CEO’s report

The FY2022 trading year was one of MGA TMA’s most challenging ever. COVID-19 caused every state and territory in the country to adopt their own lock down rules and movement restrictions to disallow the COVID-19 disease from spreading.

MGA TMA’s members are to be congratulated for the incredible manner in which all business owners took on the COVID-19 challenges and were able to resiliently drive for results by providing exceptional customer shopping experiences in very difficult trading circumstances.

The recent flooding events particularly in Sydney, Northern New South Wales (Lismore) and Southeast Queensland were particularly catastrophic and has left those communities in a state of devastation that will take many years foe these communities to recover. The flooding events in South Australia and Western Australia caused unexpected damage to railway bridges preventing freight from being shipped via rail to and from Western Australia for a 6-week period. This impost in turn, causing supply to be limited, causing road freight prices to escalate to unaffordable levels which affected the rise in costs of food, groceries, and many other essential items. MGA sends best wishes to those members and communities for a quick and speedy recovery back to some form of normality.

The year was broken up into two parts. COVID-19 half and “working towards normality” half. The first half of FY2022 (June 2021 – December 2021) witnessed some of the harshest population and business lockdown, isolation, and movement restrictions in the world. These included Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory, and Queensland border closures, curfews, movement and isolation restrictions in all states and territories, as well as the introduction of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) to help supplement the PCR testing regime and better self-monitor COVID-19 symptoms to limit movement within the community.

Several (without consultation) lock down and isolation restriction decisions made by various Governments caused fear within the community, with the knock on effect being consumers panic buying in many jurisdictions. Members’ businesses were ravaged by consumers for staple items such as toilet paper, paper goods, pasta, and various other cooking ingredients. In Western Australia, liquor stores found their shelves empty of many packaged liquor products.

Members’ businesses, be it food and grocery, liquor or timber and hardware, through the vigilant work of MGA TMA, were all regarded as essential businesses and so could trade and be open for local customers. This was a unique time when consumers rediscovered their local community business hubs and shopping centres and supported their local family-owned businesses. Despite all the COVID-19 restrictions and compliance constraints, our members benefitted greatly from consumers changing their shopping needs and habits to a local level. During this period, we experienced severe timber and building supply shortages, labour and skills shortages and dramatic cost to do business increases placing enormous pressure on our members to open their doors every day to serve their customers.

The second half of FY2022 (January – June 2022) COVID-19 restrictions began to relax and local, state and the national economy began to “open up”. Boarders began to open; restrictions began to relax at different levels across the state. Victoria being the most impacted by restrictions and Western Australia the least. Members across Australia experienced solid trading as consumers stayed close to home and did not travel as they did prior to the COVID-19 period.

Chronic labour shortages were reported by members in the eastern states during the year owing to the quantum of staff having to isolate for seven days after being in close

contact with a COVID-19 positive person or contracting COVID-19 themselves. These employees could not be replaced causing businesses to open later, close earlier and close down various departments such as delicatessen, bakery meat and other departments that could not be staffed. Some members reported up to 45% absenteeism in some weeks of trading.

Cost to do business pressures further increased in this half of trading caused by shortages of labour, freight drivers, pallets, shipping containers, add bue for diesel, as well as basic fuel prices, energy, and waste management costs.

Increased costs have been reflected at the petrol bowser, food, and grocery shelves and all which in turn caused the FWC to respond by lifting the minimum wage rate by 5.2% and 4.6% for award wages.

MGA TMA was heavily involved in many virtual state and federal forums during this time to enable the safe opening of various economies around Australia.

This coupled with the breadth of other matters being addressed by MGA TMA at the same time including industrial relations and employment law matters, food supply and food security, unfair competition matters, least cost routing, illicit tobacco, liquor matters, state trading hours, unfair planning and zoning, tobacco regulations, sustainability – waste and energy.

MGA TMA was involved in many discussions with the Federal Government in regard to various business support measures including, the Cash Flow Boost grant, Job Keeper, Job Seeker, Job Maker and Job Saver programmes - all of which have been very effective to keep businesses afloat and employees attached to their employers when locked down.

MGA TMA’s team members have shown outstanding leadership, dedication and have done a great job keeping our member and industry stakeholder community best interests in the fore front of all its activities during the FY2022 year. After having to cope with personal COVID-19 restrictions by working from home and then a staggered approach to returning to work, MGATMA’s team is to be congratulated for the flexibility, agility and very hard work dealing with day to day matters where members required support. MGA TMA’s staff have not missed a beat.

Whilst we farewelled our wonderful colleague Marie Brown, MGA’s National Legal Counsel after 15 years of impeccable service back in June 2021, Marie still continued to be a source of support and mentoring for out Employment Law team. Thank you, Marie.

I wish to personally thank everyone of MGA’s Board members and MGA TMA Management Committee President Peter Alexander, for their tremendous support of MGA TMA through these very difficult times. The Board managed these times, whether it be video meetings or face to face meetings, with positivity and aplomb. The Board’s greatest wish was to meet face to face which it finally did in Adelaide in March 2022 and then on the Sunshine Coast Queensland in June2022.

It is pleasing to report that once again MGA’s financial position is strong and sustainable. I thank all staff and the Board for managing our expenses at a frugal level whilst maximizing our revenue through strong membership participation. Thank you to former Finance Manager, Sue MacLeavy, who left the finance role in November 2021.

Thank you to our former NSW Director Carmel Goldsmith who was a driving force for family and privately owned business members. Carmel stood down from the board in November 2021. Carmel’s enthusiasm and deep retail insights will be missed, and we wish Carmel well in her business and personal pursuits.

A warm welcome to incoming Director Terry Slaughter, whose family owns community grocery and supermarket businesses in the Brisbane suburb of Springfield Lakes Queensland. Terry brings several skills and capabilities to the Board, particularly knowledge acquired through the many years of being a retailer in the food and grocery sector at a corporate level and now in his own business with wife Francis and son Mitch.

A special thanks must be extended to Peter Alexander, President of the MGA TMA Management Committee and Vice President Richard Hill - together with Committee members - for their dedication and support in developing and growing MGA TMA into a truly national timber and hardware organisation.

Thank you to members, MGA’s Board, national and state committees and all industry stakeholders for a great year of resilience considering the many unforeseen challenges, circumstances and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the flooding disasters.

A highlight in the 2021 calendar year was MGA TMA’s involvement with Federal Attorney General Christian Porter’s IR Reform Working Groups. The Attorney General and the Federal Government recognised MGA TMA as an organisation with a high profile and deep credibility and integrity, in the family and private business sector.

In early 2021, MGA TMA and the ACTU jointly applied to the FWC to insert a schedule in the GRA to enable parttime employees to work additional hours at ordinary rates of pay. This has now become available to members for implementation into their businesses

MGA TMA’s Board, together with staff, have committed to focussing on the next urgent issue facing our members - reducing members carbon footprint. Introducing the principle of a Circular Economy to members around Australia is a key focus for the MGA TMA team, behind industrial relations.

Significant savings can be derived by reducing, or eradicating, crippling waste management costs and avoiding landfill by implementing a range of sustainable solutions in members’ businesses. The aim is for members to earn carbon credits and actually make money from their waste.

MGA has embarked upon a joint venture with ImFree to form a company named MiPlanet to share in a vision to develop a digital consumer platform that rewards consumers for planet friendly choices while shopping at independent stores.

The purpose of this initiative is to secure our customers into the future with a unique competitive point of difference which is to provide a tool that empowers and enables consumers when shopping in our members businesses to make their conscious contribution to reducing their carbon footprint within their communities and the Australian community. Consumers will be rewarded with a unique loyalty program involving carbon offset points earned by purchasing planet friendly products and services that will be sequestered once used, by redeeming planet friendly items for the carbon offset points earned. There is an exciting year of MiPlanet development ahead.

This exciting and defining sustainability initiative designed to enable the growth in customer foot traffic in our members businesses and lift MGA members to a standing of being sustainability leaders within the communities in which they trade. Many other matters have been addressed in the various States and Territories as can be seen further on in this report. We are privileged as an organisation to be invited to meetings and forums, representing our members, for consultation on a breadth of issues and matters.

The future is exceptionally bright for MGA TMA with exciting plans afoot to refresh and reposition the MGA TMA branding and to further lift the organisation into an aspirational association that family and private business owners are proud to be a member of.

Next year is the year of member engagement driving to maintain, retain, and grow membership for MGATMA.

Thank you for the privilege of leading this terrific organisation.

Jos de Bruin | CEO MGA TMA

Back Row. L-R: Jos de Bruin CEO MGA TMA, MGA Board members: Grant Hinchcliffe, Ripple Parekh, Jeff Harper, Lincoln Wymer. Front Row. L-R: Ross Anile, Graeme Gough, Chris dos Santos, Terry Slaughter, Debbie Smith (President) and Peter Alexander (MGA TMA Management Committee President)