matters generally as well as assisting with drafting any policies or procedures required within your business.
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Tasmanian Business Reporter September 2018

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