Posted in Editorial

The May 2022 Federal Election will go down as a watershed moment in Australian political history, not because there has been a change in government but because we will now have a government influenced by the largest number of independents all with an idea that their ideas will save Australia and the World. The Teals – financed by a squllionaire who inherited his wealth from a corporate raider – all coming from a privileged upbringing and little knowledge if any of the world prior...

As we move toward the climax of another Federal Election business owners need to think seriously about their future under a union controlled Labor Government. As always the unions will finance most of the ALP’s campaign and of course that means there will be payback.  First cab off the rank will be the treatment of casual workers and gig workers. The unions have been campaigning against casual and gig workers for years. Only a few months ago they had a win in the High Court with...

This month we continue with our annual Central Coast Economic Report, an initiative we implemented in April last year, so as to highlight to the community, business and government the state of the regional economy. From around 1995 to 2011 the Central Coast Research Foundation (am offshoot of the highly regarded and long-standing Hunter Valley Research Foundation) provided half yearly Central Coast Economic Updates. The State Government and local councils covered the costs.  Got killed...

One of the fundamentals in running a business is to increase turnover by finding new customers.  Not putting up the price. If you try that stunt, and many do, you will soon find that your customers are deserting you. It’s not easy.  Sometimes you are in a market sector that is mature or is geographically constrained. But there is always a way to increase the pie, you just have to think outside the box. Of course government, all levels, don’t see it that way.  Ins...

As a businessperson, or an investor, or a property developer looking at the boundless opportunities the Central Coast has to offer you would have to be very frustrated with the mixed messages that you get from government. Since the first Regional Plan for the Central Coast was introduced in the late 1970s that saw a regional shopping centre at Lisarow, which ended up in Erina a few years later, we have seen a plethora of plans and reports to guide the growth of the region. (CCBR’s res...