Tasmanian Business Reporter May 2019

Tasmanian Business Reporter - MAY 2019 13
NEWS
Lift in poppy crop area and returns
Poppy Grower, Jason Cresswell, from Deloraine, left,
and Tasmanian Alkaloids’ Field Operations Manager,
Noel Beven,
Customer-owned
banks hail reform
TASMANIAN Alkaloids has announced a 65
percent increase to the 2019/2020 poppy crop
and increased payments to growers.
The number of hectares required for the
2019/2020 poppy crop has increased to more
than 8000 hectares. The company has also
announced price increases for two of the four
poppy varieties currently grown, at 12 per cent
and 15 per cent.
About 400 growers statewide will cultivate
the crop to fulfil the company’s forecast sales to
international pharmaceutical manufacturers.
About half of the world’s legal opiate crop is
grown in Tasmania and processed by Tasmanian
Alkaloids.
Tasmanian Alkaloids’ Director of Alkaloid
Raw Material Business, Peta Dolan, said the
industry was positive of its future despite recent
challenges.
“While the international regulatory
environment continues to evolve, and
the industry adjusts accordingly, health
professionals acknowledge that appropriately
managed and administered opiate-based
medications remain one of the best options to
treat acute pain; including pain associated with
palliative care, post-operative care, and massive
trauma.
“More than three million Australians alone
live with chronic pain,” Ms Dolan said.
“The alkaloid raw material grown in
Tasmania and processed by Tasmanian
Alkaloids is used to manufacture active
pharmaceutical ingredients that offer effective
pain management solutions to patients.
“This is a huge responsibility and one our
growers and Tasmanian Alkaloids takes very
seriously.”
Free range
‘eggspection’
Paul
Ranson
CEO, Bank of us
IN THE week leading up
to the announcement of
the Federal election, Parliament
passed the Treasury
Laws Amendment
(Mutual Reforms) Bill
2019.
This important Bill includes
several reforms
that will lower barriers
to capital raising by mutual
companies and help
customer-owned banking
institutions, like Bank of
us, be more competitive.
The customer-owned
banking sector has been
advocating for a more
level playing field across
the Australian banking
industry for some time
now.
Back in 2016, I wrote
about how the sector was
in an enviable position.
As a sector, we’ve
continued to perform
strongly – delivering better
pricing, choice, innovation
and service for
customers and we have
seen an increasing trend
of new customers voting
with their feet and join
us.
There is a real opportunity
for the customer-owned
banking sector
to be a bigger player in
the Australian banking
sector but it relies on
having access to affordable
high quality capital
to support our growth.
To date the customer-owned
banking sector
has been restricted to relying
on its profits as the
principal source of capital
generation.
With the sector typically
operating on a lower
level of profitability
due to their desire to pass
on real value to customers
in the form of lower
priced products this has
meant that growth potential
over the long run can
only be modest unless
Customer-owned banks pass on value through lower priced products.
there is the opportunity
to generate new forms of
capital.
The passing of Mutual
Reforms Bill is crucial
as it amends the Corporations
Act to implement
the following key reforms:
• defining a mutual entity
as a legitimate business
model;
• reforming the demutualization
rules to only
be triggered in an intended
demutualization; and
• creating a mutual-specific
Mutual Capital
Instrument (MCI).
Ultimately, the new
legislation will give Australia’s
customer-owned
banking sector another
option for raising capital.
The Bill was drafted
in response to recommendations
in the Senate
Economics References
Committee report
into cooperatives, mutuals
and member-owned
firms, released in March
2018.
The report acknowledged
that the customer-owned
model has not
had a fair go in regulatory
frameworks that are
set up to deal with listed
companies.
The passing of this Bill
shows both sides of Parliament
support the customer-owned
banking
sector and can see how
these reforms will help
provide greater choice
for customers and with
greater choice comes
better outcomes for customers.
The customer-owned
banking sector has a long
history of putting customers
first. With continued
action towards a
more level playing field,
we will be positioned to
do this on a sustainable,
long-term basis.
Anna Yip from Off the table with farm manager
John Sattler at Pure Foods Eggs Longford.
TASMANIA’S largest
free range egg farm has
launched on-farm experiences
that lets consumers
go behind-the-scenes.
Tens of thousands of
eggs are laid, washed,
quality checked and sold
all around Tasmania, every
day of the year - with
many consumers unaware
of the process involved.
Pure Foods Eggs has
opened up its state-of-the
art facilities at Longford
to showcase the technology
it uses to keep its
hens happy.
Farmer John Sattler
said the business had
designed its farming
systems around bird behaviour.
An agritourism marketplace
that enables
food producers to access
tourism through on
farm food experiences,
Off the table, has
launched “eggspection”
tours in conjunction with
Pure Foods Eggs, with
consumers now able to
walk through the facility.
“It’s incredibly clean,
high-tech and fun” says
Off the table founder
Anna Yip.
Pure Foods Eggs supply
well-known brands
such as Valleybrook, Aberfeldy,
Country Farmhouse
and Save the Tasmanian
Devil Program
Appeal and are sold in
Coles, Woolworths, selected
IGA supermarkets,
Hills Street Grocers and
Salamanca Fresh.