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1909 - 1918 |
1979 - 1988 |
1989 - 1998 |
1999 - 2008 |
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What's happening
at the Chamber:
President's Report
Young Ch@mber Report
Welcome to our Newest Members
Centenary Celebrations: 1929 - 1938
2009 Chamber Management Committee
Changes in the Queensland Government
Guam
Regional Business Tour
Cairns Base Hospital
Advance Cairns
Defence Reserve Support
Small Business & General Business Tax Breaks
Road Reports
Resource & Industrial Taskforce (R&IT)
Chamber Connection
Chamber Events
Who Would You Like to See at Lunch? |
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President's Report |
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What a period of contrasts! February fires
in the south and floods in the north; and
last week perfect autumn weather in Cairns
while southeast Queensland wallowed in
torrential rain… No, this isn't quite going
to be a climate change lecture! |
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But using weather as the analogy, in many
respects our economy is one of contrasting
weather patterns - dire trade winds coming
from the US impacting all corners of the
globe, yet in many sectors in Cairns, there
remains a bright outlook with businesses
continuing to trade well, albeit at a slower
rate of knots. As a result, it's sometimes difficult
to reconcile our busy daily
business routine with what we hear is
happening elsewhere.
Predictions are that things will continue to get worse.
If that is the case, with this information coming from the top following the G20 Summit
in London last week, then business owners
and managers need to take action and develop strategies to weather the storm,
just as world leaders have been.
Hopefully some of your effort will involve
joining in with the Cairns Chamber
activities, and other leading business
organisations around town for that matter,
to develop new markets - be it in Guam in a
month, Cape York next month or PNG later in
the year. Alternatively, bounce ideas off your peers
at a Chamber lunch, keep abreast of industry
developments in the mining sector through
regular activities of the Resource &
Industrial Taskforce, or simply celebrate
with us on 100 years of Chamber business.
Whatever your field of business, don't
believe it's someone else's problem or that
they will make it happen for you - get out
there and make it happen for yourself.
And you never know, you may just get away
without having to dig out that old umbrella
that you've been keeping for a rainy day!
Regards,
Jeremy Blockey
President |
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Young
Ch@mber Report |
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![[GRAPHIC: YOUNG CHAMBER LOGO]](http://www.burnttoastmarketing.com.au/enews/cairnschamber/youngchamberlogo_enews.jpg) |
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YC Chair:
Sarah Powell |
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At every turn, I hear people talking
about the GFC. No, it's not a Roald
Dahl book, it's the Global Financial
Crisis. We've all heard the news and
read the economic reports that tell
us how bad times are, but I think
there's a lot to be said for
optimism.
I think the
impact of the GFC, generally
speaking, could be significantly
influenced by remembering that there
are distinct advantages during a
downturn; we just need to lift our
chins up high enough to look over
the other side of the fence, where
the hysteria isn't and the
opportunities are!
Have you ever heard the phrase 'when
the chips are down, your dog |
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will still eat them off the floor?' No? (Not
surprising really, I just made it up then).
What I'm implying is that not all
opportunities are obvious, they look like
different things to different people. But if
you can recognise an opportunity for what it
is, you have the power to prosper.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the
trailblazers - and anyone else with vision,
drive and a sense of adventure - see those
opportunities, grab them and make them work
to their advantage. But really, the best
thing is, anyone can do it. And do you know
what happens when we all do? Economic
development!
To a degree, we all have the ability to
influence the impact of the GFC on our
businesses (and therefore, our business
community) by using the downtime to regroup,
build relationships, check how we measure up against our long term plan and
steer in a new direction if necessary. The
most important thing we can all do is take
an introspective gander at the opportunities
that exist right under our noses.
Now is the time to tap into that wealth of
knowledge that is your staff base, let them
brainstorm some hypothetical strategies for
you and see what comes out. Who knows, there
might be a few new stars on the horizon?
It's funny what happens when you give people
permission to shine.
I don't know about you, but I've wished more
than once for a breather, some downtime to
stop and catch up on things. OK, so the GFC wasn't quite what I had in mind,
but
since we've got it, let's not just sit on
our hands while we wait for it to pass.
Let's seize the opportunity. The more of us
that do, the greater the positive impact it
will have.
Cheers
Sarah
Young Ch@mber
Chair
www.youngchamber.com.au |
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Welcome
to Our Newest Members |
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Centenary Celebrations: 1929 - 1938 |
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1929 - 1938: Did You Know?
Dark clouds of world-wide
depression were looming in 1929 and Mr MacDonnell
soberly and prophetically reported: "Any man who has any
sense of civic responsibility cannot view with equanimity
the very serious financial outlook facing Australia at
present day, and it is obvious to all that in the present
year there will be great financial stringency throughout the
length and breadth of thttp://www.burnttoastmarketing.com.au/enews/cairnschamber/ its train
poverty and unemployment."
Reginald (Reg) Fogarty, founder of the Cairns brewery and
manager of the National Bank, assumed the presidency during
troubled times in 1938 leading to outbreak of War
World Two the following year, and held the post through to
1941. He told members that every citizen had a national
obligation to make a contribution to the war effort
following Germany's invasion of Poland. He led the charge
when air mail services were terminated at Townsville instead
of Cairns and only through the Chamber's work was that
decision reversed. There were concerns about the lack of defence of the north which was high on people's minds.
Nationally, a uniform price for petrol was established, and
the headquarters for the federal seat of Kennedy moved from
Charters Towers to Cairns. Read more on the
1929 - 1938 decade of Cairns and the Cairns Chamber of Commerce on
the
Chamber website. |
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2009 Chamber Management Committee |
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The Chamber's Annual General Meeting was
held on 24 March with the following being
elected as the 2009 Management Committee.
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President
Jeremy Blockey |
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Vice President
Sim Hayward |
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Vice President
Elmarie Gebler |
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Treasurer
Michael Ganza |
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Past President
Bob Norman |
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Committee
Member
Shelley
Evans-Wild |
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Committee
Member
Graham Poon |
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A profile on each of Committee Member is
available on the
Chamber website.
A special thank you to outgoing committee
member, Stewart Christie, for his work over
the past year - particularly in driving the
Sustainable Region process. |
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Changes in Queensland Government |
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It was pleasing to see that Tropical
North Queensland has retained a
significant representation in the
new Bligh Government in Queensland.
Member for
Cairns, Hon Desley Boyle MP, is the
new Minister for Local Government
and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Island Partnerships. Member for
Barron River, Steve Wettenhall is
Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism.
Member for Cook, Jason O'Brien, is
deputy speaker.
One of the
more significant changes that has
occurred is the creation of the seat
of Dalrymple which stretches from
Atherton, through Charters Towers to
Moranbah. This seat was won by Shane
Knuth and the Chamber will be
engaging with him shortly to make
him aware of issues affecting the
region. We will also be meeting with
some of the new Ministers in
Brisbane in the near future. |
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Guam |
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In preparation for the upcoming
trade mission to Guam, the Chamber
met with Ambassador, Susan Cox, to
discuss opportunities, particularly
around the military build up in
Guam.
Members
interested in participating in the
mission in May should
contact
Michelle Jago at Advance Cairns for
further details. |
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Regional Business
Tour |
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The annual Regional Business Tour to Cape
York communities will take place from Monday
18 to Friday 22 May. This is a cost
effective means of accessing business and
Local Government through Cape York under
the banner of the Cairns Chamber.
Locations include
Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw, Weipa, Horn Island,
Thursday Island and Bamaga. Numbers are
strictly limited
based on aircraft size. If you are
interested in participating in this program,
please
contact the Chamber office for further
details. |
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Cairns Base Hospital |
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Jeremy Blockey & Sandy Whyte met
with the new Cairns Base CEO, Julie
Hartley-Jones, last month. We felt
that the meeting was productive and
has opened the door for further
input from the Chamber on health
related matters in the region.
Visit the Chamber website to
recap on the Clinical Services Plan
submitted in May 2008. |
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Advance Cairns |
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Jeremy Blockey & Sandy Whyte participated in a Strategic
Planning Workshop with
Advance Cairns earlier this month.
The Chamber and Advance Cairns collaborate on a number of
fronts and we will hear more about Advance Cairns from their CEO, Ross Contarino, at our
April luncheon. |
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Defence Reserve Report |
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The
Chamber is hosting a dinner for our
members on Wednesday 22 April with Brigadier, Bruce
Scott, as the guest speaker. Brigadier Scott,
a Commonwealth Games medallist, will espouse
the virtues for employers who have
reservists working for them.
There are significant financial and training
benefits when releasing reservists for their
training which could be |
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attractive to some employers in the current
climate.
For further details
on the Defence Reserve Support program
visit their website.
For more
details on the dinner and to book
your place,
visit the Chamber website. |
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Federal Government Tax Breaks |
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Small Business and General Business Tax Breaks
As part of the Federal Government's stimulus package there
are some
Small Business and General Business Tax Breaks.
These breaks are based around additional depreciation on
assets.
Small businesses will be able to
access the tax break for assets costing $1,000 or more. For
all other businesses, the asset threshold is $10,000. The
tax break provides an additional tax deduction for assets
acquired from 13 December 2008 to 30 June 2009, where the
asset is also installed before 30 June 2010. The deduction
will be equal to 30 per cent of the asset cost.
For assets acquired between 1 July
2009 and 31 December 2009, and where they are installed ready
for use before 31 December 2010, the deduction is 10 per
cent of the asset cost.
The allowance will take the form of
a tax deduction on top of the usual capital allowance
deduction claimable for the asset as part of the
taxpayer's income tax return. Assets that are eligible must
be tangible, depreciating assets used in the carrying on of a
business, for which a deduction is available under Division
40 of the ITAA97. Further, the tax break will be available
for new expenditure on existing assets as well as for new
assets. The assets must be used in Australia. A minimum
expenditure threshold of $10,000 will also apply, except for
small business entities which only have to meet a minimum
threshold of $1,000.
We recommend you contact your
accountant to source any further information on these
breaks. |
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Roads |
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At this time of the year we are all very conscious of the
weather and the impact of road closures. The vast majority
of our freight comes in and goes out by road. For those
wishing to check on road conditions and closures please
visit the RACQ
Road Reports site. |
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Resource & Industrial Taskforce (R&IT) |
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The Chamber is seeking expressions of interest from members
who have the skills and services to assist people with
completing Mining Bid documents. If you have any questions
or can provide this service, please email
Sharon Dawson or call Mr Sandy Whyte at the Chamber on
07 4031 1838.
R&IT Activities
The Chamber will be holding a series of breakfast
presentations in 2009. We heard from David Conn, CEO of the Port
Moresby Chamber of Commerce & Industry in February and Paul
Messenger, CEO of the Cape Alumina in March.
The following speakers are also being confirmed to present
in the near future:
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Bruce
Watson |
Xstrata
Mount Isa |
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Chris
Bulbrook |
Chalco (Arukun
Bauxite Project) |
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Michael
Roche |
Resources
Council |
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Jo-Anne
Scarini |
General
Manager Rio Tinto |
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Online eTendering For Queensland Government
The below link will take you to the most recent information about
Queensland Government tendering opportunities. This Website
lists opportunities that are upcoming, current or closed.
https://www.tenders.qld.gov.au/queensland/
R & IT Webpage
Visit the
R&IT page on the Chamber website. This page is constantly
being updated.
Information
If you wish to be
involved in any of our activities or just
gain a better understanding of the scope of
resource projects that can be serviced from
Cairns, please contact the
Chamber office
or the Chair of the Resource Taskforce,
Sharon Dawson. |
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Chamber
Connection |
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To highlight your
membership with the Chamber
and demonstrate your involvement with a
leading business organisation, you are
entitled and encouraged to
display our logo and
website link on your website.
To obtain a copy of the
Chamber logo, please
contact Judy Lloyd. |
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Chamber Events |
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If you have never been to a Chamber lunch you should
consider attending. Apart from hearing first hand
what the Chamber is involved with, we have a
fantastic array of speakers and with over 150
members attending each month. This is a great
opportunity
to do some business over lunch.
Details of our upcoming
speakers can be found
here.
If you ever miss a lunch,
you can catch the speakers' notes on our
website.
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Who
Would You Like to See at Lunch? |
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What do you think about the speakers the Chamber
presents to you? If you have any comments and
feedback about other potential speakers, please feel
free to
email us at the Chamber.
Our
2009 Event Date Claimers are online at
the Chamber website so you can plan ahead and be
part of our Centenary celebrations. |
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Contacting the Cairns
Chamber of Commerce:
Cairns Chamber of Commerce |
Level 2, 51 The Esplanade | Cairns, Queensland 4870
Postal Address | PO Box 2336 |
Cairns, Queensland 4870
Ph: 07 4031 1838 | Fax: 07 4031
0883 | Int'l Phone: +61 7 4031 1838
www.cairnschamber.com.au |
info@cairnschamber.com.au
This is a private mailing list
and your privacy is important to us. You are receiving this
email as you (or the company that you work for) are a current
financial member of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce. Should your
financial membership status expire, you will no longer be
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please unsubscribe here. The email address receiving this is
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accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising as a result
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this email newsletter. |
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