Central Coast Business Review December 2013

NBN advantage for East Gosford businessCoast joins National Innovation Food Precinct

Mariners announce new plans for Tuggerah base

The M-Class.Your way and the highway.

Charlesworth’s vision for the Mariners

business review

Centr al Coast

Print Post approved – PP100001854

Published monthly (except January)Vol 24 Dec 2013

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3

Cover story4 Charlesworth’s vision for the

Mariners

5 Mariners announce new plans for Tuggerah base

Business News7 An NBN advantage for East

Gosford business

8 December completion for Ettalong foreshore

9 New plan for Long Jetty

10 Somersby relocation good for distributor

10 Workers Comp premium cuts

11 Coast joins National Innovation Food Precinct

13 Community College appoints new Executive Director

13 Freightlinx support for Vietnam project

15 Buyers bid up at The Entrance

18 Dispensing with awards

19 ASIC’s business names website – a hub or a hullabaloo?

20 How field auditors get it wrong with Workers Comp premiums

Regular features6 Edgar Adams Editorial Good reason to look forward to 2014

11 Manufacturing News

13 Business Briefs

14 Commercial and Industrial Property for Sale / Lease

15 Property News

18 Business Tips

20 Comment

21 Events Calendar

22 Funny Business

23 BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Phone 02 4367 0733 Fax 02 4367 0744 Email [email protected] Web www.ccbusinessreview.com.auContact

Front cover: Central Coast Mariners Owner, Mike Charlesworth Front cover photo courtesy of Central Coast Mariners

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Central Coast Business Review

Central Coast BUsIness reVIeW DEC 2013

4

Charlesworth’s vision for the MarinersSince taking ownerShip of the Central Coast Mariners in March Mike Charlesworth has had his hands full setting a new direction for the Club while main-taining its excellence on the pitch.

There has been plenty of issues with the Club’s financial survival being a top priority as well as having a greater role in the run-ning of Gosford Stadium, improving match day experience for the fans, getting back into the community, expanding the brand into the North Sydney region and finally the ultimate long term success of the A-League in Australia.

A greater input into junior and rep teamsHe has told CCBR that his vision for the Mariners is to have greater input into the junior and representative teams on the Central Coast with all under the profession-al club of the area – that being the Central Coast Mariners. “That gives us sponsorship advantages in terms of marketing which at present is very fragmented,” he said.

He went on to say, “we need to maintain excellence on the pitch. The Mariners have been the most successful club over the eight years of the A-League, and that has been with just two coaches. Maintaining that success and stability is of paramount importance when growing the business and brand.”

Improving match day experienceCommenting on the need to attract big-ger crowds he said, “we must improve the

C O V E R S T O R Y

match day experience for fans and that means taking a greater role in the running of the stadium with improved pre-match, half time and post-game entertainment. So we will be hosting children’s concerts prior to kick off, fun fairs, half time games and a post match party in the bowl-ing club.

We have also connected better with the ‘Mariners’ name by having two new nautical mascots along with a replica can-non made from parts of the HMS Victory installed in the stadium that will be fired each and every time we score a goal.

Getting back into the community “We are also working harder in the com-munity with multiple player appearances and a host of activities like ‘Free FC’, the after schools programme for kids that’s of course free for them to play. We have let our community engagement slip over the past couple of years and yet that was our success, so that is changing. You will see more of the Mariners around the Coast from now on,” he said.

Expanding the brandWith Sydney’s northern suburbs being a strong football area Mr Charlesworth said that the Mariners need to expand the brand further into the North Sydney region. “Hence we are playing one match at North Sydney Oval on the 19th December. We look for-ward to several thousand of supporters from this region travelling up the M1 to Gosford every home game soon,” he said.

Mariners Centre of ExcellenceMr Charlesworth said that the Mariners had recently established an Academy along the lines of those run by the best clubs in Europe so the future stars are now in the making. “Of course we couldn’t do that without our Centre of Excellence and superb training facilities we have at Tuggerah,” he said.

Financial survivalThe Mariners’ financial survival has been on the edge almost since their foundation with ongoing sponsorship being difficult to secure. In recent years the Club’s finan-cial survival has been partly based on the development and subsequent sale of players and hence the recruitment in the last few months of the best young talent in Australia.

Both Wyong and Gosford Councils have supported the Club over the years with sponsorship and currently Gosford Council is a major sponsor.

While a shareholder in the Club for over three years Mr Charlesworth took control in March knowing the financial position. He has since tipped in over seven million dollars and cleared the debt that had been hanging around and stifling the Club’s growth.

But it is going to take more than that to ensure the Club’s long term future and it is here that the development of their prop-erty at Tuggerah becomes essential.

Another aspect of concern is the future of the Gosford Stadium the manage-ment rights for which are currently being sought by Gosford Council by Expressions

COnTinued On PAge 19


5

Mariners announce new plans for Tuggerah basehaving Settled the ownership of the Central Coast Mariners Mike Charlesworth is now working on the development of the Club’s base at Tuggerah.

It is a large site, almost eight hectares, right on Wyong Road at the Tuggerah Business Park roundabout, five minutes walk from Tuggerah Railway Station and just off the Expressway. In fact it is the most central location on the Central Coast.

Already completed and in use are the Soccer 5s / Futsal facilities that include ten outdoor courts, cafe and meeting and func-tion rooms. An Aquatic Centre is presently nearing construction. Comprised within the pool building with an area of 1,084 sqm is a 6-lane 25 x 13.5 metre pool plus a learn-to-swim pool and ancilliary offices.

Plans are now in place for the develop-ment of a 6 storey office building, hotel, gymnasium and childcare facility.

The office building will be state of the art with views over the Mariners’ training grounds and Soccer 5s courts and the upper levels looking across to Tuggerah Lake.

Mr Charlesworth has brought in Ty Blanch, Director of LJH Commercial Central Coast to advise on the development of this project. Mr Blanch’s knowledge of the Central Coast commercial property mar-ket is extensive and he has been working with a superior architect to design a styl-ish attractive building with modern office accommodation unlike anything available in the area.

The building will have floor plates aver-aging 1,930 sqm per floor serviced by two

C O V E R S T O R Y

lifts and extensive car parking. Total site car parking allows for around 550 cars.

A medical centre is proposed for part of the ground floor.

Construction is due to start in early 2014 with completion mid 2015.

Mr Blanch, who is sales and leasing agent, said office space will be for sale from $3,200 sqm plus GST while leasing rates will be from $320 sqm gross plus GST, other areas will be by negotiation.

He said, “there are some serious benefits for prospective purchasers and tenants not the least of which is the synergies to align themselves with the Central Coast Mariners for marketing purposes. And, the location has to be the best on the Coast, it is close

to rail and bus transport and cycleways around the lake, the M1 Freeway and geo-graphically Tuggerah is twenty minutes to everywhere on the Coast.”

Meanwhile negotiations are underway for the development of a 87 room hotel, adjacent to the Aquatic Centre, with a Club being located on the ground floor providing food, beverage and entertain-ment facilities for hotel guests as well as members. A separate 635 sqm gymnasium within the hotel, aquatic centre precinct is also planned as is a childcare facility with places for ninety children plus thirty places for before and after school care.

At a later stage a further 7,760 sqm of the site will be developed.

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Hardwarehouse at West Gosford that is now nearing completion is a very good case in point. This is a $40 million investment being built by a local builder. The Ettalong Foreshore redevelopment got the go ahead after more than ten years of obfusca-tion and will be completed by year’s end. A local contractor got the job. The Kibbleplex in Gosford CBD is being refurbished and the University of Newcastle and a new Library will be in there during next year.

Businesses are see-ing a new a positive attitude and we now have property developers and investors looking

Good reason to look forward to 2014aS we wind down toward Christmas and look forward to the New Year it is a good time to think about the year that was and try and make some predictions about the year to come.

For many businesses it has been a dif-ficult year and when you drill down a little you find that those who are struggling are the ones who totally depend upon the Central Coast consumer while those who are doing well, or reasonably so, have a large customer base outside the region.

It tells you that for the past five years the Coast has been going downhill. There are plenty of economic indicators to back this up but those in retail in particular and ser-vice businesses know it well.

But things are changing and changing rapidly. 2013 has been a good year in many other respects

2013 started well with both Wyong and Gosford Councils hitting the ground running following the Local Government Elections three months earlier that saw both get a majority of progressive council-lors and The Greens losing out.

In Wyong the hard work put in place by General Manager, Michael Whittaker in his first two years are paying off. Warnervale Town Centre will now become a reality with Woolworths getting their Shopping Centre development approved in October. Right at the start of the year Council moved to reduce developer levies on new residential subdivisions and now Yeramba Estates are

dipping their toe in the water announc-ing a new development a few months ago. Westfield and Bunnings are about to expand at Tuggerah and the Central Coast Mariners under their new owner Mike Charlesworth plan to start their new Centre of Excellence development in 2014.

Council has been working hard on resi-dential subdivisions which are the life blood of the building industry and which dried up years ago due to the green policies of the Carr State Government and council’s own policies that turned developers away. But all that is now changing and we will start and see new subdivisions coming onto the market over the next five years.

Wyong Council has been laying the foun-dations for growth into the near future with their iconic development sites, identifying the site for a new regional airport, planned Chinese theme park and international uni-versity.

Meanwhile, after more than twenty years Gosford Council has sprung into life. When he was appointed General Manager in January Paul Anderson knew what he was buying into and he knew he had to change the culture throughout the organisation. His Under New Management – Open for Business strategy, introduced in March has been highly successful.

In a very short space of time we were seeing development applications get-ting approval that previously would have been frustrated and disappeared. Bunning

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An NBN advantage for East Gosford business

G E N E R A L N E W S


Lee Woodward – CeO Real estate Academy

how the nBn has transformed one leading Central Coast based national training com-pany into an educational web business with endless growth potential virtually overnight.

With so many Central Coast businesses in a competitive ‘black hole’ in terms of their inadequate technological infrastructure and question marks now hanging over the NBN’s future rollout, one local business owner shares his story about the positive impact the NBN has had on his business. This is a particularly timely story given the fact that a Central Coast NBN Appeal is now in progress to continue the rollout to the remaining 75% of the region, where the prospect of high upload speed and pro-duction quality broadband now hangs in the balance.

From national training company to globally competitive web-based educational organisationLeading national real estate training organi-sation, Real Estate Academy (REA) has its headquarters based at East Gosford. CEO Lee Woodward established the business in Sydney seventeen years ago before relocat-ing to the Central Coast in 2000. Today the company employs a team of twelve local training, administrative and IT support per-sonnel who enjoy the luxury of working for a national company without having to join the estimated 40,000 locals who commute up and down the M1 for work each day.

Mr Woodward and his wife Robyn, who is the company’s Education Manager, reside at Point Frederick, where the couple also

operates a fully equipped professional recording studio in which he records, edits and masters Australia’s leading monthly audio coaching programme, Real Estate Hot Topics. Mr Woodward also conducts regular Skype coaching sessions from his home studio with real estate professionals from other regional locations through-out Australia.

In September, Point Frederick was offi-cially switched on to the NBN. Its activation had an immediate positive impact on the Woodward’s business. With broadband speed of up to 100 megabytes per second (up from around 10mbs), Mr Woodard was able to instantly send his enormous video and audio files to the pressing house for fast-er than ever distribution to his extensive net-work of national clients. The vastly improved broadband connection speed and reliability has also instantly improved his ability to deliver one-on-one Skype coaching sessions

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and will enable him to add webinars and interactive virtual classroom sessions to the offering in the near future.

Delivering faster speed, significant cost savings and greater autonomy Now that the NBN is on the verge of being switched on in the East Gosford business area, the benefits to Mr Woodward’s com-pany will be dramatic.

“I am currently paying $900 a month for ADSL broadband that delivers a speed of around 10 megabytes per second. Once the NBN is switched on, this monthly com-mitment will be reduced to just $98 for speeds of 50 to 100 megabytes per second,” he said.

In addition to the significant cost savings delivered by the NBN, the vastly increased broadband speed will also result in greater autonomy for the company, as the team will no longer be dependent on external data centres to host their client’s data. In addition, technical support staff will no longer need to travel to their clients for CRM support, upgrades and train-ing. Instead, they will be able to support and train their clients, no matter where in Australia (or the world) they are located, from East Gosford using cloud-based prod-ucts - all thanks to the NBN.

Attracting the attention of external investors REA has grown significantly in the last three years and has recently begun attracting


8

December completion for Ettalong foreshoreterrigal conStruction com-pany, Scape Constructions are on track to complete the Ettalong Foreshore Redevelopment by mid December in line with the six months construction period allowed by Gosford Council.

Business and community leaders were given a ‘sneak preview’ of the $3.9 mil-lion project in early November by Scape Managing Director, Andrew Smith.

The contract, includes:1. Construction of a new sandstone seawall,

cycleway/ footpath, playground, park fur-niture, realignment of car park, stormwa-ter infrastructure and landscaping at the reserve area between Beach Street to the Lemon Grove netball court entry.

2. Construction of a beach facilities building (café/kiosk/public toilets) at the end of Beach Street.

3. Beach nourishment (i.e. sand will be dredged from the centre shoal and pumped onto the beach. The beach will then be restored to a 15 metre wide beach).Commenting on the project Peninsula

Chamber Mainstreet Co-ordinator, Debra Wales, said, “We have been highly impressed with both the progress and the standard of work as the project nears completion. The Plan of Management was initiated by the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce under their Mainstreet Programme in 1998 with the early stages of planning funded under Gosford Council’s Financial Strategy after the Ettalong Beach town centre revitalization had been completed.

Mrs Wales said that after many years of planning, environmental studies, surveys and numerous community consultation meetings, Gosford Council finally adopted the Plan of Management in 2007.

“In 2010, the then Federal Member for Robertson, Deborah O’Neill committed $2M of federal funds to complete the upgrade on the Ettalong Beach reserve but the work did not commence until Gosford Council’s new General Manager,


Paul Anderson put the process into action. He has been the driving force to complete the project and through his management, we now see the project nearing completion with the formal opening early next year”, Mrs Wales said.

Scape are presently completing the Terrigal CBD & Hylton Moore Stormwater Harvesting Schemes along with projects at Balmoral Beach in Sydney and Merewether Beach in Newcastle.

gosford Mayor, Lawrie McKinna, Member for gosford, Chris Holstein MP, Scape Constructions Md, Andrew Smith, Clr gabbie Bowles and gosford Council general Manager, Paul Anderson at ettalong for a ‘sneak preview

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wyong council haS adopted a major plan for Long Jetty that aims to revitalise the town and surrounding area by bringing more businesses and residents to the lake-side community.

Councillors formally endorsed the plan after an extensive community consultation process, involving input from residents and local business owners who outlined their vision of the Long Jetty of the future.

The result is the Long Jetty Village Centre Improvement Master Plan, which focuses on improvements to public and private land in the Long Jetty Village.

“What is exciting about this plan is that it focuses on what is practical and affordable,” Mayor Doug Eaton said.

The main elements of the plan include: improvements to public spaces in the Long Jetty Village Centre; upgrades to Saltwater Creek Park and Lions Park; refurbishment of existing jetties; plans for a water play park at Watkins Jetty and identification of four ‘activity hubs’.

It is also proposed to rezone land on the western side of the Central Coast Highway between Thompson Street and Pacific Street for commercial purposes which will reinforce linkages between the main street and lake foreshore.

Other work scheduled for Long Jetty in the next 12 months includes:• Establishment of free WiFi at Saltwater

Creek Park,• Main Street upgrades,• Investment in public art,• Renewal of the Watkins and Parry Jetties,

• Renewal of Saltwater Creek Footbridge,• Upgrading existing gross pollutant traps to

reduce litter entering the lakes.There has, however, already been a lot of

work done to revitalise the area on a small-er scale, with the Long Jetty Streetscape Improvement Programme.

“Long Jetty is emerging as a unique precinct on the Central Coast for alternative retail stores and for stores that showcase the arts,” Mayor Eaton said.

“There has been a positive community response to these improvements, with an

New plan for Long Jetty


increase in retail occupancy rates recorded,” Mayor Eaton said.

“These improvements were all suggested by the residents and businesses and the good thing is this newly adopted Master Plan will build on what we have started.

One issue that has not been addressed however, is the road through Long Jetty. As a main arterial road Central Coast Highway is a narrow road that does not allow traffic to flow and above all is constricting the growth of The Entrance. It is a State Government matter which will have to be addressed.

The glass Onion Society coffee shop and second hand store. The catalyst that has moved Long Jetty into a trash and treasure destination

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Erina’s new food precinct


1 0

Somersby relocation good for distributor

garden city plaSticS moved their NSW distribution centre out of Rouse Hill and relocated to Somersby earlier this year and NSW Manager, Craig Williams has hailed it a good move.

Garden City Plastics is Australia’s largest manufacturer and supplier of plastic pots, tubes, tubs, trays, hanging baskets, and flower pot containers to the wholesale

nurseries, landscape and gardening industry.

The Melbourne based family owned business needed more space for their NSW distribution facility but found that Sydney property costs were too expensive and with nurseries in Sydney now in decline a new location had to be found. GCP wholesales to the nursery, agriculture and landscape sector.

“We looked at areas south of Sydney but the Central Coast has the water resources to support the nursery industry and we see it as becoming more dominant over the next ten years,” said Mr Williams.

“For us Somersby was logistically viable, land cost was reasonable and we are get-ting quality staff. Our business is totally based on personal helpful service so staff-ing is an important issue for us,” he said.

GPC’s distribution centre covers 3,000 sqm on a 8,500 sqm lot in Pinnacle Place, Somersby.

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Workers comp premium cutsmemBer for goSford, Chris Holstein, has welcomed a further reduction to WorkCover premiums while confirming the Scheme is now back in the black for the first time since 2008.

It means small employers will ben-efit from an average premium rate reduction of 5.11 per cent.

“The NSW Government’s reforms are delivering a fairer system, with more generous payments being provided to severely injured workers, and busi-nesses receiving incentives to improve workplace safety,” Mr Holstein said.

“These premium cuts are on top of a 7.99 per cent rate cut that came in earlier this year.

“With these reductions combined, small businesses will receive an aver-age 12.69 per cent rate reduction in the 2013 premium cycle.”

Mr Holstein said the former Labor government ran WorkCover into the ground, leaving behind an unsustain-able scheme with a $4.1 billion deficit.

“The NSW Liberals & Nationals were determined to clean up the mess left behind by our predecessors, and pleasingly, we’ve been able to put WorkCover back on a sustainable foot-ing,” Mr Holstein said

“The NSW Government’s reforms are freeing up businesses to grow and are providing better support for injured workers to help them return safely to


1 1

on 17th feBruary 2013, the Labour Federal Government announced it would establish up to 10 Industry Innovation Precincts to drive business innovation and growth in areas of Australian competitive advantage. As part of this initiative it estab-lished two precincts, one covering Food and the other Manufacturing.

Both the food and manufacturing precincts are relevant to the Central Coast but the food precinct is of major significance

The Central Coast is a regional player in the food and beverage industry having some of the larger food processing and beverage organisations based here, together with a number of small to medium organisations, totalling some 65 in all.

It is flanked by the Hunter to its north with its wine industry and Sydney to its south with a multitude of large and small food manufac-turers and processors. To our west we have the Somersby plateau which has a develop-ing agricultural sector together with its bever-age processors.

It made sense for the Coast to be part of the National Precinct.

Central Coast Manufacturing Connect (CCMC) together with the University of Newcastle (UON) saw this opportunity and became founding members of the Food Innovation Precinct, working collaboratively to establish a cluster of the precinct on the Coast.

In June this year the Food Innovation Precinct established the entity Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL) , to be based in Melbourne but it will be networked nationally to take advantage of the existing networks in the food sector.

Central Coast Innovation Food group was formed in July to be the conduit to FIAL for activities on the Coast. The group is made up of local industry representatives, CCMC,

University of Newcastle, Enterprise Connect and local state government representatives.

The University under its Cluster and Hub programme has established the Joint UON and Central Coast Food innovation Cluster. Technical and research capabilities relevant to food from across the university have been identified.

A priority project for the Central Coast Food Group is to identify the issues and opportunities in the regions food and beverage processors’ supply chains. This will be done in conjunction with Enterprise Connect who will run a map-ping exercise to gain a real understanding of the industry supply chain, identify opportunities for collaboration and to identify the gaps that need to be bridged in growing this industry.

A unique partnership of Enterprise Connect, Trade & Investment, AusIndustry, and Trade Start has come together with CCMC to assist in the engagement of compa-nies to help the initial mapping process.The exercise will commence in February 2014.

For further information Contact Frank Sammut: [email protected]

Coast joins National Innovation Food Precinct

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Over 35 years experience.

ARGYLE ESTATESPh: 02 4332 6555

[email protected]

Quality Businesses Wanted

tuggerah BaSed logiSticS company, Freightlinx, has recently sup-ported the shipping of eight anaesthetic machines from Newcastle to Dalat, Lam Dong Province in the southern highlands of Vietnam via the medical aid organisa-tion, Medical Educational Sustainable Community Help (MESCH).

The machines were recently replaced by newer ones in Australia however, due to their sturdy construction they are expected to serve the people and tourists of Lam Dong Province for another fifteen years. They are are a big step up from the previ-ous anaesthetic equipment in terms of safety and functionality.

Leigh Bryant, a Director of Scorpion International and MESCH sponsor said that the company had provided the sideloader container service free of charge with a commercial value of around $1,700 and their fantastic driver not only parked and off loaded the container in a difficult area, but also rolled up his sleeves and helped

Freightlinx support for anaesthetic machines to Vietnam

pack the container. “it’s tough times in the road haulage business, so to donate time and truck for pick up and delivery to the Sydney wharf is amazing,” she said.

Founded by Adam Hale some nine years ago Freightlinx oper-ates from a Hub in Johnson Road, Tuggerah employing twenty staff, nine com-pany owned trucks and four sub-contract-ed trucks servicing

90% of the container trade from Botany to Newcastle and the Central Coast as well as all areas of the state. They move around 20,000 containers a year. The opened a Canberra Hub in March this year.

Community College appoints new Executive Director

Jonathan davis

The Central Coast Community College has announced the appointment of Jonathan Davis as Executive Director.

Mr Davis brings a wealth of vocational education and training experience span-ning more than twenty years to the organi-sation.

Mr Davis comes to the College from the United Kingdom where he worked most recently as CEO of Ludlow College in Shropshire. During his time at Ludlow he led a major review of the curriculum result-ing in the introduction of a new hospitality and tourism course as well as overseeing major capital development in science, sport, hospitality and tourism.

Prior to his UK appointment he was Manager for Business, Communications and Service Industries at Wodonga TAFE and Director of Operations at the Cancer Council Victioria.

He succeeds Mallory Dale who has been Executive Director since joining the College in 2003.

Shipment heading for Vietnam



1 4

commercial and industrial property for sale/lease

Central Coast

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR ADDITIONAL PROPERTIES and MORE INFORMATION – www.ljhooker.com.au

All prices shown GST incl. unless otherwise indicated

LJH COMMERCIAL – CENTRAL COAST21/1 Reliance Dr, Tuggerah • Ph: 4353 7700

MARINER’S CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE - FOR SALE & LEASEJoin the Mariners at their HQ address! Come & be a part of this amazing development centrally located at Tuggerah, close to Tuggerah railway station & the M1 Fwy. We are seeking expressions of interest for an Operator in the Premier Aquatic Centre plus gym operator & have quality commercial areas for sale & lease (office spaces) from 100m2 to 8000m2 (approx) CALL NOW FOR MORE INFORMATION!!

KARIONG SHOPPING CENTREFull glass shopfront with reception area, reverse cycle a/c, kitchenette, amenities & storage area. Plenty of on site customer parking directly at your door. Surrounded by quality long term traders.LEASE $630 gross per week inc GST

ERINA - GROUND FLOOR COMMERCIAL101m2 (approx) suite on Karalta Road , existing fit out & multiple offices. Available for the first time in over 10 years, this popular commercial centre has attracted medical & financial focused businesses. Flexible terms & options available.SALE $ 350,000 + GST LEASE $35,000 pa net + GST

SUMMERLAND POINT RETAIL INVESTMENTStrata title investment opportunity perfect for your portfolio. Fairly fresh 3 year lease with 3 year option. Approx 50m2 of floor space & opposite lake side park & boat ramp. Tenant pays $350 per week + outgoings + GST.SALE $ 249,000 NO GST

SOMERSBY - IDEALLY POSITIONED WITH EASY ACCESSOnly a minute from F3 Fwy is this 360m2 shed .There is the ability to access the site from behind if required with access for B doubles possible.LEASE $36,000 pa net + GST

WEST GOSFORD - GREAT LOCATION2041sqm near level block of land in a great position in the West Gosford Industrial estate. 35m street frontage, kerb & guttering, previously had a DA approval which has now lapsed. The owner will also consider offers to lease the land.SALE $490,000 + GST ORLEASE $25,000 pa inc GST

NORTH WYONG - OWNER IS LISTENING TO THE MARKETThe vendor of this level 2000m2 industrial block is ready to listen to the market place.This block is located right in the heart of North Wyong Industrial Estate & perfect for many different businesses.SALE $330,000 + GST

TUGGERAH - SECURE LEVEL EXTERNAL YARD FOR LEASE2000m2 (approx) zoned industrial land , level, security fenced & gated, centrally located in Tuggerah, minutes to F3 Freeway.LEASE $350 per week gross + GST.

AVOCA BEACH COMMERCIAL/RETAIL INVESTMENTProminent Commercial/building within the desirable Avoca Beach business hub. Dual income to the tune in excess of $88,000 net pa + GST. With 2 tenants in place to minimize risk, this investment is a perfectto add to your portfolio.SALE $ 1,330,000 NO GST

WYONG - BRILLIANT INVESTMENT & LOCATION!!Amazing outlook in the heart of Wyong CBD & a great return of approx $108,020 pa net + GST. Excellent parking (off street & undercover) available & great value commercial space make this building an exceptional offering. Historical ‘Court House’ beautifully presented & may provide opportunities for future development.SALE $1.2m NO GST

4365 0645Richard Ellis 0416 072 444Suite 4, 206 The Entrance Road, Erinawww.rhcoastal.com

Business For Sale

Located in Erina fair, this franchise has experienced in revenue of more than 12% for 2013 financial year. Lease until April 2015. For more information or financial call today.

Tuggerah For Sale/Lease

• 287sqm Fully fitted Office • 9 Glass partitioned offices • 13 workstations • Fully cabled • Male & Female amenities • Air Conditioned • Alarmed

Erina For LeaseSpaces available from 59sqm to 247sqm. Air Conditioning, Ample Parking, Dominant Signage, Public Transport, Flexible lease terms and sizes available. Provide your business with the presence it deserves with approximately 30,000 vehicles passing daily & excellent signage opportunities on the Entrance Road, Erina

P R O P E R T Y

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT $2.325M GST N/AA superior grade industrial property with future expansion capacity leased to an international company. 5 + 5 years from 1/4/2013 and returning $184,000pa net.

WEST GOSFORD WAREHOUSES FOR LEASEApprox 604m2 including good office space (spotless); Approx 800m2 incl offices & mezz on level 1 acre; Approx 980m2 with 2 offices (ex Aust Post depot); Approx 1639m2 on 4400m2 site with Manns Rd exposure.

91 CENTRAL COAST HWY FOR LEASEFormer Audi Dealership, 1935m2 site with two level building approx 728m2. Huge exposure opportunity.

NORTH GOSFORD WAREHOUSE FOR LEASEStand alone concrete panel building approx 490m2 with security fenced front yard $42,000pa gross excl GST.

SOMERSBY WAREHOUSES FOR LEASEApprox 362m2 + separate office; 961m2; 1097m2; 1520m2 with freezers; 1710m2; 2000m2.

EAST GOSFORD SHOP FOR LEASEEx bike shop on busy York St, approx 83m2 and only $440pw gross GST N/A.

STRATA MEDICAL OFFICE $150,000 EXCL GSTLift access, approx 58m2, partitioned, includes storage area, has patient parking. Suit sole practitioner.

GOSFORD MEDICAL $26,000 PA NET Ground floor medical suite approx 85m2, partitioned into 2 Consulting Rooms, Waiting & Reception.

Prices shown with * are inclusive of GST.


1 5

commercial and industrial property for sale/lease

P R O P E R T Y N E W S

Ideally located on the Pacific Highway within the established Tuggerah Straight Commercial Centre, these Specialist Medical & Professional Suites are perfectly situated.

Neighbours include Healthscope Medical Centre, PRP Radiology, Pathology, Sports & Spinal Physiotherapy, Chiropractor, Dentist, Psycologists & more.

With a variety of suites available and plenty of parking, opportunities include both ground floor and level 1 suites.Tuggerah Medical & Professional Rooms range from 13m2 to 24m2 and start from as little as $1,250 per month +GST.

Level 1 accessed via lift or stairs hosts suites from 59m2 with the East Wing Professional Suites ranging from 73m2 to 103m2 there is a size to suit a variety of Professionals including Medical, Financial, Legal etc...

Other tenants include BCF, Super Cheap Auto and Romi’s Café and make this an ideal location with plenty of parking.

Features include· Flexible lease terms· Very Competitive rentals· Excellent parking· Air-conditioning· Carpets, kitchenette· Balcony access for most suites

For further details please contact Julie Davies on 4355 5111

SPECIALIST MEDICAL & PROFESSIONAL SUITES

TUGGERAH 154 Pacific Highway

FOR LEASE 2 Ainslie Place, Somersby, NSW

For Leasewww.colliers.com.au/500912071

• Leafy location with great outlook • 10 minutes from Gosford CBD (approx) • Land area: 4,448m² (approx) • Ample car parking at the rear and under cover at the front

• Total lettable area: 1,999m² (approx) • 1,747m² warehouse and 252m² offi ce (approx)

Geoff Broadhurst0401 990 736

Richard Ford0412 735 753

John Carney0434 561 914

Warehouse and Factory with Offi ces and Showroom

www.colliers.com.au

Bidding waS BriSk on the 31st October when the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s premises at 11 Victoria Street, The Entrance went under the hammer.

Auctioneer, Brett Hunter from Raine & Horne Commercial took 35 bids from four registered bidders who fought to get their hands on the property.

Buyers bid up at The Entrance

In the end Dr and Mrs Mafohla from The Medical Family Practice nearby out-bid the competition and paid $750,000 plus GST - $165,000 over the reserve!

The property comprises a 333 sqm split level double brick retail and ware-house building with large hardstand on a 701 sqm block.

Sydney investor buys quarryA Sydney investor has paid $1.55 million (Excluding GST) for a 19.32 ha property at 1739 Wisemans Ferry Road, Central Mangrove.

The majority of the area of the property is a sandstone quarry that had been in opera-tion for many years. Two homes are also located on the property.

Rob Wilcox from Chapman & Frazer Real Estate negotiated the sale.

Sailmaker buys North Wyong industrial unitA sailmaker has purchased Unit 4, 25 Amsterdam Circuit, North Wyong paying $200,000 Excluding GST.

The 170 sqm unit is part of a 4-unit con-crete panel construction complex built in recent years.

Mark Davies from LJH Commercial Central Coast negotiated the sale.



1 7B U S I N E S S B R I E F S

North Wyong factory leasedA locally owned warehousing business has leased an older style factory building at 5 Pavitt Crescent, North Wyong.

The property comprises a 800 sqm facto-ry building and office area of 133 sqm with mezzanine storage on a 2,021 sqm lot with security fencing and hardstand area.

Terms of the lease are $45,000 per annum plus Outgoings and GST for a period of 3 years with no options.

Mark Davies from LJH Commercial Central Coast negotiated the lease.

Retailer leases in Erina complex Elite Health Supplements have relocated their business and leased Shop 6 at 26-30 Karalta Road, Erina.

Terms of lease for the 75 sqm space is 3 years with 3 year option at a rental of $27,000 per annum including Outgoings plus GST

Richard Ellis from Raine & Horne Commercial negotiated the lease.

Homewares and clothing retailer leases in Terrigal

Industrial Threads a business which sells industrial homewares and street clothing, has leased 94 Terrigal Esplanade, Terrigal for 3 years with a 3 year option.

Rent for the 40 sqm shop is $42,000 per annum including Outgoings plus GST.


North Avoca shop to be wellness centre

A 56 sqm commercial/retail shop at 21-23 North Avoca Parade, North Avoca has been leased and will be used as a wellness centre.

Terms of lease are 1 year with 2 year option at a rental of $28,000 per annum plus Outgongs and GST.


Japanese restaurant for Umina Beach

Barry Williams joins CommBank

Well-known local banker and finance broker Barry Williams has been appointed Asset Finance Business Development Manager for the Central Coast and Newcastle region for the Commonwealth Bank responsible for managing the vehicle and equipment finance.

Mr Williams’ career in banking and finan-cial services spans some forty years much of it on the Central Coast.

He key focus will be to develop relation-ships with small businesses throughout the Central Coast.

Business Chamber elects new President

(left to Right: daniel Farmer, Regional Manager – Central Coast nSW Business Chamber, Ken Baker, Outgoing President – Central Coast Regional Advisory Council, Rod dever, President – Central Coast Regional Advisory Council)

The Central Coast NSW Business Chamber has announced the election of Rod Dever as President of the Regional Advisory Council.

Mr Dever succeeds Ken Baker, who after serving five years and two terms in the role

is required to vacate the position under the NSW Business Chamber constitution. He will continue to be part of the Advisory Council as Immediate Past President.

Mr Dever is National Business Development Manager for the ORS Group, an organisation that connects job seek-ers with the best possible employment opportunities and is former President of the Gosford Chamber of Commerce.

Commenting of Mr Dever’s election, Daniel Farmer, Central Coast NSW Business Chamber Regional Manager, said, “in a region where unemployment, especially youth unemployment, is a major challenge, having Mr Dever leading the Advisory Council with his expertise in connect-ing people with employment will be an excellent addition to our goal to make the region a leading place for employment, entrepreneurship and social and cultural pursuits.”

P R O P E R T Y N E W S

B & B Jo Pty Limited have leased a 102 sqm retail shop in the Aldi Complex in Trafalgar Avenue, Umina Beach and will establish a Japanese restaurant.

Terms of lease are 5 years with 5 year option at a rental of $33,000 per annum plus Outgoings and GST.



1 8 B U S I N E S S T I P S

EXPERT ADVICE FOR EMPLOYERS

Email Warwick Ryan [email protected] Attorneys - Suites 2/3210 The Entrance Road, ERINA

Whether your business is large or small, we can help you manage your workforce, protect your trade secrets and reduce your workers comp premiums.

By Warwick Ryan, Partner, SWAAB Attorneys

Dispensing with awardsCan you pay employees a lump sum amount that meets your award obligations?

the challenge in business to keep up with changes and awards can be particu-larly problematic.

Many business owners don’t have a full understanding of what awards apply to their staff and even less of an idea of what obligations those awards contain. This lack of knowledge exists because in real-ity business owners are busy trying to run their business and do not have the time to become experts in industrial relations.

One of the common questions we are asked is:

"Can I pay my staff member a lump sum amount that will cover off my obligations under the Award?"

The simple answer is 'yes' and there are three principal methods for doing this under the Fair Work Act (the Act):

Enterprise Agreement (EA): An EA is the easiest way to simplify your employ-ment arrangements and make sure that they comply with the obligations under awards and the Act. EAs allow employers and employees to negotiate directly to come up with an agreement which will entirely replace the award in its effect. For a medium to large enterprise, it is an excel-lent way of ensuring that you are not leav-ing any contingent liabilities (in the form of underpayment of wages claims) on your balance sheet.

Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA): IFA's are individual arrangements that vary the award. Currently, the variations may only be limited to a certain number of items although this is likely to change. Further, it is not scrutinised by a third party,

which can lead to errors, but also makes the process easier. Finally, employees or the employer can terminate the agreements within the required notice period (which the new Federal Government is looking to extend out to 90 days).

Common Law Contracts: Since the early 70's, following a line of cases, employers have been entitled to offset their addi-tional obligations under an award for over award payments made to the employee. Generally, it requires the insertion of a particular term within your contract that sets out clearly what clauses the award is intended to cover by making lump sum payments.

There are a range of options employers can chose from to pay their staff above the award and do so in a way that success-fully excludes or reduces the effect of the award from that point. However, the key is making sure that you are providing suf-ficient remuneration to them such that it would outweigh their entitlements under the award.


often we are engaged by businesses to act for them in selling or buying their busi-nesses.

Since 2012 ASIC has been given control of the registration of business names. But, when you go to transfer a business name, it becomes problematical.

In an attempt to win over small business, and make life easier for us all, ASIC, in its wis-dom, has created a HUB for small business.

This would have been a good idea and some of the information is useful, but much of it simply links to existing ASIC portals including Business Names which does not really assist small business. In that regard you basically need a doctorate to negotiate your way through a maze just to transfer a busi-ness name.

This is time consuming and I believe unnecessary.

What we need is less complexity and more simplicity. Is it a hub or more hullabaloo?

By David Pryor, Principal, Priority Business Lawyers

ASIC’S business names website – a hub or a hullabaloo?

In late October CCBR asked this ques-tion of our Linkedin contacts.

We received numerous responses so we thought it is now time to tell both the State and Federal Government MP’s what people are saying.

Here are some of the comments:

“I have a number of small business clients in the construction industry, and they would love to be able to engage apprentices, as the general consensus is that we are heading for a trades skills shortage.

One client's experience was that it took nearly twelve months to get one apprentice incentive payment as the Apprenticeship Centre kept losing the paperwork, putting the onus back on the business owner to resubmit the forms. That business has now chosen not to employ any more apprentices.

Another business I work with simply doesn't have the time and staff resourc-es to supervise and train an apprentice, even though they have plenty of work for one.

A common theme I've been hear-ing is that employees have so many more rights than an employer, and so

many more avenues for enforcing these rights. With SMEs being such a sig-nificant employer in this country, they need a representative body with teeth.” Meredith Savins

As you know, one of the biggest dicentives to employ people is the unrealistic OH&S laws presently operat-ing. Each business has the obligation to create its own site rules, and safe working plans. Feel sorry for the poor old truck driver who has to visit many different sites each day, and is forced to carry a suitcase full of safety documents to cover the hundreds of different site rules. That's not to mention the unrealis-tic rules for truckies unloading! It is now illegal for a peron to climb onto the tray of a truck! It is also a big no, no to climb onto a load. The problem is that Workcover have no idea how a driver can arrive at a vacant building site, and try to unload a load of frames and truss-es without getting up onto the load to hook up the crane to the slings. We have to work that out ourselves. I am trying to invent a sky hook right now. It will make a fortune!” Ray Graetz

What our readers think of industrial relations policies


1 9B U S I N E S S T I P S

C O N T I N U E D A R T I C L E S

By David Pryor, Principal, Priority Business Lawyers

of Interest. John Singleton’s management agreement terminates in February 2014 and the Mariners have an opportunity to become the only club in the A-League to have full operational control over their home ground. While this is in the hands of Gosford Council it would make sense and provide greater certainty for the Mariners to make the stadium their home.

Charlesworth’s vision for the Mariners COnTinued FROM PAge 4

COnTinued FROM PAge 6

COnTinued FROM PAge 10

work sooner. “Returning to work early and safely

is good for recovery and helps workers regain financial independence sooner.

“Safe Work Australia has reported that in 2012/13, NSW’s return to work rate improved by three per cent to 88 per cent - making it higher than the national average of 86 per cent.

Meanwhile, WorkCover continues its vague definition of contractors and sub-contractors which has resulted in hundreds of genuine contractors being classed as ‘employees’.

See Page 20 - How field auditors get it wrong with Workers Comp premiums by Workers Compensation Premium Consultant, June Gibson.

Workers comp premium cuts

An NBN advantage for East Gosford business COnTinued FROM PAge 7

the attention of external investors who have expressed interest in becoming involved with the Central Coast based company.

In September Mr Woodward travelled to Chicago to attend the 2013 International Online Learning Conference and was sur-prised to discover that he was the only Australian in the audience. Aimed at interna-tional training and educational profession-als from the public and private sectors, the conference showcased the very latest learning

development techniques, platforms and tools available on the market today.

“Attending the conference highlighted the many new and innovative eLearning, virtual classroom and mobile learning opportunities that are now available to us thanks to the high broadband speed delivered by the NBN. The opportunities for us as a web business are endless and will undoubtedly lead to further business expansion and local job opportuni-ties in the future,” said Mr Woodward.

very seriously at GosfordAcross the Coast we now have to promote

the region in Sydney and Australia to get busi-nesses to relocate and in this respect superfast broadband is now installed in and around Gosford CBD and in and around Berkeley Vale. The NBN is already attracting business and this will gain in momentum into 2014. With NBN our region is certainly moving into a new age.

Earlier in the year the Central Coast Mariners won the Grand Final in the Hyundai A-League putting the Central Coast brand out across Australia and all of Asia. It was a great performance and the people of the Central Coast showed how proud they were of this truly local team.

Mike Charlesworth has great plans for the Mariners (see our cover story) and the whole business community on the Central Coast needs to get behind him in taking the Mariners forward as “our” team.

The election of the new Federal Government a few months ago has been the circuit breaker we have needed to get people positive again and in particular business people.

Local retailers reported that sales jumped in the week following the election. They are now looking forward to a good Christmas and holiday period.

Mr Abbott has a lot to do to make our employment laws more flexible and get the economy moving which Mr Turnbull will need to take a less political attitude to the NBN and see it for what it can do to regional economies. In this respect the rollout of the NBN has gone too far on the Coast for it to be unwound.

Overall 2013 has set the scene for a very good 2014. We can all be very positive about that.

So on that note may we wish all our read-ers, subscribers and advertisers and Merry Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Good reason to look forward to 2014

7-Step LinkedIn Success Strategy

Step One: Content StrategyMost LinkedIn users know they need to post content and engage with other users to get the value out of their LinkedIn pres-ence. However, the speed bump for many of these users is what content to post and which conversations to engage in.

This will be addressed in the first step of the ‘7-Step LinkedIn Success Strategy’ we are covering over the coming months.

The 7-Step LinkedIn Success Strategy includes:

1. Content Strategy2. Foundations3. Groups

4. Search5. Connect6. Educate7. Take Relationships Offline

Step 1: Content StrategyA successful strategy starts with clear goals. These goals must be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-stamped (SMART).

In order to measure your goals, metrics must be determined. These may be qualita-tive, quantitative, subliminal, explicit, long-term or short-term. The important thing is that the metrics are easy to measure and you are able to compare them to alterna-tive tactics (opportunity cost).

Many users will just focus on the ROI (profit / investment x 100). Measuring ROI is important and can be an affective way to calculate the resources you invest, such as time and money, to the return you receive, such as leads, referrals, meetings and ulti-mately increasing your bottom line.

The problem with just measuring ROI is that you’re only measuring the value of

your LinkedIn presence as a dollar value.Many important LinkedIn goals cannot be

measured in dollar terms, such as sentiment, top-of-mind awareness, credibility etc.

These are key LinkedIn metrics you can use to measure goals that do not have a dollar value:Qualitative Metrics:• Recommendations• Inbox activity• Group growth and interaction• Lead generation• Likes and comments on posts

Quantitative Metrics:• Business Followers• Searchability• Profile Views• New Invitations• Total Connections• Network Industry and Location Relevance

If you have any questions, please connect with me on LinkedIn.

next month we will complete step 1.


2 0 C O M M E N T

aBout a year ago a building trades company in country NSW (we shall call them ABC Pty Ltd) received a random work-ers compensation audit.

As a result of this audit seven contrac-tors were identified that were subsequently deemed to be employees. They faced a bill made up as follows

Unpaid premium $65,000Late payment fees $30,000Audit cost fee $7,000total $102,000and... please pay within 30 daysABC Pty Ltd are a long established and

reputable company with a name for paying their accounts on time. They are a medium size business who rotate 3 administrative staff and have many employees. The owner is third generation.

They decided to pay $65,000 despite it being close to Christmas in the hope that the entire situation was a misunderstanding and a refund would be swiftly returned.

That was mistake number one! Once your money has been paid its hard

to get it back. ABC Pty Ltd approached me and after

a discussion with the young “field auditor” who conducted the audit, I was advised by the auditing Company to continue any fur-ther conversations with WorkCover only.

After reading through many couriered boxes of paperwork (already provided to the auditor), discussions with ABC’s account-ants, discussions and letters of appeal with

How field auditors get it wrong with Workers Comp premiumsWorkCover, and understanding that seven contractor payments over the three year audit period were what caused the bill - meaning that $1,861,863.00 in gross pay-ments to these people were actually regard-ed as “wages” and not contractor payments, I waded through the paperwork gathering enough information to prove that they were actually “proper” contractors, even though there are no “proper” guidelines given by WorkCover.

Fortunately I was able to eventually prove that 3 were “bona fide” according to WorkCover’s vague guidelines, and apply for a refund. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough information for the other two guys.

Assessment of appeals at WorkCover takes up to three months. Staffing is down to one person for the whole of NSW due to the culling of staff.

During the whole of this process ABC were still being vigorously pursued for the outstanding Late Payment Fees and Audit Costs.

To add insult to injury more late pay-ment fees were accruing on the outstand-ing amounts. After months of calls and let-ters WorkCover finally addressed the issue.

WorkCover told me they would meet me half way and change the status of some “employees” to contractors, but leave the others. They implied they can’t be seen to be wrong so they would rather meet you half way! This resulted in a $22,000 refund cheque from the insurer.

Back into battle! I dissected the remain-der of the contractors and another two

were deemed bona fide resulting in anoth-er large refund.

WorkCover insisted on leaving two people in as employees because of lack of information.

Now remember these audits are retro-spective - in many cases these people are probably not working for you anymore, maybe not even in this State? maybe never even lived in this State, maybe they just heard about some work (The North Coast had a lot of flood damage, therefore a lot of insurance work, mainly roof plumb-ing) and travelled to it?

The contractors to ABC quoted for work, completed it and got paid by ABC. They took out their own sickness and accident insurance, worked unsupervised provided tools, equipment, materials etc.

Right from the start, under WorkCover NSW everyone is guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent.

In this case ABC got two fairly big refunds from their insurer at the instruction of WorkCover, but wasted a lot of time proving themselves innocent when the paperwork was there for the auditor to begin with.

In this case it wasn’t ignorance about compliance, it was about an ignorant “field auditor” whose interpretation of the legisla-tion was as grey as he was.

The point about this example is the interpretation of the legislation as to a definition of “contractor” and “employee”. Over the years this issue has sent hundreds of legitimate contracting businesses into bankruptcy.

By June gibson, Workers Compensation Premium Consultant

“Just sat down to do the weekly wages which includes pay for 5 trials we had last week.

Finding the right staff can be hard enough and we have been struggling to find reliable experienced staff of late.

What normally takes me the good part of a day anyway has just taken longer as I have to sift through all the various information required of the trials, dou-ble check their rates under the award (because there are soooooo many varia-tions), check tax rates etc.

Employers use to be entitled to have workers trial for up to 4 hours free of charge......to show what they were capa-ble of.

Now, forget it. I have had to do the same amount of paper work for a 2.5hr trial as I have for a new employee doing

25 odd hours a week. Workers comp.....another good one, has

decreased a bit Yippee! now $9900 a year instead of $12k.....either way ouch!

Being in Hospitality (while a great industry) is a killer when it comes to the books.

Virtually everything we get in is tax free but as soon as its through our doors, we generate GST by simply making dishes and serving it.” Gabby Bowles

“Its interesting reading the comments on this post, particularly those relating to the trades as we seem to be one of the areas that do struggle with overwhelm-ing admin in this area. The reality for us as a small but professional business is we spend too much time, effort and in the end money on trying to be compliant.

For some of our clients we even have to pay a yearly fee to be allowed to become compliant and then complete the works. Some may say this is just part of business but at some stage common sense must prevail.” David Freers

“The new Federal Government can try and clean things up in the long term, in the short term, businesses are still closing the doors on the Central Coast. In partic-ular, Blu Jays Café at Toukley and Graphite Café at Lakehaven, have both recently closed. Both businesses had been estab-lished for 6 or more years! Why was The Entrance Lake House not open on Monday of the October Long Weekend? A: Because we simply can't afford to pay our staff the rates that Fair Work Australia place.” Tony Wilsinson

COnTinued FROM PAge 18What our readers think of industrial relations policies


2 1E V E N T S C A L E N D A R

Central Coast business events calendar

Event holder Description Date Information

Central Coast Manufacturing Connect

Manufacturers and networking Tuesday 3 december 2013 www.ccmconnect.com.au

BIZ+ networking Meetingevery Thursday from 7.30am erina Leagues Club

[email protected]

East Gosford Chamber of Commerce Members Meeting Second Monday of the month [email protected]

Erina Chamber of Commerce Members Meeting Third Wednesday of the month [email protected]

Gosford District Chamber of Commerce

Members Meeting Second Wednesday of the month www.gosfordchamber.com.au

The Entrance & District Chamber of Commerce

Members Meeting First Wednesday of the month www.theentrancecc.com.au

Northern Lakes Regional Business Chamber

Members Meeting Second Tuesday of the month www.northernlakes.net.au

The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

Members Meeting Second Monday of the month www.peninsulachamber.asn.au

Wyong Chamber of Commerce Members MeetingFourth Tuesday every second month (except dec/Jan)

www.wyongchamber.com.au

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2 2

the hr department had carefully interviewed thirty-eight people for the job of assistant to the financial director.

The chief executive thought that one candidate, Charles, seemed ideal. Charles had been to a major public school. Not only was he a qualified accountant, but Charles also had a MBA. He seemed fully aware of the latest creative accountancy techniques.

“Charles,” said the chief executive, “We’ve decided to offer you the job. And as you’re so well qualified we’ve decided to start you off on a slightly higher salary than the one advertised. We’ll pay you $120,000 a year.”

“Thank you,” replied Charles. “But how much is that per month?”

A party of economists was climbing in the mountains. After several hours they became hopelessly lost. One of them stud-ied the map for some time, turning it up and down, sighting on distant landmarks, consulting his compass, and finally the sun.

Finally he said, “OK, see that big moun-tain over there?”

“Yes,” answered the others eagerly. “Well, according to the map, we’re stand-

ing on top of it.”

Four surgeons were taking a coffee break and were discussing their work.

The first said, “I think accountants are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is numbered.”

The second said, “I think librarians are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is in alphabetical order.”

The third said, “I like to operate on electri-cians. You open them up and everything inside is color-coded.”

The forth surgeon said, “I like engineers. They always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end.”

Father McGee walked into the church and spotted a man sitting cross-legged on the altar.

“My son,” said the priest, “What are you doing? Who are you?”

“I’m God,” said the stranger. “Pardon?” said the priest. “I’m God,” he repeated. “This is my house!”Father McGee ran into the presbytery

and, in total panic, rang the archbishop. “Your reverence,” he said, “I hate to trouble

you, but there’s a man sat on me altar, who claims he’s God. What’ll we do?”

“Take no chances,” said the archbishop. “Get back in the church and look busy!”

A Kiwi and an Aussie go to a pastry shop. The Kiwi whisks three biscuits into his pocket with lightning speed. The baker doesn’t notice.

The Kiwi says to the Aussie, “You see how clever we are ? You’ll never beat that !!”

The Aussie says to the Kiwi, “Watch this - an Aussie is always cleverer than a Kiwi.”

Quote of the month

“The best way to predict your future is to create it”

Peter F drucker

He says to the baker, “Give me a biscuit - I can show you a magic trick !!”

The baker gives him one, which the Aussie promptly eats. Then he says to the baker, “Give me another biscuit for my magic trick.”

The baker is getting suspicious but he gives it to him. He eats this one too.

Then he says again, “Give me one more biscuit.”

The baker is getting angry now but gives him one anyway. The Aussie eats this one too.

Now the baker is really mad, and he yells, “And where is your famous magic trick ?” The Aussie says, “Look in the Kiwi’s pocket!!”sContributed by david Chandler

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Central Coast Business Review December 2013

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