AusBiz Magazine - Dec 2019/Jan 2020

AusBiz.

NEWS+VIEWS | MINING | AGRIBUSINESS | INFRASTRUCTURE

p.8 new technology in mining P.14 the next mining boom p.20 delivering the goods p.25 the avocado bandwagon P.30 gin’s glorious revolution P.36 home truths: the price of advice

HOME TRUTHS: THE PRICE OF ADVICE Buying a home isn’t advanced surgery, but purchasing property in the hope of making a pretty penny can be a particular science. p36

• • •

P 1300 4 SPARES E sales@expressway.com.au W www.expressway.com.au SUPPLYING THE EARTHMOVING INDUSTRY WITH PARTS & EQUIPMENT SUITABLE FOR CATERPILLAR & HITACHI SINCE 1964

SUPPLIERS OF NEW, USED AND RECONDITIONED PARTS & COMPONENTS We currently have over 300 experienced staff that are committed to keeping your machines working to minimise downtime with the supply of quality parts and service.

WAUCHOPE 02 6585 1000

HUNTER VALLEY 02 6574 6499

MACKAY 07 4955 0220

PERTH 08 9477 1355

GUNNEDAH 02 6741 4777

AUSBIZ NEWS

Photo: ©Archie Sartracom

BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS

VICTORIAN TREASURE RECOGNISED ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST This year, south-west Victoria’s Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was officially recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara people, near the Great Ocean Road, Budj Bim contains one of the world’s oldest and most extensive aquaculture systems. Engineered by the Gunditjmara ancestors, the systems – connected across 100 square kilometres – were used to trap eels.

Around the systems, the Gunditjmara people built houses out of basalt stones, which are still visible within the landscape today.

Now Leasing NT Now Leasing NT have been raising the bar in property management in Darwin since opening in November 2015.

Joely Sullivan and Jo Griffiths have gone from starting up and running the entire business to now employing a small team, and consider themselves the first choice in property management in Darwin and its surrounding areas.

Recently expanding their office space within Darwin Corporate Park and with an ever-growing team, it really shows that even in a challenging market these ladies are improving their business by thinking outside the box and doing things differently. Joely and Jo are regarded as the most wellinformed property managers in the Territory, regularly investing in training and technology.

If you are looking for reliable property management, visit nowleasingnt.com.au and or call today on 08 8984 4404.

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

3

Mobile living made easy.

RELIABLE COOLING WHEREVER YOU GO DOMETIC CIB 26 Perfect for trips to the beach, BBQs with friends and daysout with the family, the Dometic CIB 26 insulated cooler bag offers 26 l of reliable cool storage for your food and drinks. Easy to transport thanks to a comfortable padded carry strap and handle, it has a durable construction for active use. Simply add ice and enjoy chilled food and drinks for up to 29 hours in the summer heat.

For more information visit dometic.com

191105

AUSBIZ NEWS

Meet Cass Spies: Co-founder and

Managing Director of Twisted Healthy Treats.

Tell us the story of Twisted.

For 10 years, Twisted has been pushing the boundaries and creating guilt-free, delicious frozen treats for all Australians, which are low in or have no added sugar, use only natural ingredients and are based on clean recipes. Today our products produced in our new production facility in Alexandria, Sydney, are available in 5,000 school canteens and 1,800 supermarket shelves nationally, with exports to the US, Asia and beyond commencing very soon.

What’s different about Twisted?

Twisted is Australia’s only all-women producer of nutritious, clean and healthy frozen treats. For the last decade, we have been a market leader within where the world is moving, in terms of consumers taking a more proactive approach towards healthier food choices, while not seeking to compromise their desire for a delicious frozen treat. In response to this dynamic environment, we innovate continually to ensure we are always benefiting the well-being (and fun!) of our customers.

Our new range of delicious low calorie, no-added sugar probiotic frozen yoghurts and lite ice creams, a first for the Australian market, are great examples of this.

What are you most proud of?

I’m incredibly proud of the way my all-female management team (who have been with me from the beginning) and I have successfully taken on an ice cream segment controlled by much larger multinationals, and delivered healthy frozen treats which are a quintessential Australian celebration of authenticity, integrity, innovation, family-owned business, local farmers, female entrepreneurialism, and health.

What’s the future for Twisted?

We will continue to innovate and bring to the market what more and more Australians want, namely, decadent frozen treats jam-packed with health benefits. For our customers, we’ll continue to make the seemingly difficult healthy choices around food easy. As we say at Twisted, “Complexity out, simplicity, health and guilt-free deliciousness, in!”

Workforce

solutions

Are you looking for a reliable workforce to help you plan ahead?

The Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) is an employer sponsored program connecting eligible businesses in rural and regional Australia with workers from nine Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste. The PLS offers employers access to a reliable workforce when there is not enough local labour available to fill low and semi-skilled positions.

The PLS is open to all sectors, including: • • • • •

Aged care and social assistance Accommodation and food services Non-seasonal horticulture & agriculture Fisheries and aquaculture Meat processing

For more information: Contact the Pacific Labour Facility Enquiries@pacificlabourfacility.com.au Phone: (07) 3557 7750 www.pacificlabourmobility.com.au

SPECIAL FEATURE Jason Mani from Malaita province in Solomon Islands harvests vegetables at Gracekate Farms.

Photo: Pacific Labour Facility

David Sondopiea from Papua New Guinea works at Skybury Farm in Mareeba, Queensland, through the PLS. Photo: Pacific Labour Facility

Helping regional and rural businesses address labour shortages The Pacific Labour Scheme connects workers with rural and regional Australian businesses that can’t find enough local labour.

Kerry and Simon McCarthy own and manage Gracekate Farms on the Darling Downs in Queensland, supplying leafy greens to farmers’ markets as well as major national supermarkets.

Gracekate Farms has employed workers from Solomon Islands through the Australian Government’s Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) since 2012, and many of these have returned to the farm for several seasons in a row. Having these seasonal workers on the farm has enabled the business to expand, and the McCarthys have now also signed up to the Government’s newer Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) to meet their longer-term labour needs.

While the SWP allows farmers to employ workers from nine Pacific

countries and Timor-Leste for unskilled roles for up to nine months, the PLS enables employers to recruit workers for low-skilled and semiskilled roles for a longer period of one to three years, subject to local market testing requirements.

Kerry McCarthy says the Solomon Island workers have been highly productive and have hit the ground running from the start.

“Our team from Solomon Islands is fabulous – because of them we’re now able to plan ahead,” she explains. “It will be great to get a more permanent workforce on the ground soon to help us prepare for the harvesting season.”

Along with the SWP and the Working Holiday Maker Programme, the PLS is another way in which rural and regional

Australian businesses and Pacific island workers can benefit from labour mobility arrangements in our region.

People from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu can apply for employment in Australia through the PLS. Anyone who signs up to the scheme from these countries has the same workplace and health and safety rights as Australian workers, and built-in systems protect them against exploitation.

Rural and regional Australian employers from any industry or sector can apply to join the PLS. For more information, and to find out your eligibility and if Pacific labour mobility meets your employment needs, visit the website: pacificlabourmobility.com.au DEC 2019/JAN 2020

7

MINING: TECHNOLOGY

NEW TECHNOLOGY IN MINING For a long time, the industry has been incredibly conservative, but that is all changing as mining goes high-tech.

Words: Darren Baguley

8

AusBiz.

MINING: TECHNOLOGY

The industry is now seeing a second wave of technological innovation based on digitisation.

For many years, mining has been one of the most – if not the most – conservative industries in the world.

Safety was, and still is, its numberone focus. But mining lagged behind manufacturing and construction, not to mention banking and retail, when it came to adopting automation, digitisation and big data.

What a difference a bust following a boom and a few years makes.

During the boom, mining companies focused on production, production and production – get the ore out of the ground, process it and ship it.

That was all that accounted. However, for more than a few companies, costs ballooned, and the business was only profitable because of the record prices being paid for commodities.

But, as Warren Buffett has said: “It’s only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” And when commodity prices started to drop, mining company shareholders discovered there was a lot of skinny-dipping going on. The resulting shock led to a focus on cost reduction that – unlike cost-cutting in previous mining downturns – was based on technology. The first wave of technology was automation: top-tier miners such as BHP, Fortescue and Rio Tinto invested in drones, driverless trains, haul trucks and drill rigs.

The industry is now seeing a second wave of technological innovation based on digitisation and the Internet of Things (IoT); an

advance that is generating big data that mining companies can use to further streamline their operations and drive efficiency. According to a spokesperson for Austmine, the peak industry body for the Australian Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector, several trends are clear.

“As mining companies are seeking to connect operations across all assets … there are new companies entering mining that wouldn’t be typically associated with the industry (Amazon, Google, etc) [and they and the METS sector more broadly] are collaborating within the industry to create new solutions for pressing challenges.”

One of the challenges all mining companies face is maintaining a social licence to operate in an environment where it can no longer be taken for granted, and there is a growing role for technology and digital for social licence measures. One company at the forefront of this trend is K2fly, whose Infoscope Land Management System is designed to help small and large companies maintain their

social licence to operate on land. The platform provides a single integrated spatial solution to manage land access and compliance information across multiple industries. As well as offering a full life-cycle ground disturbance process, Infoscope helps companies to deliver effective stakeholder, tenement, cultural heritage, native title and environmental management.

Bis is a mining services company that provides logistics, materials handling, specialist underground equipment and consulting services to resources companies across Australia and Indonesia. Starting life more than 100 years ago as Brambles Industrial Services, Bis revolutionised out-of-pit haulage with its dual-powered offroad road trains and it is continuing to innovate, recently launching Rexx, a robust haul truck that leverages Bis’ unique experience as both a leading mine haulage operator and a proven original equipment manufacturer (through its subsidiary Powertrans).

Designed and built in-house, in Perth, Rexx has been built to carry  DEC 2019/JAN 2020

9

MINING: TECHNOLOGY

a 160-tonne payload, and travels more than four times further than conventional haul trucks, which eliminated double handling.

Southern Innovation’s SITORO Multichannel Analyser is a superefficient, multichannel ore analyser for high-performance material analysis applications, including synchrotron X-ray analysis, electron microscopy, industrial and lab-based X-ray fluorescence and medical imaging.

According to Southern Innovation, SITORO delivers faster, more accurate material analysis and classification by using non-linear digital signal processing algorithms to decode pulse pile-up in real-time, dramatically increasing measurement efficiency and reducing measurement time.

The UFR3C is a three-tonne robot that uses a Caterpillar excavator as the robotic base – but it does much more than just dig holes. Attachments include mowers, mulchers, augers,

10

AusBiz.

trenchers, slashers, drilling buckets, grab assemblies and more – all with software allowing autonomous operation. Universal Field Robots has leveraged advances in stereo camera vision and LiDAR technologies to allow for precision world sensing, and their internet-connected machines can be monitored and controlled from anywhere on Earth.

Developed by former researchers from CSIRO’s Data61, Emesent’s world-leading Hovermap was the first drone in the world to fly autonomously in an underground mine. Hovermap is the culmination of a decade of research by CSIRO’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems group into drone autonomy and 3D LiDAR-based simultaneous localisation and mapping (3D SLAM) techniques.

It automates data collection in areas too dangerous or difficult for people to survey or navigate, such as stopes or ore passes in underground mines.

FAST FACTS AUSTRALIA’S METS SECTOR • Generates more than $90 billion annually in revenue.

• Employs about 400,000 people.

• Exports to more than 200 countries.

MINING: TECHNOLOGY

The Internet of Things promises to revolutionise the mining industry.

The IoT promises to revolutionise the mining industry, but for it to realise its promise, mines need to have networks capable of managing the flood of data such systems produce.

MST Global has been building mining and tunnelling technology for 30 years and its technology provides a complete digital ecosystem. Smart sensors that allow for control and automation of mobile and fixed assets can be wirelessly connected to a network specifically designed for the underground environment. Wearable tags provide real-time insights and alerts through monitoring and tracking mine personnel with voice and communication technologies available to support workers when they need it the most. MST has built the software to help make sense of all this data, but it is all enabled by a smart network able to handle a high level of data and connectivity requirements.

All the above companies and products are developed – many are also manufactured – in Australia and there are many more. Safescape is trialling its Bortana EV in underground mines ahead of production starting in 2020, Gekko Systems is finding ways to turn waste into energy, and Aggreko is developing modular solar farms to power remote mine sites and reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.

Politicians like to talk about how Australia needs to become the innovation nation, but if the METS sector is anything to go by, we’re already there.

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

11

ABSOLUTE PAVING PRECISION From resurfacing Singapore’s Formula 1 Grand Prix track, to paving roads, runways and other fine tolerance projects, when you need millimetre precision look to Topcon for your next paving application.

Topcon’s range of survey, milling, paving and compaction solutions will help save time, reduce material waste and deliver precision results, every time.

Let’s discuss your next project: 1300 867 266 | positionpartners.com.au

SPECIAL PROMOTION

Final trim the Topcon way

Topcon machine control technology will provide you with the flexibility to mix and match your grader solution to suit different applications at different stages of the project you’re working on.

With many of the new construction graders in Australia arriving from the factory or dealer with the option for an integrated system and basic machine control technology already installed, it is more important than ever to ensure you have the best solution on your grader that both suits your current needs and has the ability to grow with your business.

If you rely on a factory-fitted system, you may be limited by the fact that these systems are often not upgradeable or transferable between machines, so if you need a more sophisticated solution, it can be difficult to proceed without starting again with a different option. This can be needlessly expensive and time-consuming.

Ensuring you have the best machine control solution is arguably even more important on your grader, because if fine tolerances are not achieved consistently across the site, it will result in rework and extra materials, increasing costs and decreasing efficiencies. Ideally, you need to get the grade right the first time, and Topcon machine control can ensure you do.

“The machine control technology available from Topcon is compatible across all machine types, makes and models. This makes it a highly

flexible and customisable solution.

A GNSS machine control system can be adapted with a high precision laser transmitter that combined will deliver millimetre vertical precision for fine grading tasks, a technology unique to Topcon,” says Josh Allan, Construction Business Manager at Position Partners Australia.

Topcon machine control technology is the most flexible on the market, so you can mix and match your solutions to suit whatever job you’re working on.

All contractors can attest that every job is different, and you often need more than one machine control system configuration to complete the range of tasks you work on to the tolerance you require.

Topcon grader machine control gives you the option to: • Easily swap machine control technology between machines – so you can stretch your machine control system across a range of machines.

• Scale up or scale down to suit the job – for example, you might box out a subdivision with GPS/ GNSS, but then you can switch to a sonic tracker to follow the kerb.

Topcon lets you work with 2D or 3D technology without having to install a whole new system.

• Combine GPS/GNSS with other technology, including laser or prisms with a total station, to increase accuracy even further for final trim work.

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

13

MINING: THE NEW BOOM

THE NEXT MINING BOOM Mining Boom 1.0 is over, but there’s another just around the corner.

Words: Darren Baguley

14

AusBiz.

MINING: THE NEW BOOM

The world is unlikely to see a phenomenon like the boom of the early 2010s for at least a generation – if ever – but after a bumpy few years, the mining and energy industry is getting interesting again. This time it’s mainly Western Australiabased and being driven by liquefied natural gas (LNG), iron ore and the technology metals that will power the 21st century.

New mining activity is happening in other parts of Australia, mainly Queensland, but where the major LNG, mining, processing and exploration activity is occurring is Western Australia. Lithium, cobalt and vanadium are essential to making high-technology componentry such as mobile phones, solar cells and the different kinds of batteries we’re going to need for electric vehicles (EVs) and to store power from renewable sources. Australia sits on top of large proven reserves of all these metals, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance is predicting a surge in demand for these metals, plus copper and high-purity nickel, as sales of EVs soar to 30 million by 2030. 

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

15

MINING: THE NEW BOOM

ABOVE: IAN SANDERS, NATIONAL ENERGY, RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIALS INDUSTRY LEAD PARTNER AT DELOITTE AUSTRALIA.

Not only does Australia have reserves of these critical resources, we’re also politically and socially stable, a factor that helps offset our high labour costs and high levels of environmental regulation. This factor cannot be underestimated. Deloitte’s West Australian Index noted that cobalt surged to a six-month high during September before finishing the month up 13 per cent at US$36,484/t.

The increase is driven by increasing demand coupled with shrinking supplies as the world’s largest cobalt producer, Glencore, announced plans to shut down its Mutanda mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of 2019. This shutdown is expected to eliminate about a fifth of the global cobalt supply.

According to Deloitte Australia’s National Energy, Resources and Industrials Industry Lead Partner Ian Sanders: “The automotive industry

16

AusBiz.

is very excited about EVs – by 2025 they’re expected to be 15 per cent of new vehicle sales worldwide and, in 2040, 60 per cent, so demand is very high for the respective metals, and it will only increase. There is currently huge demand in China, the US and Europe for lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel, but the concentrated supply of those minerals is of concern. For example, the major cobalt resource is the Democratic Republic of the Congo; for lithium it’s Chile, vanadium it’s China and Russia.

There are [not] dozens of countries supplying these key minerals, which is a key concern of the supply chain.”

ACIL Allen’s Executive Director, Western Australia and Northern Territory, John Nicolaou, believes “there certainly is greater optimism in the WA resources sector, and the ramp-up in prices for key commodities and raw materials that feed into

batteries such as lithium has been one of the key drivers of that optimism.

Nevertheless, iron ore is by far WA’s largest commodity and it continues to go from strength to strength, although liquefied natural gas has been a recent success for WA. LNG was a big driver of the investment boom in early 2010s, but there is a long tail to that story.”

The long tail is the Burrup Hub, a development of an additional 20 to 25 trillion cubic feet of gas resources from the Scarborough and Browse fields of the north-west coast of Western Australia. Building on the existing Pluto LNG and North West Shelf projects, the hub will create a regional LNG production centre on the Burrup Peninsula. According to Woodside, building the $40 billion hub will employ more than 4600 workers when construction reaches its peak in 2023, and economic modelling suggests that up to 460 additional local Karratha operations jobs will be created or sustained on average.

Both Sanders and Nicolaou are upbeat about the future for Western Australian iron ore, as evidenced by the recent announcement of three 

MINING: THE NEW BOOM

In Western Australia, nickel is getting a new lease on life as it is a key component of batteries.

FAST FACTS • Australia has 17 per cent of the world’s accessible reserves of iron ore – the world’s largest resource.

• Australia has the world’s second-largest reserve of lithium, but the largest reserve of hard rock lithium.

• In 2018, the global electric car fleet exceeded 5.1 million, up 2 million from the previous year and almost doubling the number of new electric car sales.

• Norway is per capita the largest user of EVs, with more than 50 per cent of new cars sold.

18

AusBiz.

new mines: BHP’s $5 billion South Flank, Fortescue Metals Group’s $1.7 billion Eliwana mine and Rio Tinto’s $2.6 billion Koodaideri mine.

“What you can’t forget is iron ore and metallurgical coal are critical in new infrastructure and we’re not seeing a downturn in those commodities,” says Sanders. “Vale’s [loss of its social licence to operate after a tailings dam collapse killed hundreds of people] is certainly a significant factor, but the accessibility of Australia gives us a real competitive advantage. China and India are continuing to grow and infrastructure in the developed world continues to grow and those factors are as important as the terrible events in Brazil.”

Nicolaou adds that, historically, iron ore out of north-west Western Australia has a unique advantage – the quality of the resource and distance to market relative to Vale in Brazil – but also points out: “The resource is part of it but a lot of credit needs to go to the miners in WA. Their investment in efficient production in the aftermath of the resources boom refocused away from growth strategy so costs of production are very low. This provides them with significant profits when

prices are high and a buffer when prices come off as they do.”

While nickel has been around for thousands of years, in Western Australia it is getting a new lease on life as it is a key component of batteries. Nicolaou says: “It is quite a volatile market that does get peaks and troughs, and as a result we see marginal mines close and reopen.”

This volatility saw prices surge and fall last month as Indonesia announced it would ban nickel ore exports from 2020 as it develops an electric battery industry backed by Chinese stainless-steel giant Tsingshan Group.

According to at least one analyst, this could lead to the reopening of Canadian miner First Quantum’s mothballed Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia’s south-east.

Volatility is the watchword for many of the tech metals, however there is no doubt the world is undergoing a step change in the way we produce energy and transport ourselves and our goods. Miners in Western Australia are well positioned to take advantage of this slow-motion boom that will significantly change the face of Australian mining.

Riverina Lift Trucks

GRIFFITH, WAGGA WAGGA, BATHURST, SHEPPARTON HEAD OFFICE: 42-46 Wakaden Street, Griffith NSW 2680

1300 70 46 20

TAKE CONTROL AND RELAX THIS SUMMER WITH THE YALE UX providing the ideal solution to meet your less-frequent usage needs, without compromising performance

GP25UX / 2500kg

from $19990 conditions apply

+GST

Own from as low as $70 per week (conditions apply)

www.rlt.com.au

YALE

-

UTILEV

-

MANITOU

-

GEHL

-

HAKO

-

JLG

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

DELIVERING THE GOODS

Whether on the road or flying high, the transport industry is transforming in the greatest ways. Words: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

It’s arguably the most important sector in our entire economy – one that underwrites the viability of most businesses and organisations in Australia. From the foods we eat to the medicine that keeps us well and the fuel that propels the aircraft you are flying in now, they’re all dependent on transport and logistics. But it’s changing rapidly. Here are three short stories about the men and women who toil thanklessly to grease the wheels of commerce and the quantum changes redefining the industry.

THE AGE OF DRONES Transporting goods from retailers to households is one of the most costly parts of the supply chain; it accounts for 15 to 20 per cent of transaction costs because logistics operators face congested city roads on one end and sparsely populated countryside on the other. It also adds to greenhouse gases, congestion and traffic accidents. But that’s about to change thanks to a new generation of automated drones that can cut delivery costs and times by magnitudes.

By 2030 it’s estimated that at least one-quarter of all household deliveries will be carried by drones.

The revolution has already begun in Canberra, where Alphabet startup Wing launched the world’s first commercial drone delivery service. 

20

AusBiz.

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

A new generation of automated drones can cut delivery costs and times by magnitudes.

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

21

Photo: Wing

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

IN AUSTRALIA, DRONES ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASINGLY SHARE SPACE WITHIN THE DELIVERY SECTOR.

“We’ve been active in Canberra since April, building a selection of 17 retailers and niche items consumers want to get delivered now, like coffee, salads and hardware supplies that weigh up to 1.5 kilograms, the maximum payload of our drones,” says Wing’s Head of Australian Operations Terrance Bouldin-Johnson. “We don’t foresee drones taking over the delivery business, but we certainly believe they will co-exist in the space. It’ll be about taking away that extra trip to the store when you forget to buy sugar or eggs.

Think about it – for a car to cover 10 kilometres of busy or winding roads, it can take up to 30 or 40 minutes, but our drones can, in a straight line at 125 kilometres per hour, cover that distance in less than five minutes.”

The day when drones can deliver vital goods like medicine and engine parts to rural and remote locations is also on the horizon.

“I would say there is a very good possibility that we will be able to do long-distance deliveries and life-saving deliveries one day,” says BouldinJohnson. “But right now we’re focusing on perfecting small urban deliveries.

We have already carried out 80,000 test flights without hitting a single bird or causing any kind of problem.”

22

AusBiz.

THE ZERO-ROADFATALITY VISION Every year, more than 200 people are killed in truck crashes on our roads.

Driver fatigue is partially to blame, but less so today than in the past due to regulation that restricts the number of hours commercial drivers can work in a 24-hour period. New technologies are also helping to mitigate the problem.

“Today there is a very high focus on safety in the trucking business,” says Glen Cameron of Glen Cameron Group, a Victorian logistics company.

“All our trucks are remotely monitored by satellite for data points that can be indicative of driver fatigue – things such as speed, harsh braking and hard cornering.”

But truckies are not to blame in most trucking accidents.

“In 93 per cent of fatalities involving a truck, the other party was at fault,” says Michael Byrne, Managing Director of Toll Group. “Yet national and state road-safety strategies are silent on how light-vehicle drivers can share the road with trucks.”

To help spread the word, several Australian companies are investing time and resources to help turn their vision of zero road fatalities

into a reality. Glen Cameron Group, for example, has sponsored seven different driver-education radio commercials this year, covering topics like overtaking trucks safely and keeping out of trucks’ blind spots.

“We’re trying to educate all road users – not just truck drivers – because most people are not aware of the complexities of heavy vehicles and their braking distances,” says Cameron.

Australia Post is also doing its bit; it recently pledged $200,000 to support a safety exhibition by the Australian Trucking Association targeting 16- to 25-year-old drivers – a vulnerable group that accounts for just 10 per cent of the driver population but a quarter of all fatal truck crashes.

“We’re always looking for ways to keep our people and communities safe,” says Australia Post Group Chief Operating Officer Bob Black.

“Last year we experienced 768 road injuries across our workforce nationally. That means three posties were injured every workday – that’s three posties too many.”

THE END OF GENDER IMBALANCE When it comes to gender imbalance, the logistics and transport industry

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

CURRENTLY, WOMEN ACCOUNT FOR JUST 26.4 PER CENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS INDUSTRY.

takes the cake: just 26.4 per cent of the workforce is female, according to Teletrac Navman, a fleet management firm. The figures are even worse in the field, with just 6.5 per cent of women in driving positions. The pay imbalance is also out of touch; women in transport and logistics earn an annual average of $21,923 less than men.

“There is obviously not a great perception of women working in the transport industry,” says Melissa Taylor, Managing Director of Taylor’s Removals, a 101-year-old company based in Toowoomba, Queensland, and the Australian Trucking Association’s 2016 Trucking Industry Woman of the Year.

“I started in administration, which is typically where most women work in the industry because we tend to be good organisers,” she says.

“But more than that, women have a different way of looking at things than men, and that adds a lot of value to the bottom line. Half of our office workforce is female and the gender mix works brilliantly; it promotes wider perspectives for problem-solving.”

Some inroads are now being made thanks to industry initiatives like GenR8. Developed by Queensland Trucking Association, it offers Year 12 students work-experience slots with transport companies that count towards matriculation.

“Nowadays it’s not just teenage boys applying as mechanics. We have had many girls coming through in the marketing and accounts sides of the business, and there is so much happening in IT in transport where women can play a major role,” says Taylor, who contributed her time probono for GenR8 programs in Brisbane before establishing a chapter in Toowoomba. “At first they are really shy because it’s such a male-dominated industry, but by the end they’re going out and getting jobs and working their way up to executive positions like I did.

Seeing those young women go and do that is really fantastic.”

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

23

The Aboriginal Artists Project combines the fashion accessory designs of Catherine Manuell with the artworks of many wonderful women artists from remote Australian communities. Shown here is the Bush Yams artwork by Evelyn Pultara from the Utopia region of Central Australia. A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of these products goes directly to the artists.

Call us on 03 9486 4066 for help or a little personal service, or email: info@catherinemanuelldesign.com

www.catherinemanuelldesign.com

AGRIBUSINESS: AVOCADOS

THE AVOCADO BANDWAGON How this strange little fruit became a major global player – and a delicious toast spread too.

Words: Ian Lloyd Neubauer Going back a generation, the avocado was still a slapdash breakfast spread used when the Vegemite had run out or a condiment you tossed into a salad before it over-ripened.

“Avocado was always just something I ate. We didn’t sell that much of it,” recalls Australian restaurateur and TV chef Bill Granger.

That all changed in 1999, when Granger released Bills Sydney Food, a cookbook that included the first published recipe for smashed avocado on sourdough toast. At the time, Granger thought it was silly – putting ‘toast’ in a cookbook. But as consumers learned of avocados’ many health benefits – they’re high in healthy monounsaturated fats, protein, nutrients and vitamins – the dish captured the zeitgeist of the good-food movement and an outsize following all over the world.

Smashed avocado on toast is the signature dish at Flinders Lane, Hole in 

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

25

Photo: Avocados Australia

AGRIBUSINESS: AVOCADOS

ABOVE: AUSTRALIAN RESTAURATEUR, TV CHEF AND AUTHOR OF COOKBOOK BILLS SYDNEY FOOD, BILL GRANGER.

26

AusBiz.

the Wall and a wave of Australian-owned cafés that are the toast of the town in New York – a fancy sandwich filling rife with social symbolism, as Melbourne property tycoon Tim Gurner learned when he told millennials on 60 Minutes that if they really want to save up for a home they should stop paying $19 for avocado on toast.

Within the following 48 hours, Gurner fielded more than a thousand interview requests from across the world. When he refused to speak to them, the paparazzi tracked down his wife and kids. What began

as a social commentary on housing affordability in Australia became part of an international debate about the stellar popularity of a creamy green fruit that is technically a berry.

OVERSUPPLY The global avocado market still has plenty of room to grow, according to USbased market research firm TMR. Last year it was valued at $20 billion. By 2026 it’ll hit $31.5 billion.

Avocado is in high demand not only in the food industry but also in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors for

its respective anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties. Studies show that cholesterol levels can fall 17 per cent after a seven-day diet rich in avocados; Kim Kardashian even uses it as a face mask.

Mexico, the home of the avocado, produced a third of global supply last year.

This year the country will boost production by six per cent. Peru and Chile are now net exporters of avocados to the US, while the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Colombia are also major global players.

The Australian avocado industry has gone into

AGRIBUSINESS: AVOCADOS

Photo: Avocados Australia

Photo: Avocados Australia

Australian avocados are geared almost exclusively for the domestic market.

overdrive too. Production has increased 84 per cent in the past decade and 11 per cent last year alone, according to peak industry body Avocados Australia.

But Australian avocados are geared almost exclusively for the domestic market. Only 3.7 per cent of the 85,500 tonnes we produced last year was exported. This country is in fact a net importer of avocados, with 23,355 tonnes flown in from New Zealand in 2016-17, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Second-generation Western Australian avocado farmer Jennie Franceschi says we don’t export much because the price for avocados in Australia is above the global average.

“There was a time a few years ago when they were selling for $3.50 in supermarkets and up to $5 or $6 at specialty retails,” she says. “But as with all farming entities, when

people come across a good thing, they go a little bit too hard at it. Right now, almost half of the trees in the ground in Australia are not even in production. The south-west of WA looks like the Barossa Valley, but instead of vineyards, they’re all avocado trees.

Like the wine industry, a lot of farmers jumped on the avocado bandwagon, and soon we’ll go into oversupply.”

She adds: “It’s already begun. Last summer, the supermarket price fell as low as $2. That’s why so many pensioners were buying avocados.”

A LITTLE PAIN Avocado Australia CEO John Tyas says his organisation is working on solutions. “We are trying to increase domestic consumption with a lot of marketing and promotional activity,” he says. “As at March 2019, 73 per cent of Australian households  DEC 2019/JAN 2020

27

Photo: Avocados Australia

AGRIBUSINESS: AVOCADOS

5 WEIRD THINGS MADE FROM AVOCADO

consume avocados. That indicates that there is room for growth.”

Right now, Australia produces about 420 million avocados annually. Based on Avocado Australia’s projections, that number will hit 600 million within a few short years. This indicates that even if household penetration reaches 100 per cent, the avocado market will be under pressure.

“We know it won’t be sufficient, so we’re going to have to ramp up export activities,” Tyas says.

“Currently we export to Singapore, Malaysia and a little to Hong Kong, but we really need to access the larger markets in Asia – India and China. Last year

28

AusBiz.

we managed to get access to the Japanese market, but only with avocados from fruit-fly-free zones in WA and the Riverland of South Australia. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Franceschi agrees.

Her father was one of three pioneering avocado farmers in the 1970s who invested in the legal framework that gave WA its fruit-fly-free status and allows the state to export hard fruit from healthy branches to Japan today.

“It was an example of how early adopters spent their time and money to grow a strong industry that benefitted everyone – not just themselves,” she says.

“I’ve been trying to build export markets for avocados

for 10 years, but what I’ve found is that growers don’t want to commit to longterm contracts at global prices if they think they can get 50 cents more selling at home. That’s why we have such low exports – farmers putting short-term gains ahead of long-term viability.

“But where will all the fruit go when all those young trees come online and we double our volume?”

Franceschi asks. “Even if the domestic price drops to $1, people will only buy so many avocados in one day. I think farmers are going to have to see their fruit go unsold and feel a bit of pain before they start thinking about the big picture and invest in export markets.”

1. AVOCADO HONEY Made in Finland from avocado blossom nectar, it has a syrupy taste with notes of licorice.

2. CUBED AVOCADO A no-mess, no-fuss prepackaged solution sold frozen at supermarkets in Sweden.

3. AVOCADO HERBAL TEA Made from avocado leaves in Indonesia, it helps to inhibit the formation of kidney stones.

4. AVOCADO OIL MAYONNAISE More expensive than other edible oils with a high smoke point, it’s great for salads and dips.

5. DR CHUNG’S FOOD VEGEMIL KIWI AVOCADO SOY MILK Made in South Korea, it’s described as ’delicious, nutritious and fun’.

27 June to 3rd July 2020 7 days of riding Road - Elite Rider & Social Rider Packs Mountain Bike - Fast Pack & Fun Pack Fully Catered & Supported

Raising funds to support the education of kids in the bush.

Early Bird Offer

Register Now until the end of February to receive a free pair of C2K Knicks (Value $185)

C2KBIKERIDE.COM.AU

REVOLUTIONARY GIN

GIN’S GLORIOUS REVOLUTION

Photo: Jun Takano

Today there are more than 170 gin distilleries in Australia; five years ago there were barely 20.

With Aussie craft gins winning international awards and taking a cut of the domestic spirits market, is this exceptional growth here to stay, or will it prove to be just another ‘Gin Craze’? Words: lisa smyth

30

AusBiz.

REVOLUTIONARY GIN

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

31

REVOLUTIONARY GIN

“Without the shackles of a long history or legacy of gin production like in the UK, Australian distilleries have the courage and creativity to push the boundaries of gin-making.”

If you were a lowly foot soldier in the 17th century, going into battle would have seemed a terrifying prospect.

There was a very good chance you were going to die, which is why William of Orange sent his soldiers into battle with what would become known among their British foes as ‘Dutch courage’ – a shot of jenever, the forefather of gin.

“Some refer to the recent popularity of gin as the ‘Second Glorious Revolution’,” explains Jon Lark, owner of Kangaroo Island Spirits, one of the first Australian distilleries to produce gin using native botanicals back in 2007. “The first was in the UK in 1688, when the Catholic King James II was overthrown by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange.

“The new government passed legislation putting import restrictions on French brandies and encouraging local gin production, which led to the infamous ‘Gin Craze’ in London at the time.” In fact, gin became so cheap that the average Londoner consumed about 52 litres of gin each year – more than one bottle per week!

While we might not be drinking gin at such an unhealthy rate, Australians are consuming more of it than ever before. In the past year (2017-18), Australian consumption of gin increased by 33 per cent, and it is predicted to continue to grow at

32

AusBiz.

a rate of 12.2 per cent until 2023.

“Gin was the fastest-growing spirit across the world in 2018,” says Andrew Burge, founder of Australia’s top gin subscription club, Gin Society. “The popularity is driven by the availability of premium products, and the explosion in range, styles and flavours.

“Without the shackles of a long history or legacy of gin production like in the UK, Australian distilleries seem to have the courage and creativity to push the boundaries of gin-making, especially given the many fantastic native botanicals we have available, like lemon myrtle, wattleseed and Tasmanian pepperberry.”

A MODERN REBELLION Of course, until recently, Australia was most closely associated with another spirit. Rum was commonly used as currency in the New South Wales colony, and the Rum Rebellion of 1808 – the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history – was partly due to the stifling of the rum trade by Governor William Bligh.

Rum and other spirits were blamed for the colony’s ills – violence, crime, poverty – and small pot distilling was outlawed for the following 100 years. The Australian industry was only revived in the early 1990s when Bill Lark, the ‘Grandfather of Australian

Photo: Leigh Eardley

Photo: Jun Takano

REVOLUTIONARY GIN

FROM LEFT: GIN COCKTAIL AT PATIENT WOLF DISTILLING CO; GINS FROM IMPERIAL MEASURES DISTILLING; DISTILLING MACHINERY AT PATIENT WOLF DISTILLING CO.

spirits’ and Jon Lark’s brother, decided to champion the overturning of the law in Tasmania so he could distil whisky. With his success, the new rebellion had begun.

“The willingness to embrace Australian craft spirits is borne out of the success of the Australian whisky industry on the world stage, and the growth of a new generation of drinkers who are looking for quality over quantity,” notes Chris Jones, co-founder of South Australia’s Imperial Measures Distilling. The distillery’s Ounce Gin ‘Bold’ won Champion Gin at the 2019 Australian Distilled Spirits Awards.

“Another reason is the resurgence of the cocktail and the subsequent small bar scene,” says Jones. “People no longer have any reservations about trying new Australian spirits, and we are constantly finding people who say they ‘never used to like gin’ and are now converts.”

THE PERSONAL TOUCH The connection to the ‘craft’ of making gin is definitely a key component to its recent success, with many urban and regional distillery doors open for tastings, and more and more including bars and cocktail lounges. Much like Australian wineries and craft breweries, distilleries are creating spaces where they can share the story – and the provenance – behind their gins.

“The level and depth of questions we get about our gins is becoming very sophisticated,” says Matt Argus, co-founder of Melbourne’s Patient Wolf Distilling Co. “People now want to know everything, from what botanicals are used to whether the gin has been made using a German copper still or one that’s been made in China from stainless steel.”

Having launched in 2016 from a boutique space in Brunswick, in September 2019 Patient Wolf moved its distillery to a large warehouse in

Melbourne’s Southbank that now includes a 30-seat bar. “We would have one-off open days in Brunswick, and we’d get 500 people in an afternoon. We wanted to open that up,” says Argus. It is now Australia’s largest urban independent gin distillery in terms of production capacity.

GOING GLOBAL In February 2019, Adelaide’s Never Never Distilling Co.’s Southern Strength Gin beat out global brands like Tanqueray, Hendrick’s and Gordon’s to win the World’s Best Classic Gin at the influential World Gin Awards in London. It was the first time an Australian gin had won the award.

“Aussie gin is pound for pound the best in the world,” says Stuart Gregor, co-founder of uber-popular Four Pillars Gin and President of the Australian Distillers Association (ADA).

“If you take the 10 best Australian gins and put them up against the 10 best  DEC 2019/JAN 2020

33

Photo: Benito Martin

REVOLUTIONARY GIN

GIN AND TAXES

FOUR PILLARS BLOODY SHIRAZ GIN.

FAST FACTS • Kangaroo Island Distillery won Best Contemporary Gin at the 2019 International Wine and Spirits Competition, the first Australian gin to be awarded a trophy in the prestigious competition.

• The category of ‘Navy Strength’ gin (57 per cent alcohol) refers to the fact that the British Royal Navy used to test a gin by igniting it, which proved it hadn’t been diluted.

• There were 168 gin entries in the 2019 Australian Distilled Spirits Awards, far more than liqueur (49), whisky (35) and rum (27).

• A mixture of gin, Campari and sweet vermouth garnished with an orange peel, the Negroni is now 100 years old, having been invented by Count Camillo Negroni in Florence, Italy, in 1919.

34

AusBiz.

gins from across the world, we would win. We have a natural affinity for flavour and our local environment is pure and natural.”

Having launched in regional Victoria’s Yarra Valley in 2013, Four Pillars was one of the first Aussie gins on the market. It has grown at an average rate of 83.4 per cent a year since it launched, and in March 2019 multinational brewing giant Lion acquired a 50 per cent stake in the business. Now available in more than 25 international markets, it is expected to soon overtake Hendrick’s Gin as Australia’s most popular premium gin brand.

“We want to become Australia’s global spirit brand,” says Gregor.

“We needed a partner that would help us go to scale internationally, but also help us expand our home experience. We are doubling our Healesville distillery and bar in 2020.”

There is one issue that is impeding the growth of most of Australia’s gin distilleries: tax. As of October 2019, the excise duty on spirits is $85.87 per litre of pure alcohol, compared to $50.70 per litre of full-strength beer, and wine that is taxed at 29 per cent of its wholesale price. When you add GST, it can mean that some distillers are paying nearly 50 per cent of their total revenue in tax.

“The excise regime in Australia is very punishing and it really makes no sense,” says Gregor, clearly exasperated. “Every six months the excise is increased, which means every six months our cost of production goes up. Since we opened we have had 13 tax increases, but the wine industry hasn’t had a tax increase in 17 years.”

According to the 2019 Ginventory Survey conducted by The Gin Boutique, 55 per cent of distillers said their number-one barrier to growth was excise and taxation costs. “Price point is a massive constraint for consumers as well,” says co-founder Glenn McPhee. “An Aussie gin will cost $40 to $45 on a US shelf but $70 to $80 on an Australian shelf. Still, 20 per cent of respondents said they buy more than one bottle of gin a month.”

Despite the cost barriers for small producers, a new distillery is opening in Australia almost every week. With expressions like Four Pillars’ Bloody Shiraz, Archie Rose Distilling Co.’s ArchieMite Buttered Toast and Adelaide Hills Distillery’s Green Ant, it’s clear Australian distillers are keen to make their mark on the gin world.

“Gin can express a place like no other spirit,” reveals Gregor. “It is the number-one spirits category by miles and it will continue to grow with different expressions using native botanicals that reflect our ‘place’, our Australia.”

WWW.BILPINCIDER.COM FACEBOOK.COM/BILPINCIDER INSTAGRAM.COM/BILPINCIDER

PROPERTYBIZ

HOME TRUTHS: THE PRICE OF ADVICE Buying a home isn’t rocket science, but purchasing property in the hope of making a pretty penny can be a particular skill.

Words: Kirsten Craze

36

AusBiz.

PROPERTYBIZ

LEFT: MOSMAN, NSW. BELOW: PARTNER AND BUYER’S AGENT AT EMPOWER WEALTH, TV PRESENTER AND PODCASTER, BRYCE HOLDAWAY.

An increasing number of everyday Australians are engaging professional buyer’s agents, also known as buyer’s advocates, to help them purchase their first place, their dream home or an entire property portfolio.

Once a tool for cashed-up, timepoor city slickers, these real-estate professionals are being used as one weapon in an arsenal of tricks that buyers are harnessing to climb today’s property ladder.

“People lean on buyer’s agents for a range of reasons, and that’s what a lot of consumers neglect to think about. Gone are the days of someone rich or busy meeting a buyer’s agent because they haven’t got the time,” explains Cate Bakos, president of the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia (REBAA).

“One of the main reasons people engage an advocate is simply to deal with sales agents. A lot of people feel out of their depth or just don’t like

dealing with agents. We also speak their language; we can frame an offer in the right way, know when to put in an offer – and when to wait,” she says.

Bryce Holdaway, buyer’s agent and partner at Empower Wealth, television presenter and co-creator of The Property Couch podcast, says that despite prices softening in major markets, buyer’s agents still play their part because it’s not all about negotiating prices down.

“In bigger markets like Melbourne, Sydney and, to a certain extent, the hotter parts of Brisbane and Adelaide, if you find a good property you have to move very quickly to secure it, and that’s part of what a buyer’s agent will bring to the table,” he says. “If you’re not in a position to move quickly, you’ll keep losing properties.

You’ve got to be able to respond quickly and lean on your buyer’s agent, because a whole heap of emotions are going to come up. They’ve done

it all before – they’re experienced.”

Although there is no industry standard, REBAA suggests the average buyer’s agent charges approximately two per cent of the purchase price, although upfront fixed fees can be negotiated.

THE JOB AT HAND Holdaway says the cost of not hiring an advocate can go beyond the fee.

“A lot of people think ‘What value does a buyer’s agent provide?’.

We would say four things, really.

Number one is we buy the right house in the first place. Number two is we help avoid procrastination.

Number three is we make sure you don’t pay too much. Finally, we make sure you tap into our network – that in itself can save an enormous amount of time.”

Bakos agrees and adds that a good advocate is an analyst, not a shopper.

“People wrongly assume we’re  DEC 2019/JAN 2020

37

PROPERTYBIZ

walking through glamorous houses all the time; it’s fair to say that less than a quarter of our time would be walking through houses. The other three quarters would be assessing and conducting due diligence, talking with clients and dealing with agents,” she says.

Bakos notes that another misconception about the job is that they swoop in and take over househunting duties from start to finish.

“A lot of buyer’s agents have varying types of service. I certainly have different tiers because I enjoy the client being engaged in the process. It pays for the consumer to interview their buyer’s agent to find out how to get the best out of them. Many people want to learn and be involved, and they just need someone to hold their hand to make sure they don’t make a mistake.”

ESCAPE FROM THE CITY The number of buyer’s agents operating in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane has boomed over the past decade as prices increased and buyers suffering FOMO sought help. Today their popularity has grown, with investors as well as sea- and tree-changers looking to buy beyond the city limits.

As co-host on the ABC series Escape From The City, Holdaway says there’s no substitute for having a helping hand on the ground.

“Local knowledge is something you absolutely need. Most people think about the price of a buyer’s agent but don’t consider what the value actually is. If you get it wrong when buying, it’s a high-value transaction and trying to change it will set you back significantly.”

Bakos agrees that buyers who are

unfamiliar with an area should seek out specialist knowledge.

“If a buyer’s agent is based in a particular region, and that’s their hometown, they would be very familiar with the selling agents and understand what locals value and want.”

Offloading a regional property can often take longer than one with a metropolitan address, especially if an owner has bought in the wrong part of town.

“Also, its capital growth might have been low compared to something else in the same town. So you just want someone to help you futureproof your decision,” says Bakos.

“It pays for the consumer to interview their buyer’s agent to find out how to get the best out of them.”

THIS IMAGE: UMINA BEACH, NSW. TOP: PRESIDENT OF THE REAL ESTATE BUYERS AGENTS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (REBAA), CATE BAKOS.

38

AusBiz.

And, as Holdaway says, going it alone can take both an emotional and a financial toll.

“Imagine paying for accommodation and flights and taking annual leave just to go house-hunting, because generally you’re not going to buy a property in the first week. If you’re looking from the city, it’s all listingsbased, so you might not see it all.

Even to get the feel of a place you’ve got to go a few times. People totally underestimate the emotional cost.”

PROPERTYBIZ

FAST FACTS • Buyer’s agents can help with the whole house-hunting process or just be a bidder on your behalf at auction.

Purchasers can usually pick and choose the amount of involvement.

• In the USA and Canada, 90 per cent of people engage a buyer’s agent or buyer’s advocate to help with their property purchase.

BEST-KEPT SECRETS Call them off-market, pre-market or secret listings, they are one of the things buyers can tap into when using an advocate. While Bakos says it’s true they do have insight on homes that aren’t advertised, she adds that buyers should beware.

“It’s one of the most common questions I get asked, and people probably place too much emphasis on it – they think we’ve got a secret property portal. We can reach out to an agent and very quickly get off-markets, but not all off-markets are good. Unfortunately, there are opportunistic sellers and agents who will flog an off-market home at a premium just to get the sale.

You’ve got to assess whether it’s a genuine off-market with a motivated vendor, or whether you will pay a premium just to have a run at the property without competition.”

WHO USES THEM? Emilia Rossi, a marketing strategist and co-founder of online wedding

MARKETING STRATEGIST AND CO-FOUNDER OF ONLINE WEDDING MARKETPLACE CAPRIESS, EMILIA ROSSI.

marketplace Capriess, says despite her and her husband Socrates having a solid financial IQ, they still saw the value of investing in a buyer’s advocate.

“We’ve got very particular goals we want to achieve in the next five, 10, 15 years. It just made sense getting experts on board to help us. My husband and I are very much numbers- and data-driven people, and it actually took us two years to do our due diligence and find our advocate at Empower Wealth,” she says.

Spending money on a buyer’s agent when you’re trying to make money might seem counterintuitive, but Rossi says that the financial logic is definitely there.

“They do save us money in the long run. They also take the stress out of purchasing. Without them, we’d have to go and do the research – this way, we don’t even need to lift a finger. They’ve got their team, they bring what we need to the table and we just have a look. Plus,

we can tap into their expertise – they live and breathe this stuff.”

She says her buyer’s agent has suggested investment properties in both metropolitan and regional areas.

“I was a bit skeptical of buying outside of where I knew, but as long as they have the numbers and the data to back up the historic trends, I’m confident.”

Rossi adds that the additional cost of a buyer’s advocate should quickly pay for itself.

“They’re doing you a favour, because if you catch that first property with exceptional capital growth, you’re then able to leverage and purchase your second or third or fourth. If you mess up that first one, you’re stuck. That’s what I think people trying to get into the market overlook,” she explains.

“I just sold two dud properties – ones that I’d bought without that expert advice – and I was very lucky I didn’t lose any money. The point is, if I hadn’t spoken to Empower Wealth, I’d be in a very different position right now.”

DEC 2019/JAN 2020

39

PUZZLES

CROSSWORD

18. Embroidery expert

13. Divulge

21. Anchorage native

14. Awry

22. Alter (text)

16. Type of cigar

23. Fling, shipboard ...

18. Benefit (of) 19. South African currency 20. Scalp growth

BARBERRY BLACKBERRY BLUEBERRY CRANBERRY ELDERBERRY

40

AusBiz.

GOOSEBERRY GRAPE LOGANBERRY MAYAPPLE MULBERRY

RASPBERRY STRAWBERRY THIMBLEBERRY WOLFBERRY

P Y R R E B E L B M I H T

A E O Y R R E B K C A L B

R R G J E X P K W Q L H W

T R A K Y R R E B N A R C

S Y B L U E B E R R Y H G

W B O P A Z L J G R A P E

B R S L O G A N B E R R Y

E E E I Y R R E B L U M O

R D B K S Z K D Q M K W R

R L E R A S P B E R R Y W

Y E R E L P P A Y A M O A

O D R B D Y R R E B R A B

U W Y R R E B F L O W R R

SOLUTIONS:

11. Fencing swords

U W Y R R E B F L O W R R

17. Radio interference

O D R B D Y R R E B R A B

10. Exclude

Y E R E L P P A Y A M O A

6. ... Sea Scrolls

15. Water removal system

R L E R A S P B E R R Y W

12. Adopted (policy)

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: BERRIES.

R D B K S Z K D Q M K W R

5. Recurrence of illness

E E E I Y R R E B L U M O

9. Consumer pressure

WORD SEARCH

B R S L O G A N B E R R Y

4. Recedes

W B O P A Z L J G R A P E

8. Steam burn

A E O Y R R E B K C A L B

3. London’s Marble ...

R R G J E X P K W Q L H W

2. Dog or horse

7. Baby fierce cat (4,3)

T R A K Y R R E B N A R C

1. Rectified

4. Made slip-up

S Y B L U E B E R R Y H G

DOWN

1. Transylvania is there

P Y R R E B E L B M I H T

ACROSS