Alliance Airlines Magazine - Feb/March 2019

february/march 2019

AusBiz.

The real Aussie business mag

WONDERS

Explore Kangaroo Island NRL & AFL: The Big Qs What’s on the horizon for the 2019 seasons

Amazing Albany

Whisky, wine and nature around this historic seaside city

Introducing Erizon Revegetation & dust suppression experts

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Welcome.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL As you settle back into your post-holiday routine, we’d like to assure you that the team at Alliance remains focused on delivering the highest levels of safety, reliability and comfort for our passengers.

2018 proved to be a busy year for the Alliance Airlines team, with over 34,612 hours flown – the most flight hours in the company’s history – with more than 1.5 million passengers carried on Alliance aircraft across both Australia and New Zealand.

The safe transportation of our passengers and providing a safe work environment for our employees and contractors continues to be our number-one priority. Over the past 12 months Alliance has maintained its excellent safety and compliance record notwithstanding the increased level of activity. Our industry-leading on-time performance of 95 per cent could not be achieved without the hard work of so many different parts of our business, as well as our valued service providers. I’d like to thank every team member at Alliance for their contribution in 2018. Maintaining the high standards our clients expect could not have occurred if it wasn’t for the dedication and hard work of the whole team.

2019 promises to be a bigger and better year to further diversify our business and underpin future growth. We are excited about the future and look forward to making your journey and experience with us more enjoyable. If you are interested in aircraft charters or have any feedback, visit our website at allianceairlines.com.au or email us at media@allianceairlines.com.au.

Lee Schofield Chief Executive Officer

EDITORIAL

Publisher: Michelle Hespe

publisher@publishingbychelle.com Art Director: Jon Wolfgang Miller Lifestyle & Travel Sales Manager: Sonja Halstead sonja.halstead@publishingbychelle.com AusBiz. Sales Manager: Effe Sandas advertising@publishingbychelle.com Sub Editors: Claire Hey, Shane Cubis Editorial Assistant: Sarah Hinder editorial@publishingbychelle.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Michelle Atkinson Ben Smithurst Darren Baguley Sarah Hinder Lisa Smyth Jac Taylor

PRINTING

SOS Print + Media 65 Burrows Road, Alexandria, NSW, 2015

february/march 2019

AusBiz.

The real Aussie business mag

WONDERS

Explore Kangaroo Island NRL & AFL: The Big Qs What is on the horizon for the 2019 seasons

Amazing Albany

Whisky, wine and nature around this historic seaside city

Introducing Erizon Revegetation & dust suppression experts

1300 040 050 Environment ISO 14001

Quality ISO 9001

Alliance is published by Publishing ByChelle (ABN: 78 621 375 853 ACN: 621 375 853) Suite 8, Level 8, 100 Walker Street North Sydney, NSW, 2060 (02) 9954 0349 publishingbychelle.com The reproduction of any content, in whole or part without prior written permission by the publisher, Michelle Hespe, is strictly prohibited. Opinions expressed in the content are those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of the publisher. All information in this magazine was believed to be correct at the time of publication, and all reasonable efforts have been made to contact copyright holders.

Publishing ByChelle cannot accept unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. If such items are sent to the magazine, they will not be returned. We apologise if we don’t get back to your email, as we do receive a large volume of communication via various online channels. Some images used in Alliance are from istock and Getty images, and we make every effort to credit all contributors.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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33 mother's day gifts

Our wrap-up of thoughtful gifts that mum is sure to love

In this issue. upfront

Features

09 Alliance News

16 NRL & AFL: The Big Questions

Alliance extends its contract with BHP Nickel West, a cornerstone of their presence across Western Australia; Alliance planes transported essential fire fighters to tackle fires throughout regional Queensland; and Alliance is awarded CAPA Asia Pacific Regional Airline of the Year.

13 Entertainment

The latest books, awesome music tours, and cool art exhibitions around our rural, regional and metro Aussie towns.

14 Events Calendar What’s on in cultural and sporting events around the country throughout February and March.

AusBiz.

The top 10 burning questions we can’t wait to have answered by Australia’s biggest football codes in 2019.

Check out AusBiz. at the back of the magazine.

IMAGE OF MINING What’s going on within the industry to bolster its image.

22 Kangaroo Island Adventure This island of pristine wilderness has nature in abundance, as well as world-class food and wine at the stunning Southern Ocean Lodge.

MENTAL HEALTH Fantastic organisations around Australia dedicated to providing support for mental health issues.

28 Exploring Amazing Albany

WAR ON WASTE A discerning look at Australia’s infrastructure for managing waste.

Historic and alluring, the seaside city of Albany in Western Australia is filled with natural and manmade wonders that will take your breath away – plus whisky and wine to boot.

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HUMAN RESOURCES What does HR look like in the technology age?

FEB/MARCH 2019

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image: cape willoughby lighthouse, kangaroo island.

PUBLISHER’S

We hope you’re enjoying your flight today. Aside from our entertaining feature on NRL and AFL in this issue, we’re pleased to be highlighting some places that make for great Aussie foodie getaways: Kangaroo Island and Albany.

If you’ve never been to Kangaroo Island, rest assured that it’s not only one of the most photogenic places in Australia, it’s also an awesome place for a romantic food-based getaway for two, or for an adventurous holiday where you can truly get back to nature, with sea lions, koalas and kangaroos galore.

Albany, which is also tucked down at the bottom of Australia, has some of the most stunning coastline you will ever set eyes upon. If you’ve watched the film Breath, based on the novel of the same name by Tim Winton, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

And the food. My goodness, the food and drink offerings in these two parts of the country are world-class, and both have festivals to celebrate the indulgent offerings that they are both famous for. There’s the KI Food Safari on Kangaroo Island in July, where you can treat yourself to a delicious long weekend packed with gourmet adventures, long lunches, cooking masterclasses and visits to Kangaroo Island’s community of artisan producers.

This year, you can join Executive Chef Asher Blackford, Africola’s Duncan Welgemoed and Mitolo Wines’ Tom Jack, who, together present a fresh take on the famous event.

Over in WA there’s the Taste Great Southern Food & Wine Festival that runs from April 4th to the 14th. For 14 years this event has been celebrating the amazing food, wine, people and attractions of the Great Southern, and it boasts more than 30 culinary experiences, such as long lunches, degustations, premium pairings, festivals, community markets, free events, award-winning wine, fantastic local produce, amazing chefs and more. Foodies will be happy to know that they can meet TV presenter chef, Adam Liaw, and local chef and TV star, Anna Gare.

We’re so lucky in Australia to have such incredible produce, and this attracts amazing chefs from all over the world. So next time you’re planning a trip, why not make food the focus, and eat your way through a delicious part of this great country.

Michelle Hespe

@ALLIANCE _ MAG /ALLIANCEAIRLINESMAG FEB/MARCH 2019

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Route Map

Where we fly.

Alliance Airlines is Australia’s leading air charter services operator.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND GROOTE EYLANDT

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WELLINGTON

Private charter flights Alliance Airlines & Virgin Australia commercial flights

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CONTINUING TO SUPPORT REGIONAL QUEENSLAND Our passion for aviation and our commitment to local communities is making a difference with new aviation apprenticeship opportunities available throughout the state.

VI VA

AVI ATI O N

Visit HAWKERPACIFIC.COM to find out more.

Helping airlines get them to their destination With 50 locations around the country and supplying fuel for approximately 1,200 ights a day, we’re providing the aviation industry with the infrastructure needed to keep Australia ying.

Alliance News.

Stay in the know with what’s happening with our airline and in our industry.

BHP Nickel West Contract Update In late November 2018, Alliance announced a contract extension of the air charter services to BHP Nickel West for a further five years. This service, which has been operational since November 2006, was Alliance’s intial service in Western Australia, and has become the cornerstone for Alliance developing a large presence in Western Australia.

Lee Schofield, Alliance’s CEO, said, “As our first contract in Western Australia we appreciate the support that BHP Nickel West afforded us back in 2006, and we continue to provide them with services that are the best on-time performance in the industry.”

“Alliance has worked with BHP Nickel West as a partner in the provision of these services, accommodating changes during the resources downturn, and now we are experiencing growth of up to 17 charters per week as economic conditions continue to improve. As with our other resources customers throughout Australia, we are seeing growth in the number of charters as the current demand for resources is maintained and production increases.”

Mr Schofield further stated, “The Perth base commenced operations in 2006 to service our first customer, BHP Nickel West, and Alliance now undertakes in excess of 7,500 sectors per annum in Western Australia.”

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Alliance News

Photo of the month VH-XWQ arriving into Perth.

Image courtesy of Scott Macander.

Passenger Feedback A big thank you from the NSW Southern Border Team/Albury Rural Fire Fighters for flying us to and from the fires in Queensland – John Riley I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate the excellent service we have received on our flights this year.

We have flown from Brisbane to Rockhampton and return five times, and you have never disappointed. Your cabin crew have always been friendly and professional, making for a relaxed trip every time. Keep up the great work – Gordon and Corinne Layton

Queensland Bush Fire Effort In December 2018, Alliance operated eight additional charter flights in conjunction with regular RPT services into Gladstone, on behalf of the Fire Services from Queensland

and NSW. More than 750 fire fighters were transported over the six days to help battle more than 100 fires throughout regional Queensland. An incredible effort from everyone.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Alliance News

CAPA Asia Pacific Regional Airline of the Year In late 2018, Alliance Airlines was awarded the Asia Pacific Regional Airline of the Year at the 15th annual CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence in Singapore.

CAPA’s Aviation Awards for Excellence recognise success, industry leadership in adjusting to a new environment and demonstrating innovation in the aviation sector. The CAPA Awards are independently researched by CAPA’s leading team of analysts and selected by an independent international panel of eminent judges.

Alliance Airlines was selected for its diverse aviation portfolio offering wet lease, contract and charter flights as well as scheduled passenger services throughout Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and South-East Asia.

Mr Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman of CAPA stated

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ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

that “Alliance has been a strategic standout in the regional segment of the industry over the last three years through their flexibility and innovation.”

Alliance Airlines Chief Executive Officer Lee Schofield accepted the prestigious award, stating, “While fly-in/flyout (FIFO) operations for the resources industry is still an important and growing revenue source, Alliance’s strategy to diversify revenue has been highly successful, leading to improved profitability and increased flying across multiple sectors.

“Alliance Airlines prides itself on the safety, reliability and operational performance of our fleet and to be nominated and selected by various industry participants is a great reflection on Alliance as a company,” Mr Schofield added.

Entertainment.

TOURS Compiled by: Sarah Hinder

Image: Frontier Touring

books

Eagles World Tour

Out now, Simon & Schuster Australia, autobiography.

Frauke first arrived in Kununurra in 1981. This inspiring tale tells the story of how she overcame tragedy to pioneer Kimberley Fine Diamonds — one of the largest collections of Argyle pink diamonds in the world.

MOVE with Billy Slater, Michael Chapman

Out now, Ebury Australia, fitness.

Learn from the best as NRL superstar Billy Slater shares his 32 most effective easy-tofollow bodyweight workouts.

Fun, dynamic and suitable for all ages, the workouts can be completed in a choice of 10, 20 or 30 minutes. No equipment, no excuses.

Old Days, Old Ways, Alex Nicol

March 2019, Allen & Unwin, anthology.

ABC’s first rural radio presenter takes us on a journey back to his good old days in the bush: before TV and the internet. Full of classic Aussie characters, Nicol’s yarns breathe life into the voices and stories of regional Australia.

Image: Herring & Herring

A Diamond in the Dust, Frauke BoltenBoshammer

March 5–14 in Brisbane Qld, Melbourne Vic & Sydney NSW Eagles return to Australia this March with a line-up of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Vince Gill and Deacon Frey. The US rock legends will perform hits from all seven of their studio albums.

ART

Photo: Michael Jalaru Torres at Kooljaman Beach, 2018

Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley

February 9–May 27 at Art Gallery of WA, Perth WA In a culmination of the Art Gallery of WA’s six-year Kimberley visual arts project, this exhibition brings together new and legacy works from six Kimberley art centres and three independent artists, offering visitors a rare experience of the land, artists and art of the Kimberley. artgallery.wa.gov.au desertriversea.com.au

Ozzy Osbourne, No More Tours 2

Aalingoon (Rainbow Serpent) 2018 (detail) ochre pigment on engraved pearl shell thirty-four parts, 182 x 28 cm (overall)

March 9 & 11 in Melbourne Vic & Sydney NSW Ozzy Osbourne returns to Australia for two last wicked shows at Download Festival, performing alongside heavy metal superstars Judas Priest, Slayer, Anthrax, The Amity Affliction and Alice in Chains.

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What's on.

Our pick of the very best gigs, festivals, and cultural and sporting events from around the country.

Image: BCS Imaging

WORDS: Sarah hinder

February 2–10 St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival

Brisbane Qld, Sydney NSW, Adelaide SA, Melbourne Vic & Fremantle WA Providing a platform for local talent and a stage for international heavyweights, Laneway is a fine choice to see contemporary laidback rock. lanewayfestival.com

February 10

St Kilda Festival

Melbourne Vic Australia’s largest free summer celebration sees multiple stages plus workshops, sports, carnival rides and buskers. stkildafestival.com.au

February 8 –March 3 Perth Festival

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ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

February 14–17

ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth

Image: Press Photo

Perth WA A city-wide celebration for all ages, Perth’s major cultural festival presents a diversity of perspectives on the world through theatre, dance, film, and visual and cultural arts. perthfestival.com.au

Perth WA Featuring some of the world’s best golfers, the World Super 6 combines 54 holes of traditional stroke play across three days and a six-hole knockout match play on the final day. worldsuper6perth.com

February 15–March 3

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Sydney NSW This celebration of Australia’s vibrant LGBTQI community culminates with the Mardi Gras Parade and Party on March 2.

The 2019 theme is FEARLESS. mardigras.org.au

February 16

South West Craft Beer Festival

Busselton WA More than 20 local craft breweries from WA’s South West region come together for this chipper day of tastings and live gigs. swbeerfest.com.au

Events Calender

February 23 Rottnest Channel Swim

Rottnest Island & Perth WA In one of Western Australia’s most iconic events, swimmers brave the 19.7 kilometre open water swim from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island. rottnestchannelswim.com.au

Nannup Music Festival

March 1–4

March 9–10

Nannup WA From rock gigs to instrumental masterpieces, this communityminded celebration aims to foster emerging talent and support local artists. nannupmusicfestival.org

Mount Buller Vic This weekend mountain bike festival sees riders of all abilities tackle the breathtaking trails around the Victorian Alps. rapidascent.com.au

Nannup Music Festival

March 1–18

March 14–17

Perth WA This beautiful pop-up sculpture park graces the sands of iconic Cottesloe Beach, featuring works by more than 70 Australian and international artists. sculpturebythesea.com

Ipswich Qld Presenting the world’s best country superstars, this great country rock do welcomes a fantastic international line-up to the heritage city of Ipswich. cmcrocks.com

Sculpture by the Sea

March 3

February 28 –March 3 Superloop Adelaide 500

Adelaide SA Round one of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship series, the Superloop Adelaide 500 is the crown jewel for motorsport Down Under. superloopadl500. com.au

Shimano Bike Buller Festival

Porongurup Wine Festival

Porongurup WA This family-friendly wine tasting festival showcases the best wine labels around the Porongurup region. porongurup.com

March 3–17

Brunswick Music Festival Melbourne Vic Kicking off with the Sydney Road Street Party Parade, Brunswick’s artistic spaces, streets and sidewalks set the stage for emerging artists. brunswickmusicfestival.com.au

CMC Rocks

March 14–17

Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix

Melbourne Vic One of the biggest events on the Aussie sporting calendar, the race marks the first round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in an exciting and glamorous event. grandprix.com.au

March 30–31

X-Adventure Dunsborough

Dunsborough WA Participants swim, trail run and mountain bike in this mix of triathlon and adventure racing. rapidascent.com.au FEB/MARCH 2019

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Sports

… we can’t wait to see answered by Australia’s biggest football codes in 2019. Because there’s nothing like the smell of liniment in the morning.

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WORDS: ben smithurst | ILLUSTRATIONS: anna farrell

NRL: How last can the Cowboys come without JT? Can they come double last?

Perma-chuckling football superhero Johnathan Thurston was, like fellow great modern halves and captains Andrew Johns or Brad Fittler, a player so good that players around him were inevitably infected with genius. But when Fittler and Johns retired, their teams went from minor premiers/top four finishers respectively to missing the finals. In 2018, with JT as captain, the Cowboys barely scraped into the top 13. In 2019, how last can they come without him? With Parramatta still playing, the Dogs haemorrhaging hope and the Tigers sans (any) Clearys, things may look up.

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ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

Sports

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NRL: Will Wayne Bennett do a ‘Knights’ or a ‘Dragons’ on South Sydney?

The trans-season coach swap between South Sydney and Brisbane mentors Anthony Seibold and Wayne Bennett was messier than a Charlie Sheen sneeze and almost as expensive. Seibold has been a one-season supercoach, despite looking like a man-sized gummy bear; Bennett, who appears to be a proto-Ent from Lord of the Rings, has won six titles, but his years away from the Broncos

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have been mixed. He took the long-suffering Dragons to a title in 2010, before defecting to dismantle Newcastle from within in 2012-14.

Now he’s at Souths, perhaps the NRL’s proudest club, with a rolledgold roster. If the Bunnies go badly, the Souths fanbase will make the Battle of the Five Armies look like a pavlova recipe tiff at the CWA. Legend he may be, but Bennett’s reputation is on the line.

AFL: Will beloved-of-his-players Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson’s mental pendulum swing through ‘innovative left-field genius’ or ‘unhinged anger merchant’ this year?

Or both? After three straight flags from 2013-15, the Hawks had a weird pair of seasons in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, despite losing triple-premiership players Brian Lake and David Hale, and roughheaded Jarryd Roughead out indefinitely fighting melanoma, they were bundled out of the finals by the dream run of fairytale title winners, the Bulldogs. In 2016, Clarkson traded Jordan Lewis and Sam Mitchell, lost by 75 points to the freakin’ Giants, and started the season so poorly that after nine rounds they seemed as likely to make the finals as they were to fly a cheese spaceship to the moon. Then staged a giant finals run. Having joined the club in 2005, and moulded it in his image, Clarko – by turns a wall-punching ball of anger and a shrewd tactical leader of men – is one of modern football’s great innovative leaders.

In 2019 he’ll plan on building on 2018, with a new-look team that includes Tom Scully and Chad Wingard. But if they fail, his meltdowns may be just as interesting.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Sports

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NRL: Who got the best of off-season Musical Chairs?

Cronulla lost Val Holmes to the NFL but re-signed Deep Intellectual Thinker Paul Gallen, who now has the chance to be the first NRL player to be a perfect geometric cube and simultaneously eligible for the age pension.

Then New Zealand’s Warriors, insanely, fired mercurial football genius Shaun Johnson out of their joblessness cannon, because their on-field strategy of “just do something weird” has infected the boardroom – only for him to join the Sharks.

Canberra’s Raiders signed nobody, instead choosing to hope Josh Hodgson stays healthy, but couldn’t hold on to Junior Paulo and Blake Austin. The Dogs lost consistent, hairless, hair-brained lunatic David Klemmer to the Knights and signed inconsistent red-haired lunatic Dylan Napa from the Roosters. The Panthers kept most of their team, resigned their Easter Island hardheaded halfback Nathan Cleary and re-signed his coach father, Ivan, from the forlorn Tigers.

It was all very dizzying and weird.

Who got the best of the offseason? Probably the Knights. Or – having signed Angus Crighton, from Souths – the Roosters.

It’s anyone’s year… again.

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ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

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NRL: Can the Chooks go back-to-back?

Statistically, the short answer is almost certainly: “No.” The last (non-Super League) team to win consecutive premierships was Brisbane in 1992 and 1993 – but there’s something about the Roosters. Specifically, that something is a team list that should be doing to the salary cap what the Hulk’s calves do to Bruce Banner’s slacks. Six players made the 2018 World XIII, announced in December – including boom centres Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu, halves Luke Keary and Cooper Cronk, star fullback James Tedesco and wormhole-chinned Easts/ NSW/Australia captain Boyd Cordner. The GF was arguably the first time the team had gelled properly all year, and they carried Cronk throughout the game with a 15-centimetre crack in his shoulder blade. Add a brilliant coach (beetrootfaced stoic Trent Robinson) and rising stars such as airborne-tackling lunatic Victor Radley, and they’ll be harder to stop than an unwanted state government stadium demolition.

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AFL: Will Richmond bounce back to win another flag, provided Dustin Martin isn’t deported

by Peter Dutton in some sort of father/son rule?

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AFL: How will the Demons engineer a 55th straight disappointing season with such pre-season promise on paper?

Founded in 1858, Melbourne proudly touts itself as “the world’s oldest professional club of any football code”, but for an operation that’s 161 years old, they’ve had a quiet half a century. The Dees’ last premiership was 55 years ago, but a comprehensive preliminary final belting after a top-five finish in 2018 should – on paper – hold the lesson they need to start a year with something they usually don’t: hope. Which is usually the catalyst for the Demons to leap sideways into the undergrowth. How will they screw it up? Will Max Gawn snag his beard on one of the many sharp edges of Sam Weideman, a man so angular he looks like a sock full of coathangers? Will Simon Goodwin pop back down to the TAB for the first time in a decade? Will super-ginger Clayton Oliver burst into flames when exposed to sunlight? Wait and see.

Sports

Squat, short and violent, football legend Leigh Matthews is as canny an AFL pundit as he was great a player – which was very. The ’tache-toting tough man described Tigers wonderboy Dustin Martin’s 2017 as the greatest ever individual season had by anyone, which if anything is slightly ungenerous.

Two seasons ago the Tigers won the title, and Martin took home the Brownlow, the Norm Smith Medal, the Gary Ayres Medal for the best player in the finals and the Jack Dyer Medal – his second. If, like teammate Nathan Broad, Martin were to photograph (and moronically distribute) a shot of his season’s medal haul hanging between a superfan’s breasts, she’d need a wider sternum. Martin’s heavily tattooed, hard-as-nails approach probably comes from his father – an NZ-born Maori bikie deported to Auckland on “character grounds”. If he fires again, it’ll take a Border Force intervention on made-up father/ son rule grounds to stop the Tigers. And considering AFL boss Gillon McLachlan had Border Force tsar Peter Dutton personally intervene to get him a French au pair, that seems unlikely. West Coast’s biggest obstacle if they want to go back-to-back.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Sports

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AFL: Is the Gold Coast a basket case so cane-based and basketty that the AFL should just give up?

Cross-code evidence suggests that the Gold Coast is best avoided, with the AFL pouring money into an area in a hearts-and-minds battle with the rugby league that seems to be being won by, er, neither code. Probably because both teams underperform as consistently as the

Washington Generals. The Gold Coast has lost star players and are facing another long year in a town that, ironically, is yet to warm to the Suns.

Could do worse than recruit retired local surf hero Mick Fanning – at least he shows some fight while away from home in the wet.

AFL: How will Greater Western Sydney cope with losing players?

Entering the AFL as a new team has many slowburning advantages, most of which result in assembling a young team of potential champions that mature together. But having come into the competition in 2012, the Giants went backwards in 2018, being knocked out of the finals a week earlier than 2016 and 2017. Now they’ve begun to manage their list, losing some quality players – but keeping an exciting roster of young stars, including Jeremy Cameron and Josh Kelly, who reportedly knocked back $11 million from North Melbourne, because he is mad. That’s a lot of cash to reject to live in Penrith. Still, their prospects are good, although with even tougher retention decisions looming, they need to win – soon.

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ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

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Sports

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NRL: Will Homebush ever not suck?

It’s officially known as Stadium Australia or ANZ Stadium, sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stadium, Homebush Stadium or the Olympic Stadium, and colloquially most often called an enormous, souldestroying turd. But whatever its name, the 83,500-seat stinker in Sydney’s west is a great place to watch sport like jamming your fist into an InSinkErator is a great way to enjoy a manicure. The SFS, in Moore Park, is much finer ground, but still a bit shit, being more than 30 years old. And so NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian probably thought there

were sure votes in demolishing the SFS and upgrading Homebush. But the public decided they’d prefer that $2 billion to go to, you know, hospitals and schools (socialists!), and it may all go down to the wire before the March 2019 election. “The NRL are saying that if they don’t get a new stadium at Moore Park then they will take the Grand Final away, but they don’t even play it at Moore Park,” argued NSW opposition leader Michael ‘Who?’ Daley in December.

But if the Roosters play at the terrible-for-NRL SCG in 2019, their already fickle crowds will disappear. Good luck, Steggleses.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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WONDERS

'Wildly peaceful' may seem like a contradiction in terms, but Kangaroo Island seamlessly merges many wild wonders with an extraordinary sense of peace.

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WORDS: Michelle Hespe ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

Off the Grid

fast fact Fur seals and sea lions are members of the Otariidae family, distinguished from true seals by external ears and forward-rotating hind flippers, which assist with movement over land.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Off the Grid

bout half-an-hour’s drive from Kangaroo Island’s Kingscote Airport, many travellers stop to take photos of a motley crew of mailboxes that belong to the residents of Vivonne Bay. Not all of them were actually mailboxes in their former lives.

Granted, there are some made in the more traditional manner – a study box on a post with a pitched tin roof – but the others were once bar fridges, oil drums, doghouses, microwaves… and there’s even an old dryer. “The dryer and the doghouse are great due to their capaciousness,” says our minibus driver. “And they’re also critter-proof!”

My partner and I take some photos, and before we board the coach I read a little note that someone has written in bright yellow paint on a scrap of green metal: “If you live on Kangaroo Island, you’re better off than 99.9 per cent of the population.” I smile, thinking that this trip to the bottom of Australia is going to surprise us in many more ways over the coming days.

One third of this remote 4400 square kilometre island is devoted to nature reserves, and with a population of only 4700, the locals have plenty of room to move.

Kangaroo Island’s reputation has long intrigued me: it’s known for its wild and woolly weather and just as wild seas, its beautifully rugged landscapes, fabulous organic produce and the 1500 Aussie species that call it home: koalas, wombats, wallabies, sea lions, New Zealand fur seals, echidnas, Cape Barren geese, and the tiger and pygmy copperhead snakes among them. We’ve already noted the tiger snakes here are larger and more venomous than their mainland counterparts, and agree it’s a good thing I’m quite a stomper when bushwalking.

And, of course, the island is known for its roos. The creatively named Kangaroo Island kangaroos are found only here, and with no natural predators, they’re the slowest moving of the species. Closely related to the western grey kangaroo, they’re typically smaller and sturdier, with thicker, darker brown coats. Basically, they’re cuter than mainland kangaroos.

Despite its name, many people visit Kangaroo Island to see Australia’s undeniably cutest marsupial, the koala, in its natural habitat. There are tens of thousands of them living on KI, so you’re almost guaranteed to see one awake and climbing about. In the 1920s, 18 koalas were

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Off the Grid

taken across to Kangaroo Island as a precaution to prevent their extinction. However, due to the lack of predators and an abundance of their favourite food – gum leaves – their numbers were soon out of control.

A single koala eats 200-500 grams of leaves a day, so they have literally been eating themselves out of a home. Today koalas have to be desexed and some relocated in order to keep the numbers under control. Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is the best place to see a sustainable population in the wild. We take some wonderful photos of koalas on the move, and of many slouching about as they’re known to do.

As native animals are in such abundance on Kangaroo Island, some visitors opt to be amongst it all in the many small lodges, hotels, cabins, caravan parks, campgrounds and private rentals dotted around the island. Others (like us) don’t want to miss out on the fine food, wine and other luxurious offerings of Southern Ocean Lodge, named fourth-best hotel in the world in the US’s Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2016 World’s Best Awards.

Stepping through the lodge’s grand entrance at the end of a timber walkway, away from the whipping winds that have me blushing and the native shrubs dancing, there is

no doubt in my mind as to why so many people talk about this place. It’s not easy to take in the 1548 square metre architectural spectacle, which slices through the blanket of lime green native vegetation like the elegant wing of a gigantic jumbo jet, without our mouths hanging open.

Perfect timing, then, when a lady approaches us bearing flutes of champagne upon a silver platter and canapés that get us excited about the lunch to come later.

Champers in hand, we are guided to lovely leather seats positioned before the astounding view – three-metre floorto-ceiling glass windows that make us feel as though we are perched on the edge of the world.

Designed by award-winning Adelaide firm Max Pritchard, the building is like a reflective mood ring. From dawn to dusk and throughout the night, it absorbs the surrounding world’s inherent energy, converting it into something that has the power to move anyone who steps into it. Everything, from the pale timber bespoke Khai Liew lamps and furniture to the leaf collages by local designer Janine Mackintosh, and the seats made for taking in these unbelievable views, was chosen to create an oasis where nature is always centre stage, and relaxing is the aim of the game.  FEB/MARCH 2019

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Off the Grid

The manager assures us there are plenty of activities on the island, but it’s also perfectly acceptable (and encouraged) to slip into typical Southern Ocean Lodge life: late breakfasts, followed by a leisurely activity, a threecourse lunch with perfectly paired wines, perhaps another activity, afternoon canapés and après-activity drinks, followed by dinner and dessert, paired with more fine wines. Guests can help themselves to most of the wines in the cellar, and other topnotch tipples (think Henschke Hill of Grace, Penfolds Grange and the best Bourdeaux) are available upon request.

We decide upon three of Kangaroo Island’s most iconic activities during our three-day stay: visiting a sea lion colony in Seal Bay, taking in the Remarkable Rocks, and venturing into the wonderful world of Admirals Arch.

At Seal Bay Conservation Park you’ll find an enormous colony of sea lions. Our guide explains they’re called a raft when on the water and a rookery when breeding. We’re in luck as breeding season has passed and we arrive after nap time, when thousands of sea lion pups are loping about after their mothers like cheeky cherub-faced cartoons.

A winding wooden walkway takes visitors through scrubland that the sea lions call home, and out on to the beach where white sand, blue skies and unspoiled vistas sprawl in every direction. Life has not changed here for these creatures for thousands of years – their home is how it has always been, albeit with streams of people taking photos and smiling at their antics. There are sleeping sea lions everywhere: crashed out in the dunes, lying about on the beach, exhausted after hunting sprees in the ocean. There are warning signs about not getting too close, and for good reason – a protective bull can weigh up to 350 kilograms!

You can’t go to Kangaroo Island without paying a visit to

the Remarkable Rocks in Flinders Chase National Park. A stunning ensemble of boulders atop a granite dome, they’re Mother Nature’s version of Sculpture by the Sea. Formed during the post-Cambrian period around 500 million years ago, the unusually beautiful shapes and vibrant colouring were caused by rain penetrating the upper layer of the rock, decomposing it into separate boulders. The wind, waves and lichen have since worked wonders, resulting in one of the most photographed natural spectacles in South Australia.

Just when you thought one remote island could not have been bestowed with more astounding natural beauty, enter Admirals Arch – a partly underground world of ancient caves where the wind, rain and waves have created a natural bridge with stalactites adorning its underside like jagged chandeliers. Designated as a significant geological monument, the site attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors a year. The New Zealand fur seals love this rocky playground’s sheltered ledges – there are usually hundreds of the creatures cavorting about.

On our last evening at Southern Ocean Lodge – where we’ve made friends, fallen in love with the chef and indulged in some of South Australia’s finest wines – a storm rolls in, and we are able to experience the wild weather that this part of the world is renowned for, while cosy in our luxurious suite, seated in the large window as though we’re before a stage. The ocean is spread out like a dark, tumultuous JMW Turner oil painting created with layer upon layer of heavy brush lashes.

As a blood orange sunset explodes beneath the gathering black clouds, we are in complete awe of nature. Framed by our window looking out at the edge of the world, we feel small in comparison to the show unfolding before us, but never more alive.

“As a blood orange sunset explodes beneath the gathering black clouds, we are in complete awe of nature.”

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The award winning National Anzac Centre is one of Australia’s most important cultural pilgrimages.

Located within Albany’s heritage listed Princess Royal Fortress, the Centre overlooks the harbour from which over 41,000 men and women departed Australia for the Great War. For many this would be their last glimpse of Australia.

Follow the stories of these incredible men and women through interactive visual and audible displays.

Plan your visit today at www.nationalanzaccentre.com.au

Getaway

In and around the city of Albany you’ll find natural and manmade wonders to take your breath away.

WORDS: Michelle Hespe | IMAGES: Tourism Western Australia

A m a z i n g

ALBANY

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MIND THE GAP

Thirty million years ago, Antarctica and Australia were still joined at the point where Albany’s stunningly rugged coastline now juts out into the Great Southern Ocean. Together the two vast lands formed part of the super-continent called Gondwana. From where my partner and I now stand at 'The Gap', looking out across the jagged cliffs rising majestically from the sea, it looks as though a ginormous granite jigsaw puzzle has been ripped apart by the powerful force of the ocean.

We picked the perfect day for a dramatic show.

I’m leaning on the guard rail above The Gap, which is now more accessible than ever thanks to a $6 million makeover that includes a cantilever platform stretching 10 metres out from the cliff’s edge, soaring 40 metres above sea level. As we stare, transfixed by Mother Nature, the ferocious whitewash far below

is being sucked out to sea, leaving a glistening, polished 24-metre chasm momentarily covered in hundreds of waterfalls. Then another set of waves hits the cliffs so hard that the massive eruption of white water obscures the view of the coast before us, the explosion followed by a shower of light rain.

Then almost quietly – at least in comparison to the thunderous noise still ringing in our ears – the waves once again retreat into the ocean.

As wave after wave seems to beat the height of the one before it, it’s hard to tear your eyes away.

Eventually, though, we make room for a busload of people jostling for a front-row view and stroll through the spectacular granite rock formations of Torndirrup National Park – they’re artfully draped in green, purple and orange lichen and low-lying scrub. It’s a photographer’s paradise. 

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Getaway

MAGIC AT MAITRAYA As we drive into the heart of Albany a rainbow appears, arching elegantly over the city – this part of the world is known as the Rainbow Coast because they’re a regular occurrence.

We drive on half an hour to Maitraya Private Retreat – one of the most beautiful, grand, secluded, privately owned properties in Australia – to meet its proud owner, Rick Fenny, the Desert Vet. The property sits on 650 acres and has its own extremely private beaches, where it’s rumoured Lady Gaga felt so relaxed that she wandered along the sand naked.

The homestead has eight suites, 11 bathrooms, a 20-seat movie theatre, a heli-pad and private airstrip, an indoor heated pool complete with a spa bath enclosure painted by John Olsen, and a beautiful, enormous indoor garden and

the property sits on 650 acres and has its own extremely private beaches.

conservatory entertaining area.

The property also has a fishing lodge perched on a hillside with spectacular 360-degree views over Taylor Inlet and the Southern Ocean.

It has five bedrooms, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better place for a fishing or birdwatching holiday, or just a relaxing getaway for family and friends. A short stroll across the paddocks, next to the airstrip, you’ll find the quaint Aviator’s Cottage. It sleeps four but is also ideal for a couple’s romantic getaway.

At Maitraya we spend our days walking along the beaches, bushwalking, going for a fish in the dam and on the coast, and absorbing the beauty and tranquillity of place that sums up the astounding natural wonders of this incredibly special part of Western Australia.

HISTORY & MYSTERY Albany is as rich in history as it is with adventure, and there are two places anyone curious about the past should visit to gain an understanding of how this Western Australian outpost developed into the cultural hub it is today.

We spend a few hours at the National Anzac Centre – established to honour the men and women who sacrificed their lives in World War I. You could spend an entire day here, and many do. The architecturally designed centre offers a dramatic, telescopic view overlooking the location from where, in late 1914, 41,000 troops on more than 50 ships departed to serve in the Great War. Many thousands of them did not return.

The $10.6 million award-winning facility uses multimedia, interactive technology and historical artefacts to create an incredibly personal connection with the past. We’re given a card with a man’s photo and name on it – a real person who went to war from this spot. We then move through the centre, placing the card on posts equipped with readers that give you details of what your man went through, taking you through his entire experience until the end of the war, where you find out if he came home or died overseas.

It’s a harrowing, humbling, moving experience, and we made sure we had tissues on hand. Until April, visitors are also able to enjoy an immersive art installation by Bruce Munro gently illuminating the Avenue of Honour at Mount Clarence in homage to the Anzacs.

Although it’s quite confronting to explore a ship and a factory where whales were once slaughtered, we also visit the Historic Whaling Station. Originally called Whale World, it opened in 1980, after Cheynes Beach Whaling Company (the last whaling company to cease operations in Australia) was shut down in 1978. Albany has a 178-year history of whaling, and so we immerse ourselves in the stories of the workers, the whales, and how they affected the economic and social history of the city. As they say at the museum: “It is not always a pleasant story, but we believe it is a really important story to share with visitors.”

On a brighter note, due to this region being one of the main thoroughfares for the annual migration of humpback and southern right whales and the rare blue whale, from June until October the whale watching is some of the best in Australia , and today there’s no shortage of whales to marvel at. 

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WINE TIME We can’t visit the Great Southern wine region without sampling some produce, so we take a 40-minute drive through the countryside to the quaint town of Mount Barker, where iconic Plantagenet Wines is based. In 1968 Englishman Tony Smith bought a small farm in the area called Bouverie.

He planted Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and six years later those grapes were picked and turned into internationally acclaimed wines. In 1999 the winery was bought by Western Australia’s oldest family business, Lionel Samson & Son, which was a marriage made in heaven as the family business specialised in industrial packaging and flexitanks for moving liquid in containers. Perfect. The company also ran a wine and beer wholesale distribution business, and even more conveniently for wine distribution, an international and national transport/freight company.

Today you can visit the beautiful cellar door with its huge heavy wooden doors, befitting of a regally stamped winery (the three dragons of the House of Plantagenet royal family adorn the label), and enjoy a delicious light meal or wine tasting. Or, do as we did and combine the experiences by ordering a flight of wines with a platter for two.

FACT FILE • Maitraya Retreat and Fishing Lodge maitraya.com • National ANZAC Centre nationalanzaccentre.com.au • Historic Whaling Station discoverybay.com.au/ historic-whaling-station • Plantagenet Wines plantagenetwines.com • Limeburners distillery.com.au

WHISKY WONDERS

You might have heard of Limeburners whisky as it’s made quite a splash on the spirits scene since its “Darkest Winter” was crowned 2018 Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year by one of the most famous whisky critics in the world – Jim Murray – in his self-named Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.

If you’re a whisky lover you’ll know that the main issue an enthusiastic taster faces when they decide to try a few of the top drops is that you can only have one shot all up and still drive! Owner and founder of Limeburners, Cameron Syme, has addressed this conundrum by opening an impressively large whisky distillery in the Porongurups (the oldest mountain range in the world) with simple accommodation. The distillery, located 30 minutes out of Albany, is a former winery nestled into open paddocks with the famous mountain range creating a magnificent backdrop. The immaculately presented donga-style cabins surround a fire pit, perfect for an evening in the forest, sipping on the fine stuff.

Meanwhile in town Cameron and his team have created a distillery and tasting bar where their gins and Tiger Snake bourbon can also be sampled and purchased. It has one of the best views in Albany, sitting on Frenchman Bay Road overlooking the Princess Royal Harbour.

That remarkable harbour is the heart of Albany really – history was created on it, and today the natural and manmade wonders that surround it have led to this special city and area being rightfully dubbed: Amazing Albany.

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Mother’s Day Gifts

Mother’s Day gift guide Find the perfect gift for Mum.

1. Florae Cosmetics Bags by Ecology

Compiled by: Sarah Hinder

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Inspired by the intriguing native flora of Australian bushland and curated to compliment the beauty of a picturesque native landscape, this Florae cosmetic bag collection makes for stylish travel. $44.95, ecologyhomewares.com.au

2. Rare Carafe & Radiant Glasses by Puik

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Inspired by the scarcity of water, designer Lara Van Der Lugt believes we need to start cherishing the resource like diamonds. This eyecatching set – great for sangria, wine, punch or whisky – is made from mouth-blown crystal glass, which catches the light in the manner of a real diamond.

Carafe $88, set of two glasses $63, top3.com.au

3. manly spirits coastal citrus gin A summer gin perfect for those balmy nights where a refreshing G&T is in order. Flavours of Lemon Aspen, Sea Parsley, Lemon Myrtle, Fresh Corriander Leaf and Meyer Lemon give this lovely, fresh gin earthy lemon notes with herbaceous undertones. It has a juniper core with a lingering finish. $80 (delivered in a gift box) manlyspirits.com.au

4. Smeg Citrus Juicer This ‘50s-style juicer is a premium appliance designed to make the juicing process clean and simple. Made from stainless steel, it has a 70 watt motor with a built-in sensor, and is available in seven colours. $219, davidjones.com.au, harveynorman.com.au

FEB/MARCH 2019

Mother’s Day Gifts

5. Live Whole Coconut Yoga Mat Made from 100 per cent natural tree rubber and reinforced with coconut coir fibre, this yoga mat is durable and easy to grip, as well as biodegradable, fair trade and sustainable.

For every mat sold, Live Whole buys back acres of land for conservation in partnership with the Rainforest Trust conservation society. $99, livewholeyoga.com

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6. Botanica Boutique Biodome

7. Intrinsic Hello Gorgeous Scarf

8. Eco Bottle by Independent Studios

Designed with ideal conditions for growing small plants, ferns and mosses, this aesthetic vivarium has an opening at the top to enable watering and airflow – great for both temperate and tropical plants. $199, top3.com.au

Designed in South Australia and made in India, this lightweight fine cotton scarf brightens up any outfit with its colourful haze of pink and turquoise, a touch of gold, and fun tassels. $49.99, intrinsiconline.com

Liquid will stay cool in these stylish, double-walled ceramic bottles that have a broad opening, making them fantastic for smoothies and easy to clean. They hold 325 millilitres and come with a wooden lid. $24.95, birdsnest.com.au

Mother’s Day Gifts

9. Cheeseporn Cheese Board by DOIY Made from acacia wood, this interesting cheese board comes with two golden-hued stainless steel knives that have integrated magnets to keep the knives attached to the board for ease of use. The knives are what make the cheese board unique, with small decorative holes that allude to Swiss cheese. $69.95, until.com.au

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10. May Gibbs Blossom Gardening Gloves by Ecology These May Gibbs by Ecology gardening gloves will pull on Mum’s heart strings, remembering a childhood with May Gibbs’ Snugglepot and Cuddlepie stories. $16.95, ecologyhomewares.com.au

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11. Corkcicle Stemless Wine Tumbler

12. Giniversity Gift Pack

Mum loves her wine? This stemless, triple-insulated wine cup is made for wine on-the-go. These handy cups can go where glass can’t. They also include a lid, and keep beverages cool for nine hours and hot for three hours. $24.95, mrandmrsjones.com.au

This lovely gift pack is the perfect way for mum to try all three of the most popular Ginversity gins. The pack includes individual 100 millilitre bottles of London Dry Gin, Botanical Gin and Barrel Aged Gin. $55, distillery.com.au FEB/MARCH 2019

NATURE IN A BOTT LE

Mothers’s Day Gifts

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13. Kate Spade Ballpoint Pen in Gift Box

15. Bush Gifts by Bush Heritage Australia

This refillable, metal pen in a matching paper gift box reads: “There are always flowers for those who want to see them”, inside the lid. $69.95, mrandmrsjones. com.au

For a meaningful gift with a feel-good factor, Bush Heritage Australia’s range of gift cards, featuring beautiful photography of Australian native species, are a thoughtful gift for the ecoconscious mum. Each Bush Gift card, e-card or PDF certificate support Bush Heritage’s work on the ground, from managing fire, invasive weeds and feral animals, to planting trees, restoring habitats for native birds and critters, and protecting vulnerable Australian flora and fauna.

Bush Gifts range $15-$200, bushheritage.org.au/bushgifts

14. Intrinsic Beautiful Angel Bracelet In pretty hues of pink, turquoise, green and yellow, this beaded bracelet is handmade in India and designed in South Australia.

The bracelet arrives nestled in a gold foil embellished jewellery box. $34.99, intrinsiconline.com

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16. Tondo Mortar & Pestle Swedish designer Jessika Kalleskog presents this fresh new design for a kitchen device that has been used since ancient times. Both a sculpture and a tool, Tondo forms a calmer motion that the classic mortar and pestle. $299.95, designhousestockholm. com

FEB/MARCH 2019

Mother’s Day Gifts

17. Noritake Sixties This new range of drinking glasses, created by IVV artisans in Tuscany, is available in sets of six.

Each glass features a unique geometric design inspired by a female icon of the 1960s, including Jackie Onassis, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin, Audrey Hepburn, Raquel Welch and Yoko Ono. Clear $144, Leaf Green, Smoke & Indigo $151, noritake.com.au

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18. Hummingbirds Wall Art by IXXI

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IXXI presents an innovative way to display works of art in any room.

The Dutch-designed system, made up of individual squares and connectors, is supplied in a compact box with assembly tools.

Made in the Netherlands, IXXI cards are 0.33 millimetres thick and made from high-quality synthetic material, Synaps, which is waterproof, durable and UV-resistant. $125, until.com.au

19. Lumio Rechargeable Booklight This book-like booklight creates an ambient glow for reading at night.

With the option to either lay open like a book or to form a full bright circle, Lumio’s latest creation is USB-rechargeable, with a battery that provides up to eight hours of full charge with continuous use. $318, top3.com.au

20. Blunt Umbrellas

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Striving to change the ‘throwaway’ culture of umbrellas, Blunt’s design is about workmanship and sustainability, meaning its canopy will not tear at the tips or easily turn inside-out in windy weather. $99-$179, bluntumbrellas.com.au FEB/MARCH 2019

DOMETIC CFX SERIES

The ultimate cooling performance The CFX series is the next generation of powerful compressor portable fridge/freezers that keeps food and drinks cold or frozen for longer. With generous gross capacity, these portable fridge/freezers can store fresh food and drinks effortlessly, perfect when you need extra refrigeration for your summer get-togethers or holidays. The series includes a variety of sizes ranging from an ultra-compact model to a large model with two separate temperature zones for simultaneous cooling and freezing.

For more information visit dometic.com or freecall 1800 21 21 21. *Suitable on Android or iOS phone or tablet. Excludes CFX 28.

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Controlled via WiFi app*

AusBiz.

NEWS+VIEWS | MINING | AGRIBUSINESS | INFRASTRUCTURE

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05 P.5 renovating the image of mining P.10 mental health organisations P.16 infrastructure: war on waste P.22 hr in the modern age P.28 business: pecans and macadamias P.34 australian distilleries

Business News+Views

Business News+Views Bringing you the latest insights and analysis.

WORDS: Sarah Hinder

AERIAL DUST SUPPRESSION A P P L I C AT I O N .

Australia-wide Environmental Solutions Erizon, Australia's leading environmental specialist, delivers safe, sustainable, long-term and environmentally friendly solutions, that guarantee results, using Australian product and innovative technology.

How eco-friendly are Erizon’s large-scale dust-suppression and rehabilitation projects?

All of Erizon’s products are 100 per cent eco-friendly. We understand the importance of preserving our native ecosystems for future generations. We are committed to being as environmentally friendly as possible. Rehabilitating damaged and depleted soil is a difficult, but vital, task in Australia. Successfully reviving landscapes through soil remediation creates spaces where wildlife and humans can thrive together.

Implementing good environmental practices during major projects results

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in benefits for communities, companies and government organisations alike.

How effective is Erizon's large-scale environmental rehabilitation after mining?

Put simply, extremely effective.

Mines have a legal responsibility to rehabilitate their mines. We partner with many clients on their large-scale projects, using the latest techniques to ensure full site revegetation is achieved with a tailored solution that uses native plant seeds while continually monitoring results post-application to ensure positive outcomes. Erizon’s tailored approach to environmental site rehabilitation takes into consideration the climate, site size, soil and chemical properties in order to prepare an appropriate remediation plan aimed at erosion control, dust suppression and successful revegetation of even the most damaged and degraded soils.

What are the effects and advantages of introducing drone technology?

Erizon utilises the latest in drone and imaging technology. Drones are used to provide 3D modelling, area monitoring and image mapping which, along with soil testing, allows us to map the rehabilitation area in a high degree of detail. This ensures that solutions are applied with precision and accuracy, and that all areas are covered uniformly, while also increasing site safety and granting us the ability to provide accurate quotes for revegetating large-scale areas.

Post-application Erizon utilises some of the latest industrial drones.

We can take advantage of multispectral and thermal imaging cameras and sensors in order to gain a deeper understanding of how our plants are performing.

Visit erizon.com.au, Contact info@erizon.com.au, 1300 182 182.

Environment ISO 14001

Quality ISO 9001

Business News+Views

Grow our own: it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee In response to predictions of a global coffee shortage, non-profit institute World Coffee Research is undertaking international coffeegrowing trials, testing 35 vareities of coffee across 23 countries, including Australia.

While Australia has a limited association with coffee production, parts of the country have potentially favourable conditions for successfully growing the coffee plant.

Extreme weather events and a rise in attacks by crop pests and diseases are expected to damage the world’s current major coffee-growing regions. Meanwhile, “demand for coffee is expected to double by the year 2050,” according to partnership director at the institute, Greg Meenahan. “If nothing is done, more than half the world’s suitable coffee land will be pushed into unsuitability due to climate change.”

For more information visit worldcoffeeresearch.org

Global oil and gas conference in Perth to focus on renewables This March, Perth will host the 38th Australasian Oil and Gas (AOG) Conference and Exhibition, a leading global event – and the region’s biggest annual outlook event – in the oil and gas sector.

The three-day conference will cover topics highlighting changing trends in the industry, including the rising confidence of the oil and gas market, new uses for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and new energy. This year’s theme is ‘an energy shift’, with a focus on investigating how major oil and gas firms can add renewables to their production portfolios and supply chains.

“Renewables are reliable, plentiful, and will continue to decrease in cost as technology and infrastructure improve, so it’s easy to see why some of the biggest companies in the world are embracing

them into their business as they aim to lower emissions, reduce costs and enhance social licence,” said AOG event director Bill Hare. “In a recent survey of AOG attendees 90 per cent said they wanted to meet new energy exhibitors in 2019, and 83 per cent had plans to incorporate new energy into their business.”

The exhibition provides a unique environment for industry policymakers, experts and educators to network, last year attracting more than 8000 oil and gas leaders from 45 countries, including Norway, Scotland, Belgium, Malaysia and the UK. In 2019 AOG will host more than 250 global companies.

The 2019 AOG Conference and Exhibition will be held at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, March 13–15. For more information visit aogexpo.com.au FEB/MARCH 2019

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Mining

Darren Baguley Darren specialises in the fields of technology, mining, agriculture, energy and business.

Renovating the image of mining MINING HAS AN IMAGE PROBLEM, BUT LEADING COMPANIES ARE TAKING UNPRECEDENTED STEPS TO REJUVENATE THEIR CULTURES AND REPUTATION. When most people think of mining, they think of destructive environmental practices, accidents, toxic chemical spills and the fractious community relations that result.

When investors think of mining, they think of stock price underperformance relative to other sectors and question marks as to whether mining’s historic lack of workforce diversity is impacting on the sector’s productivity.

Despite mining’s significant contribution to the economy – according to Deloitte Access Economics, the mining and METS industries contribute 15 per cent to Australia’s GDP – the industry’s reputation has become increasingly tarnished

in recent years.

The toxic legacy of old mines had blanket media coverage all over the country, but less attention is paid to mining companies that buy old mine sites to clean them up. Similarly, vast open-cut mines are highly visible, but a properly rehabilitated former mine site can be indistinguishable from surrounding bushland or pasture.

The Australian mining industry is highly regulated, but when a disaster such as the 2015 Fundão tailings dam collapse in Brazil occurs, the casual observer doesn’t make the distinction – or worse, thinks that companies which  FEB/MARCH 2019

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Mining

One measure many leading companies are implementing is taking a decisive stance on corporate social responsibility. operate in Australia have laxer standards overseas. Such negative perceptions can also lead to implacable community opposition and the loss of a social licence to operate.

In the world of 24/7 news cycles and opinions aired in the court of social media, this type of backlash is bound to spiral.

Mining companies are taking proactive steps to address – and change – their cultures and reputations, but there is still a long way to go.

All these factors damage reputations and impact stock prices, but they also influence recruitment and employee engagement. Mining’s tarnished reputation makes it an unattractive industry to work in – the best and the brightest university graduates do not have mining at the top of their list – and many existing employees are attracted by the high wages and nothing more.

While the challenge is considerable, some of Australia and the world’s leading mining companies are up for it. Most critically, they are starting to realise that addressing these issues needs to go beyond PR exercises. To rebuild trust with investors, employees, communities, government and the public, mining companies cannot engage in mere spin.

Communication is vital – few people will know of the good you do if you don’t tell them – but must be backed up with behavioural changes.

One measure many leading companies are implementing is taking a decisive stance on corporate social responsibility (CSR). While Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman may have dismissed CSR initiatives as socialism, more and more companies are seeing that the pursuit of profit above all else risks alienating everyone except shareholders.

CSR is, however, a broad term, and the measures companies are taking vary considerably. Some are choosing to be more transparent about their tax disclosures. For example, in 2010 Rio Tinto began voluntarily disclosing details of the taxes and royalties it pays on an annual basis. BHP followed suit in 2015, committing to detailed taxes-paid reports.

Other measures mining companies are taking to demonstrate their CSR values include increasing disclosure on climate change. For example, in 2016 Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto shareholders passed resolutions 

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Mining

Fast Facts

$236.8 billion

In 2015-16 the Mining and METS sector contributed $236.8 billion to GDP, around 15 per cent of the Australian economy.

1,139,768

The Mining and METS sector provides 1,139,768 FTE jobs across Australia.

16.1%

Mining is the most maledominated industry in Australia. Women comprise just 16.1 per cent of sector employees.

calling for increased disclosure on climate change.

The following year, The Guardian reported that BHP shareholders urged the company to “terminate membership of bodies that demonstrate a pattern of advocacy on policy issues at odds with the company’s positions since 2012”.

The shareholders backing the resolution were concerned that BHP risked reputational damage by being a member of bodies such as the Minerals Council of Australia that “hold policy and advocacy positions out of step with community expectations” on issues such as climate change and energy policy. In a similar vein, several mining companies have started reporting against voluntary sustainability standards such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Global Reporting Initiative and the Task Force on Climaterelated Financial Disclosures.

Others are taking more direct action. Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa Copper-Gold Mine in Western Australia boasts the largest integrated off-grid solar and battery storage facility of any mine in Australia (and quite possibly the world). The $40 million ARENA-funded project supplies around 20 per cent of the DeGrussa mine’s annual power requirements and cuts its emissions by 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Other examples of direct action include empowering local communities to monitor water quality using a variety of platforms, including video, apps that access online data

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AusBiz.

or the ability for community members to conduct their own tests. In all cases, this level of radical transparency helps keep companies honest.

However, while some mining companies are tackling the long, hard task of shifting perceptions and driving behaviour change, there is little doubt that those companies remain in the minority. As an industry, there is still much work to be done, but the alternative is unsustainable. Coal mining, especially thermal coal, is on the verge of losing its social licence to operate, and this trend is having a broader impact.

The mining industry cannot rest on its laurels, relying on reserves of goodwill built up in earlier decades. What worked in the past no longer works in today’s hyperconnected world. To sustain its licence to operate in the shadow of climate change, cultivate employee loyalty and win over key stakeholders, the mining industry must engage in a concerted, and multi-year, effort to repair its reputation and regain public trust.

According to Deloitte UK’s Global Mining Tax Leader, James Ferguson, “If mining companies truly hope to repair their image, they must do more than change their messaging. They must also fundamentally change their behaviours around the way they mine, how they engage with communities, attract talent and deliver on their promises.”

Mental Health Support

Support when you’re struggling STATISTICS SHOW THAT MORE THAN 3000 AUSTRALIANS DIE FROM SUICIDE EACH YEAR. WE SPOKE WITH OUTSTANDING NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS R U OK? AND LIFELINE ABOUT THEIR WORK IN PROVIDING ESSENTIAL LIFE-SAVING SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE IN CRISIS, AS WELL AS PRACTICAL ASSISTANCE FOR THEIR LOVED ONES. Sarah Hinder Sarah is a Sydneybased journalist who enjoys writing about Australian social and environmental causes.

Res tota Mental Health Support

R E G U L A R LY C H E C K I N G I N W I T H FA M I LY A N D F R I E N D S I S O N E V I TA L W AY T H AT W E C A N K E E P OUR LOVED ONES SAFE.

For many Australians caught in a cycle of struggling with their mental health and battling tough circumstances, life’s ups and downs can become overwhelming. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3128 people committed suicide in 2017, making it the leading cause of death for Australians aged between 15 and 44. Meanwhile, the suicide rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is roughly twice that of non-Indigenous Australians.

Around Australia we have incredible resources available to support ourselves and those we love when we need it most.

R U OK? is a suicide prevention charity encouraging people to look out for the signs that someone they care about is struggling, and empowering them to have a conversation that could change a life. R U OK?’s goal is to inspire people to take the time to ask: “Are you ok?” and to listen to the response.

“We can help people struggling with life feel connected long before they even think about suicide. It all comes down to regular, face-to-face, meaningful conversations about life.

And asking, 'Are you ok?' is a great place to start.”

Meanwhile, Lifeline is dedicated to providing 24-hour support for people in times of crisis. The not-for-profit has more than 10,000 volunteers working around the country to help Australians doing it tough. Every year they receive almost a million contacts from people reaching out. In 2018 the organisation partnered with Twitter to offer support via the social media network, and they are currently trialling a

text service that they hope will be a gamechanger in making their vital work accessible to all.

What’s the number one thing family and friends can do for someone who is struggling with depression, anxiety or thoughts of suicide?

R U OK? Use our four steps to start a conversation: ask, listen, encourage action and check in. Make sure you’ve chosen a time they can sit down and talk, and create a safe space for them. If you suspect someone is considering suicide, ask them directly in a calm, non-judgemental way.

Listen to what they say and allow them to talk about what is going on for them. Take what they say seriously. Help them find pathways to professional support, such as calling Lifeline or booking an appointment with their GP. If you are worried for their immediate safety, call Triple Zero (000) or take them to the local Emergency Department.

LIFELINE Be open to connecting with them. Family and friends have an important role to play in reducing the isolation that can be experienced by people struggling with thoughts of suicide. At Lifeline we believe that no person should ever have to face their darkest moments alone. That’s why our crisis support line 13 11 14 is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to offer support to anyone who is struggling.

DEC 2018/JAN 2019

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Mental Health Support

R U O K ? ' S A N N U A L C O N V E R S AT I O N CONVOY VISITS TOWNS AROUND RURAL AND REGIONAL AUSTRALIA TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION.

When dealing with depression or anxiety, what support is on offer and how can it be accessed?

R U OK? Our website provides a comprehensive list of help-seeking avenues for a variety of issues that people face. We all go through life’s challenges: grief, relationship breakdown, job loss, etc. When our relationships are strong, we are best placed to notice the signs that someone is struggling. You can find professional support for yourself or the person you are worried about online at ruok.org.au/findhelp.

LIFELINE Our service is available to anyone experiencing emotional distress at any time. You can call our telephone line on 13 11 14 (24/7), or chat to a crisis supporter through webchat at lifeline.org.au (7pm to midnight Sydney time).

What support is available to people living in regional and rural areas?

R U OK? We are committed to reaching everyone, no matter their location. With reduced mental health services, isolation and climate issues impacting those in regional areas, looking out for the signs that someone you know might be struggling with life is critical. R U OK? has created a 'Mateship Manual' – a short, simple guide designed specifically to address issues regional Aussies face. Find it at ruok.org.au/everyday-resources. We also provide a set of resources specifically targeting fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) employees who are at risk of isolation and disconnection from friends and loved ones.

Tailored guides can be found at ruok.org.au/work.

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LIFELINE We have 40 centres around Australia and 20 of them are in rural and regional areas. The message we want to get to people in the country is, when you call Lifeline your contact is kept confidential. Calls are not answered by your local centre, they can be answered by a volunteer anywhere around the nation.

What about young people who are struggling with mental health?

LIFELINE In 2017, twice as many young Australians died of suicide than on our roads. We have to get the message to young people that they can reach out to Lifeline for help.

Our trained crisis supporters are highly skilled listeners who will talk or chat online to any person who is experiencing emotional distress at any time.

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Mental Health Support

And migrants to Australia?

LIFELINE Anyone in Australia can contact Lifeline. There is a free interpreting service provided by the government for people who do not speak English. To access it call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450 and explain that you want to speak to Lifeline in the language required. The operator will call 13 11 14 on your behalf.

Find out more at tisnational.gov.au Sometimes the most important thing we can do to support ourselves is simply to start today. What is one thing I can do today to support my own wellbeing?

R U OK? Meaningfully connect with people in your life who really matter to you. When our connections are strong, we are more likely to feel supported and able to face the challenges that arise in all our lives.

LIFELINE Allow yourself the time to do something you enjoy.

And what is one thing I can do today to support other people in my life?

R U OK? Visit them, phone them, check in with them, ask them how things are really going in their life. Have

a meaningful conversation that allows them to open up and tell you what’s going on with them. It’s often said that the things that keep us up at night aren’t as bad when you’ve shared them with a friend, and that heartfelt conversation can be a great starting point to supporting someone.

LIFELINE Look out for each other. When you notice a change in behaviour, check it out. Ask your friend or family member if they are ok. If they’re not, you can call Lifeline for advice on how best to help them, or ask them to call Lifeline for themselves, or suggest taking them to a GP. If life is in danger always call 000.

How can I get involved with and support your work?

R U OK? Familiarise yourself with the free resources on our website to help navigate the conversation when someone says: “No, I’m not ok.” You can host community, school or workplace events that integrate the R U OK? message, participate in challenges such as fun runs and walks to increase awareness, share our message on social media and inspire others to look out for those in your world, become workplace champions or become community ambassadors. Our website is a great starting point for

APPS

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BEYONDNOW Beyond Blue’s app to help create a suicide safety plan when experiencing crisis or distress.

HEADGEAR An engaging and anonymous way to assess and monitor your mental health.

THE CHECK-IN Beyond Blue’s easyto-use app for young people to check in with a friend they’re concerned about.

WELL MAN Practical information and skills for men’s mental health and resources for men considering suicide.

AusBiz.

LIFELINE EXISTS BECAUSE OF ITS TRAINED VOLUNTEERS, WHO ANSWER CALLS FROM AUSTRALIANS I N N E E D 2 4 / 7.

Mental Health Support

people wanting to get involved: ruok.org.au/join-r-u-ok-day.

LIFELINE Lifeline exists because of our volunteers – and we always need more! We want to answer every call that comes in, but sometimes in peak service periods callers hang up before we can get to them. Our challenge is to encourage people to hold on until we can answer their call. We are always looking for volunteers to help with this. Head to our website for more information about volunteering: lifeline. org.au/support-lifeline/volunteer.

SUPPORT SERVICES R U OK? Support for friends and family of people at risk of suicide, plus resources to access a variety of organisations that can help with mental health and suicide prevention. ruok.org.au/findhelp LIFELINE 24/7 phone service and online chat (7pm to midnight Sydney time) for people at risk of suicide.

13 11 14 lifeline.org.au SUICIDE CALL BACK SERVICE 24/7 call service for people at risk of suicide.

1300 659 467 suicidecallbackservice.org.au GRIEFLINE Counselling for people experiencing grief.

1300 845 745 griefline.org.au KIDS HELPLINE Counselling for young people aged five to 25.

1800 55 1800 kidshelpline.com.au MENSLINE AUSTRALIA 24/7 support for men with family and relationship issues.

1300 78 99 78 mensline.org.au 1800 RESPECT 24/7 counselling about domestic violence.

1800 737 732 1800respect.org.au

MHIMA Multicultural mental health resources.

02 6285 3100 mhima.org.au SUPPORT AFTER SUICIDE Support for the bereaved.

03 9421 7640 supportaftersuicide.org.au BEYOND BLUE Support and resources for anxiety, depression and suicide prevention.

1300 22 4636 beyondblue.org.au REACHOUT Online resource for young people and their parents. reachout.com APS Find a local psychologist.

1800 333 497 psychology.org.au VIRTUAL PSYCHOLOGIST 24/7 online chat, phone, text, email psychologist service for farmers and rural Australians.

Call 0404 032 249 Text 0488 807 266 virtualpsychologist.com.au/ home LIFELINE SERVICE FINDER Online map directory of health and community services. lifeline.serviceseeker.com.au MYCOMPASS Proven techniques to help manage depression, anxiety and stress. mycompass.org.au

R U OK'S C O N V E R S AT I O N CONVOY IN OUTBACK AUSTRALIA.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Infrastructure

PLASTIC STRAWS AND COFFEE CUPS GET A LOT OF AIR TIME WHEN IT COMES TO AUSTRALIA’S “WAR ON WASTE”, BUT OUR FOCUS NEEDS TO SHIFT FROM MANAGEMENT TO PREVENTION IF WE ARE EVER GOING TO THE CLOSE THE LOOP.

Lisa Smyth Business and travel writer Lisa Smyth is a non-stop nomad, living everywhere from Myanmar and Germany to PNG.

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AusBiz.

Infrastructure

Earlier this year Coles and Woolworths enraged customers and created a viral Twitterstorm when they announced they would no longer be providing plastic bags free of charge.

Following in the footsteps of similar successful initiatives in the UK and Europe, Australia’s two largest supermarket chains were endeavouring to reduce plastic waste. But is Australia’s waste problem as simple as cutting down on plastic bags, straws and bottles?

“Plastic represents only 6 per cent of waste to landfill in Australia,” explains Mike Ritchie, Managing Director of waste experts MRA Consulting Group. “If you want to make a difference to waste to landfill, you start with organics and you fix that problem before you even look at anything else.”

According to the most recent National Waste Report from 2016, Australians produced 64 million tonnes, or 2.7 tonnes per person of waste in 2014-15. According to Ritchie, 20 million of those tonnes goes to landfill, and the rest is recycled… which is positive, right?

Ritchie passionately disagrees. “Our recycling rates have stagnated at about 56 per cent for almost 20 years.

Australia is currently ranked about 17th in the world for recycling and nothing is changing. Organics – food and green waste, garden waste, cardboard and pallets, and timber – represent 10.5 million tonnes of that 20 million.

To improve our recycling rate we must get organics, which mostly come from commercial sources, out of landfill.”

No roads to China

Eighteen months ago China imposed a ban on accepting any more foreign recycling, and even though Australia only sent 3.5 per cent of its recycling to China, it created a lot of talk about a recycling “crisis”. Experts are concerned that recyclers who are unable to ship their waste to China will be forced into more expensive solutions, and recycling will become a less viable waste management option. But not everyone sees the China ban as a problem.

“I think it was too easy to ship our waste to China,” says Nicole Boyd, GM Infrastructure Innovation for the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA).

“Now we have to actually start thinking about how we can deal with our waste in a sustainable and economic manner.”

What often gets lost in all the talk of the “war on waste” is that recycling is not a priority solution. According to the waste hierarchy, we should prioritise avoiding, reducing and reusing waste (prevention) long before we consider recycling, recovering energy from waste and, as a last resort, sending waste to landfill (management).

“There is no such thing as waste; it’s all just resources,” enthuses Boyd. “We need to change our thinking. For example, when you build a tunnel you’ve got all this waste soil, but for somebody who needs to fill in a big space, that’s not waste. It’s about creating a circular economy – we have certainly encouraged infrastructure projects to think

Fast Fact

2025

The World Economic Forum estimates circular economy activities could be worth $26 billion each year in Australia by 2025.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Infrastructure

"There is no such thing as waste; it’s all just resources."

IMAGES: IBIS STYLES HOBART HOTEL.

about waste management and how they can reuse waste or actually avoid waste altogether.”

According to Circular Economy Australia, their name refers to “an alternative model that anticipates and designs for resources to be either safely returned to nature or back into systems where they can be reused or renewed”.

Ultimately, Australian businesses need to be thinking about what they can do at the top of the waste hierarchy instead of focusing on managing waste once it is already produced.

A green stay

Fast Fact

Perth

Parts of Perth are trialling clear wheelie bins to encourage homeowners to reflect on what they’re putting in them.

One company that has taken this to heart is the Fragrance Group, owner of the ibis Styles Hobart Hotel. Last year the hotel was named Australia’s first and only 5-Star Green Starcertified hotel. The certification is awarded by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).

Project architect Peter Scott of Tasmanian firm Xsquared Architects explains the development aimed to address holistic sustainability across a range of measures, including construction stage waste management, and reduced volumes

of construction and demolition waste sent to landfill.

“We were committed to minimising end-oflife waste. That included the potential waste from the demolition of the building in 50 years, but also minimising the waste from regular fit-outs of the hotel. We selected more durable materials, fittings and finishings so the average fit-out cycle of seven years could be increased to 10 years. In this way two cycles of renewal in the 50-year life of the hotel are eliminated from the waste stream.”

The hotel also meets commitments for energy efficiency, thermal insulation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions – though guests will hardly notice the sustainability measures in place during their stay.

“Our client wanted to provide a good hotel experience, not necessarily a good sustainability experience, for guests. But they also have operational commitments as part of their certification, with a waste target of no more than one kilogram per guest per night, which is about seven times less than the Australian average. It’s all about avoiding waste in the first place.”  FEB/MARCH 2019

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Infrastructure

“I’d say 95 per cent of our products are now compostable."

IMAGE AND QUOTE: RICHARD FINE, F O U N D E R A N D S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y D I R E C T O R AT B I O PA K .

Completing the circle

The circular economy is as much about returning materials safely to nature as it is about avoiding and reducing waste, and this is where composting has a huge role to play. Food contaminates conventional recycling streams, and is one big reason why 10.5 million tonnes of our landfill is made up of organics.

“Since we started in 2006, we have been trying to close the loop and find a viable end-oflife option, which of course is composting,” says Richard Fine, founder and Sustainability Director of food services packaging supplier BioPak. “I’d say 95 per cent of our products are now compostable, and we will be phasing out the remaining plastic items in the next two years.”

BioPak doesn’t just create compostable coffee cups, lids, takeaway containers and cutlery; the company provides a compost collection service to make it easier for cafés, restaurants and hotels across metro areas to “close the loop”.

Some groups, like the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, already have separate streams for food and packaging waste that, once composted, creates electricity and produces fertiliser. The organisation diverts 84 per cent of its waste from landfill, and is on track for 90 per cent by 2020.

So if Australia is to meet its waste reduction targets, companies need to take a little advice from their local GP – prevention is always better than cure.

HAVE A PLASTIC free

summer!

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Technology

Is technology a help or hindrance to HR? ONCE SEEN AS PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATORS AND COMPLIANCE WARDENS, THE HR PRACTITIONER HAS EVOLVED TO BECOME ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN ANY BUSINESS – AS LONG AS THEY CAN KEEP UP THE PACE. HR professionals have had a bad rap for a while now. For some people, a call to the HR office is akin to the long walk to the principal’s office, or a trip to the dreaded dentist.

But, with the rapid speed of change in business caused by digital disruption, the HR function has expanded beyond simple support and is now a critical part of a company’s leadership team.

Stepping up

“HR professionals used to be the custodians of personnel guidelines, the rule book of an organisation, and administered people processes,” explains Peter Wilson, President and Chair of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI). “Now the expectation is that the HR person will be a professional expert in that organisation and be able to deliver HR practice against that. They’re experts and they have a leadership pathway available to them.”

According to a July 2018 report from Deloitte Access Economics, the HR sector will grow from 218,000 people in 2016-17 to 245,000 in 2021-22 – an annual average growth of 2.3 per cent. HR professionals with postgraduate qualifications are projected to be earning $160,000+ per annum by 2021-22.

“HR is now a valuable contributor to a business’s success,” says Jennifer Gale, General Manager of Human Resources and Corporate Planning at Renault Australia. “Today, HR is just as much a business partner as finance, sales or marketing, and contributes to commercial objectives.”

The need for speed

There is no doubt that technological and digital disruption across all industries has played a large part in the expanded scope of the HR role. A 2017 Deloitte report entitled 'Rewriting the rules for the digital age' revealed that 85 per cent of Australian HR professionals believe fostering a better employee experience was their most important 

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AusBiz.

Lisa Smyth Business and travel writer Lisa Smyth is a non-stop nomad, living everywhere from Myanmar and Germany to PNG.

Technology

FEB/MARCH 2019

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Technology

priority, closely followed by building the organisation of the future (84 per cent). However, alarmingly, only 9 per cent of companies said they understand how to build a "future-ready" organisation.

“The greatest disruption to HR has been the speed at which business is changing. HR people need to be able to adapt to change a lot quicker than they ever did before, especially if they want to retain employees,” says Gale. “Social media has provided a lot more channels for employees to network and research job opportunities – turnover is much higher.”

Technology is constantly changing how the HR function is performed. Digital tools and platforms can now help improve and manage the employee experience, support employee upskilling and self-directed learning, and provide data to help improve employee engagement and retention.

On a global level, the 2017 report from Deloitte stated that 33 per cent of HR professionals are already using some form of artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver HR solutions, and 41 per cent are building mobile apps to deliver HR services.

Wilson names the Australian Taxation Office, CSIRO and Cochlear as organisations that have embraced technology in HR: “These are the guys that understand all that

technology, and they’ve applied it in spades to how they manage their people.”

Ivan Pierce, Chief People Officer at insurance company Youi, and his team recently won Best HR Technology Strategy at the Australian HR Awards 2019.

“Over the past 10 years, there has been an increased need to understand data and apply a scientific methodology to people initiatives to provide evidence of their value,” explains Pierce. The Youi HR strategy includes a gamified recognition platform that reinforces positive employee behaviours that align with company values.

“As our people go about their day, they earn points, badges and prizes for the myriad of different ways they contribute to our culture and success. The platform helps our people track their own achievements and celebrate important milestones,” he explains. “But it’s important to remember that even though technology provides opportunities for innovation in HR, it doesn’t replace the richness of human contact and personal recognition.”

Rise of the machines

While technology is impacting HR operations, it is also disrupting every other business area. With AI and machine

Fast Fact

51%

Only half of Australian and New Zealand HR leaders (51 per cent) say they are successful at retaining talent.

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AusBiz.

Technology learning paving the way for automation of processes – and even entire jobs – managing that transition for employees and businesses has fallen heavily on the shoulders of HR professionals.

“Technology has impacted the conduct of work overall, and the work of the profession – it puts a double obligation on the HR professional,” laments Wilson.

For instance, a 2017 report forecasts that the global mining automation market will grow in value by almost 50 per cent by 2023, and APAC is estimated to be the largest market. This will have positive impacts on worker safety and mining productivity, but automation is already causing alarm among employees about job security.

While numbers vary widely, a September 2018 report from the Regional Australia Institute estimates 22 per cent

of jobs nationally are highly vulnerable to automation.

However, while types of jobs may be vulnerable, that doesn’t necessarily mean people will lose their jobs.

“One of the most important ways businesses can be ‘future ready’ is to invest in developing their people’s skills and capabilities. Having a strong learning and development focus, supported by the right technology, is a critical foundation for any successful business,” suggests Pierce.

With Australian HR professionals closely focused on retention, automation can present an opportunity to develop upskilling programs within organisations. A recent survey by recruitment company Hays showed that 59 per cent of Australian workers want a job offering ongoing learning and development opportunities.

Back to basics

Technology will continue to force businesses, and HR practitioners, to evolve and adapt at a swift pace. However, Pierce insists that technology alone is not where the HR function begins and ends.

“Get your foundations right. Embed your company values well, and even in a fast-changing world your people will make good decisions based on having the right mindset. Invest heavily in showing your people how much you care. No business should underestimate the importance and value in providing their people with a positive employee experience.”

Fast Fact

16%

One in six (16 per cent) HR leaders in Australia and New Zealand say they do not use technology to improve HR outcomes.

FEB/MARCH 2019

25

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Topcon Positioning Systems’ annual dealer conference brings together more than 500 distributors from around the world to network and learn about new technology for the construction, geospatial and mining industries. At the recent event, held in December 2018, Position Partners was awarded ‘Dealer of the Year 2017-2018’ for construction, along with awards for ‘Top 5 Year on Year Sales Growth’ and ‘Top 5 Excavator Sales’.

“We are privileged to receive Topcon’s Dealer of the Year award amongst all of Topcon’s successful distributors,” said Martin Nix, Position Partners CEO. “It’s a great reflection of the support our customers give us as they strive to increase productivity

and safety by pushing the boundaries with intelligent positioning systems in the construction industry.

“These awards are accepted as a recognition of the combined efforts of our teams and employees, who continually do their utmost to deliver exceptional customer service at all times,” Nix added.

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27

SPECIAL PROMOTION

Jac Taylor Jac Taylor is a travel photographer, writer and TV producer who has captured the far corners of Australia.

NUTS for

NUTS

We go behind the scenes at Stahmann Farms to see what makes this Australian operation, that has been in business for 50 years, such an ongoing success story.

In the USA, in certain circles at least, the Australian town of Moree is spoken of with great reverence. On all conference charts, and on every industry paper, it is a compulsory inclusion – if you’re an American nut farmer that is. Same for the South Africans. For many of us, it may exist as a mid-sized dot on a map in the northern plains of New South Wales, in the heart of the wheatbelt, but for the global nut industry, it is nothing less than a benchmark of nearperfection.

It wasn’t always this way, explains Ross Burling, CEO and director of the Stahmann Farms nut company in Australia, and a man who is obviously, passionately nuts about nuts.

“After a first planting in Gatton in Queensland, Deane Stahmann Jnr founded the very first pecan farm in Moree in 1967, and had 68,000 pecan trees planted in 1971, because he knew that Moree is actually possibly the best spot in the world to grow a pecan – except maybe one place in South Africa,” Burling concedes. “But yes, when you go to a conference in the US, you’ll see Moree up there on the screen next to Texas, et cetera, as a positive benchmark.

And everyone knows Stahmann because of that.”

It’s this savvy dedication to ideally matching crop to location that has stood Stahmann in a strong position to diversify, which is exactly what it has done now, as it branches out – so to speak – into macadamias.

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AusBiz.

“We bought our first macadamia farm this time a year ago, after we looked at all the areas you could possibly grow them globally, and considered Bundaberg [in Queensland] to be the best location. The climate looks ideal for macadamias, but it’s also well supported by people, by industry – everything is right there,” says Burling. “Our pecan trees are now 47 years old, and we’ve learned that the first thing you need to get right is this: you only plant a tree once in its life, so you need to plant as well as you can. You have to get the climate right and the varietal right, so we put a lot of work into that.”

So why macadamias? After all, pecans have been wonderfully successful for Stahmann Farms over the years.

There are 660 hectares planted at the Moree farm right now, according to Burling, and that number is set to double to more than 1400 hectares by the end of August. The Moree crops provide Australia with 80 per cent of its pecans. Once expansion is complete, this looks to increase to 96 per cent.

“Interestingly enough, our factory in Toowoomba started processing macadamias in 1994. We had this great, big processing facility to process pecans six months of the year, and then we used to stop work for six months,” explains Burling. "We were looking for another product to fill those six months.”

MAIN IMAGE: K ATHY SMITH AT STAHMANN FARMS FACTORY IN TOOWOOMBA, QLD. RIGHT IMAGE: RIVERSIDE ALL AUSTR ALIAN FL AVOURED R ANGE.

Of course, it never quite works like that, as Burling knew. “Easter and Christmas are still on the same days, peak selling time for the two nuts is the same, so it isn’t quite as simple as that.

“But look at almonds and walnuts – they’re the behemoths, the glamorous ones,” he explains. “Pecans and macadamias are the honest nuts. They work together synergistically, since they’re both the least known nuts on the global market.”

That’s changing rapidly though. In the 20-something years that Stahmann Farms have been involved with macadamias particularly, its people have seen the stereotype of macadamias evolve well beyond the once comparatively ‘unknown’ nut. It’s a comfortable expansion for a company that only numbers perhaps 220 people on the payroll in its busiest times.

“We’ve grown the business for security, not just for our stakeholders, but for our people,” says Burling. “A number of our staff reached their 35th anniversary working for us last year – that’s most of their life spent with us.  FEB/MARCH 2019

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SPECIAL PROMOTION

TOP TO BOT TOM: SORTING PECANS AT STAHMANN FARMS FACTORY IN TOOWOOMBA,QLD; ROSS BURLING, CEO STAHMANN FARMS ENTERPRISES; PECAN TREES AT PALLAMALLAWA IN MOREE, NSW.

We all have a stakeholding in this business, it’s just that for some, it’s more personal than others.”

Although Deane Stahmann Jnr passed away in 2013, there is a clear continuing thread in the company culture, that is based on his philosophies as he steered the business through earlier decades. “He was always a very strategic thinker,” Burling says. “He had a wonderful vision, and that’s why we look so good on paper. He always said you should maximise your unfair advantage, your point of difference.

And that’s what we try to do.”

For Stahmann Farms, that may well describe their early adoption of vertical integration, or as Burling prefers to call it, "value streams": simply put, performing all stages of the process, from farming through to processing and packaging.

“We know from pecan farming that sometimes you make more money being the farmer, sometimes more as the processor or seller,” explains Burling.

"Being fully vertically integrated means you can maximise production at every step of the stream, so you can build a more confident supply chain and schedule with retailers with more confidence, as a result. The marketer can talk to the farmer, meaning every step of the process is in touch with every other one – and that maximises consumer satisfaction.

“Everyone is getting excited about ‘paddock to plate’,” Burling says, “but you’ve got to live it and practise it.

Otherwise it’s no different from going to a farmer, getting his product and putting it in a packet. And most of the people that work here still get excited about nuts – so that’s not a bad recipe for success either.”

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"you should maximise your unfair advantage, your point of difference. "

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FEB/MARCH 2019

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Australian Distilleries

THAT'S THE SPIRIT A BUREAUCRATIC TWIST OF FATE IN COLONIAL TIMES STALLED THE AUSTRALIAN SPIRITS INDUSTRY FOR 150 YEARS. NOW, HOMEGROWN DISTILLERIES ARE TAKING THEIR RIGHTFUL PLACE AS SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST.

Lisa Smyth Business and travel writer Lisa Smyth is a non-stop nomad, living everywhere from Myanmar and Germany to PNG.

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Z E S T Y L I M O N C E L L O , M A N LY S P I R I T S C O . I N S Y D N E Y, N S W.

Australian Distilleries

M A N LY S P I R I T S C O .

I N S Y D N E Y, N S W.

“I would prefer barley be fed to pigs than it be used to turn men into swine.” So said, reportedly, Lady Jane Franklin in 1838. Jane was the wife of the Governor of Tasmania at the time, John Franklin, and her disdain for whisky led him to outlaw small pot stills on the island.

Unfortunately for Australia’s many small batch distilleries, John Franklin’s ban was written into national law when Australia was federated in 1901. From that point on only large distilleries, such as Bundaberg Rum, would be able to keep their doors open. But, 90 years later, Bill Lark, the ‘grandfather of Australian spirits’, had the law overturned in Tasmania (with other states soon doing the same), and the Australian spirits industry finally began to recover from Lady Jane’s history-defining horror.

“Tasmania has a beautiful community of distilleries. Bill Lark was very open with helping everyone out each time a new distillery opened,” says Sebastian Costello, Owner and Director of Melbourne’s Bad Frankie, until recently Australia’s only bar exclusively serving Australian spirits.

The bar’s name is a cheeky nod to Franklin, and it is as well-known for its gins and whiskies as its extensive jaffle menu. “In the USA you get bourbon and burgers, and in Mexico they have tequila and tacos. I wanted to do something very authentic, very Australian, and in 2014 there were just enough Australian spirits around to fill a bar, and it felt right to pair them with the quintessential Aussie toasted sandwich.”

When Costello opened Bad Frankie he had 80 Australian spirits on the back bar – today he has 500. That phenomenal growth has mostly come from Australian craft spirits, which according to research released in November 2018, is growing at 110 per cent in contrast to the total spirits market. The category is now worth $17.1 million, up from $10.8 million

S U L L I VA N S C O V E D I S T I L L E R Y I N H O B A R T, TA S .

in 2017, though craft spirits are still just a drop in the large barrel that is the $1.8 billion local spirits industry.

Entering the world stage

There are an estimated 120 distilleries in Australia today, located everywhere from city industrial districts to rural farmhouses and ocean-fronted cellar doors. Back in 2013 there were fewer than 50. If you ask many in the industry the turning point came in 2014, when Tasmania’s Sullivans Cove Distillery won the World's Best Single Malt for its French Oak at the World Whiskies Awards.

“We were the first non-Scottish or non-Japanese brand to win that award – it was absolutely huge for a small distillery from Hobart,” explains Adam Sable, Managing Director of Sullivans Cove. “That win helped establish Australian spirits internationally and entrench Australia in conversations about the world’s best spirits.”

Using only 100 per cent Tasmanian ingredients, Sullivans Cove is the second oldest whisky distillery in Tasmania, having opened a few years after Lark Distillery. In 2018 it again won big when its American Oak was declared World's Best Single Cask Single Malt.

“Our customers are after a very high-quality whisky that has been matured for long periods of time. Some Australian whiskies appeal to a broader market, but our consumers are generally pretty discerning,” notes Sable. “Global demand is far outweighing what we have available – it’s very difficult to allocate stock.”

On the more affordable end of the Australian craft whisky scale is Starward, a Melbourne distillery that opened its doors in 2007. Matured in Australian wine barrels for three ‘Melbourne years’, this crowd-pleaser now turns over $2 million a year.  FEB/MARCH 2019

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Australian Distilleries STONE PINE DISTILLERY IN B AT H U R S T, N S W.

Fast Facts

Cheese

Tasmania’s Hartshorn Distillery uses cheese by-products to make its gin and vodka, the latter of which won World’s Best Vodka in 2018.

2015

Kristy Booth, daughter of Bill Lark, opened Killara Distillery in 2015. It is one of very few distilleries in the world to be owned and operated by a woman.

A splash of lemon myrtle

Despite the international accolades that have rolled in for Sullivans Cove, it is gin, not whisky, that is currently dominating the Australian spirits scene. At last year’s Australian Distilled Spirits Awards there were 31 entries in the whisky division, 29 vodkas, 23 rums, 10 brandies and a whopping 130 gin entries.

In Australia a spirit must spend two years in a barrel before it can be called whisky, but gin can be distilled, bottled and sold all on the same day – an ideal scenario for cash-starved craft distilleries.

“In Australia we have a background in high-quality wine and craft beer, so there was no reason we wouldn’t be good at distilling spirits. It was simply the legislation holding us back,” rationalises Vanessa Wilton, Co-owner of Manly Spirits Co. Having only launched in April 2017 on Sydney’s northern beaches, the distillery’s Australian Dry Gin has already won Double Gold medals at the 2018 San Francisco Spirits Awards, one of the key annual global competitions.

“Australian spirits are really punching above their weight on the global scene in terms of quality,” says Wilton. “All of our products have won silver or gold medals in the big competitions.”

Rather than place all its eggs in one basket, Manly Spirits, like numerous other distilleries around the country, has a

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diverse portfolio, distilling gin, vodka, whisky and liqueurs.

Costello, Sable and Wilton all agree that what sets Australian spirits apart from their global competitors is the use of native Australian botanicals.

“Australia has this amazing botanical library that sort of got lost for a while but has been rediscovered,” notes Wilton.

“We work with Elijah Holland who was Head Forager for the NOMA pop-up in Sydney in 2016. He introduced us to ingredients like sea parsley, finger lime and anise myrtle, so our white spirits have a distinctly Australian and marine botanical profile.”

A level playing field

Sydney’s pop-up of the world’s best restaurant, NOMA, also had a hand in raising the profile of Bathurst’s Stone Pine Distillery, when its Orange Blossom Gin was selected to be the first pour on site.

“The fact that we are small, regional, seasonal and produce limited editions fitted really well with what NOMA was trying to do,” says owner Ian Glen. “It really helped my distributor to open more doors for us.”

Ian and his wife Bev were looking for a lifestyle change when they moved to rural Australia in 2006. With a long family history in the Scottish distilling industry, Ian saw how cocktail culture and craft spirits had taken off in the UK and

Australian Distilleries

the USA, and knowing that Australia tends to come up a few years behind those two main markets, figured he should get in early.

“There wasn’t such a thing as an Aussie gin when we started – it was a hard sell,” recalls Glen. “But in the last two to three years there has been a marked change driven by the small bar movement, and it has become a whole lot more viable as a business model, especially as we are finally getting a rebate on the excise.”

Despite small rebates, Australian spirits are still taxed at a much higher rate than wine or beer, with the excise increased every six months in line with inflation. Yarra Valley’s wildly popular Four Pillars exports gin to 23 countries, but most distilleries claim the ‘spirits super tax’ stops them from achieving anything close to that scale.

“It’s just plain common sense,” exclaims Glen. “All alcohol in Australia should be taxed the same so we have equal opportunities. It should be a level playing field.”

New frontiers

Despite some barriers to entry there are still plenty of people who see the vast potential in Australian spirits, such as Margaret River winemaker Greg Garnish who in 2018

GREG GARNISH, H A R M A N ' S E S TAT E I N MARGARET RIVER, WA.

launched Australia’s first pisco. “We started selling our version of pisco, a white brandy usually made in Peru from Muscat grapes, at our cellar door, and it exploded,“ says Garnish. “Wine has happened. Craft beer has happened.

There is just such massive growth to be had in spirits.”

Garnish is so convinced, he is leaving winemaking behind to open his own distillery in 2019.

That’s not to say that Australia’s alcohol industries can’t work together. “My personal view is that we will see a bit of a revival of brandy in years to come,” remarks Sable. “It’s traditionally been seen as an older person’s drink, but given that we have such a fantastic wine industry, it’s a real point of difference for Australian brandies.”

While Sullivans Cove released their own limited-edition brandy in 2018, other distilleries, such as South Australia’s award-winning St Agnes, have been handcrafting Australian brandy for decades.

Costello agrees with Sable’s prediction. “There is a renaissance coming in brandy and rum, and vermouths are having a moment. But the mentality of Australian spirits is that we are competing with overseas producers and not amongst ourselves. So, no matter what you drink, just make sure it's Australian.”

SUGAR SHED RUM IN SARINA, QLD.

FEB/MARCH 2019

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The second most important thing The most important in�uence on your son’s development is you.

The second most important is the school you choose.

Choose St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Brisbane for an outstanding academic, cultural, and sporting education that will ensure your son develops his unique strengths and is given every opportunity to excel.

We’re interviewing this year for Year 5 in 2021 and Year 7 in 2022. Limited spaces for other year levels are also available.

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A Class Above St Joseph’s Nudgee College was established in 1891 and is one of the oldest continuing Catholic boys’ boarding schools in Australia. More than 1,590 young men from Years 5 to 12, including more than 260 boarders, call Nudgee College their school. Amongst the student cohort you will find writers, athletes, artists, performers, science enthusiasts, maths fanatics, leaders, builders, dreamers, all-rounders, and everything in between.

On a daily basis students are taught, cared for, and challenged by teachers who want to bring out the best in all of their students – they want to help them find their strengths. The holistic education, personal development, and wellbeing of each student is a key focus of the College.

As 2018 College Captain Angus McDonald said, the College’s real success lies in the relationships that the boys build while they are at school.

“Nudgee College is a place where every student can find somewhere to belong,” he said, “and where every one of our talents and skills have the opportunity to grow and develop.

“We create a bond, not only with our beloved school, but with each other, laying the foundation for a community and a brotherhood that will remain a central part of all of our lives long after we leave this College.”

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Nudgee College is offering Academic Scholarships for students entering the College from Years 7 to 11 in 2020, who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement based on the results of the ACER Scholarship Examination, and exhibit qualities commensurate with the College's motto: Signum Fidei – a Sign of Faith. Academic Scholarships are awarded to students who are considered to have exceptional academic ability and potential. Parents can register their child to sit the ACER Scholarship Examination at scholarships.acer.edu.au.

Bush Boarding Bursaries are also available for new students entering Years 7 to 10 in 2019. For further information about scholarships and bursaries, please visit nudgee.com/scholarships-and-bursaries.

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Puzzles

CROSSWORD

A A R S Y N T S R O E O M

M R O W T J H R L E T L K

G C N S U O R C O G G E E

N P G A W H O E I P S I J

I I M S U Y W B D V E R T

R H A F I R E E A T E R H

G W N D P S R E L B M U T

E Z E P A R T G N I Y L F

SOLUTIONS:

S C T N E H E S E P W T P

T K S O G K F T H D A N H A A R S Y N T S R O E O M

M R O W T J H R L E T L K

E E R I W L I A F M I W S G C N S U O R C O G G E E

N P G A W H O E I P S I J

I I M S U Y W B D V E R T

R H A F I R E E A T E R H

G W N D P S R E L B M U T

R R T L M O N K E Y S S T

S C T N E H E S E P W T P

E Z E P A R T G N I Y L F

B S E W A T K R H O R S E

T K S O G K F T H D A N H

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TAMER TENTS TIGERS TIGHT-ROPE TUMBLERS WHIP CRACKERS

Find all the words listed hidden in the grid of letters. They can be found in straight lines up, down, forwards, backwards or even diagonally. Theme: CIRCUS

E E R I W L I A F M I W S

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KNIFE THROWER LIONS MONKEYS RINGMASTER SIDE SHOWS STRONGMAN

WORD SEARCH

R R T L M O N K E Y S S T

BIG TOP CLOWNS ELEPHANT FIRE EATER FLYING TRAPEZE HORSE

DOWN 1. Repeatable (of speech) 2. Witness 3. Inscribe 4. Manner 5. Gum sore 6. Teen hero 10. Italian fashion & design hub 11. Spiral pin 13. Task-completion date 14. Verve 16. Comprehend (4,2) 18. Small rugs 19. Indecent material 20. Auld ... Syne

B S E W A T K R H O R S E

ACROSS 1. Raise petty objections 4. Florida city 7. Happened (upon) 8. Surpass 9. Sanctuary 12. Made angry 15. Assess 17. Took (baby) off bottle 18. Lunches or suppers 21. Childhood disease 22. Watery hail 23. Fine particle

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