The new look REDC website www.mwredc.org.au is now up and running (same address as former site)!

Using the new site, members can now register and pay for tickets to conferences and networking events, upgrade/renew membership, and download the full suite of REDC reports.

In order to access your special member pricing and members-only features, you will need to login using your new login details.  Login details will be emailed to all members this week.  Please share these logon details with other members of your organisation who may need to access the website as there is only one login provided per company.

Also, as part of your membership subscription, your organisation is entitled to a quantity of free tickets to networking events.  Coupon numbers will be allocated to each company for redemption when purchasing tickets to events via our e-store.  Coupon codes will be provided in the email to members this week.

We hope you enjoy navigating the new site and all it has to offer. See you online!

REDC is pleased to welcome two new members, Morris Corporation and Aspen Group.

Morris Corporation (Bronze member)

Morris Corporation is Australia’s largest wholly Australian owned Industrial Catering, Accommodation and Facilities Management Specialist.

Morris currently has operations established throughout Australia as well as in Papua New Guinea and the Middle East. Primarily serving the civil construction and mining industries, the company has a long and proud record of providing proven, personable and proactive quality services to many of the major enterprises within those sectors.
Morris’ mission is to achieve a stable growth rate whilst returning a reasonable commercial profit. This will be achieved by delighting their clients and customers with a proven, personable, proactive service delivery.

This service delivery will be second to none, realized through a highly developed people focus, resulting in an exuberant workforce focused on achievement of client satisfaction.  For more information on Morris Corporation, please visit their website at www.morriscorp.com.au.

Aspen Group (Bronze member)

Aspen Group is an ASX listed property investment and funds management group, focused on acquiring quality property assets and creating and managing innovative property funds and syndicates. Aspen's core strength lies within the Group's broad expertise across property acquisition, development and management enabling the Group to provide leading edge property solutions.

The Aspen group of companies directly own and manage a well diversified portfolio of commercial property assets Australia-wide. The portfolio is spread across the office, industrial and retail sectors and has grown through acquisitions and portfolio revaluations of existing properties driven by a strong property management focus. One such development in Aspen Group’s portfolio is the Whitsunday Shores development in Bowen.   For more information, visit their website at www.whitsundayshores.com.au.

Porters (Silver member)

A part of the Mackay community since 1883, Porters is committed to helping the Mackay and Whitsunday region grow and expand. With more than 280 highly motivated and experienced staff across six divisions, they provide the highest quality service and products to their valued clients.

A family owned company where the motto of ‘Can Do’ permeates every facet of the organisation, Porters is a dynamic, growing company where the key to success is excellent customer service and an extensive product range. For more information, visit their website at www.cporter.com.au. 

The Invest Mackay Whitsunday Isaac 2010 Conference, hosted by the Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDC), will highlight the investment opportunities within the high growth Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region.

The conference to be held from the 19th- 21st of May 2010, aims to bring together representatives from all around Australia, Asia and the US to view firsthand what the region has to offer.

REDC’s Investment Attraction Manager, Martin Homisan, said that the conference will have a range of high-profile guest speakers who will provide insightful information regarding the regional economy and current and future investment opportunities.

“Professionals interested in learning more about investment opportunities in the Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region should not miss this conference.  Topics will include a regional overview – the benefits of investing in the region, understanding foreign direct investment, the specific investment opportunities in the region and other investment related information.”

To register & purchase tickets for this event, please click here to visit the REDC e-store.

Lunch with the Mayor As part of a new REDC venture, we are now hosting monthly networking functions which will feature a director scheduled to speak at each luncheon.  As our directors either represent a section of the region or a particular industry, the topics being discussed will be of interest to many.  Our first networking luncheon ‘Lunch with the Mayor’ is to be held on 19th March 2010 Mackay Mayor, Col Meng, will be the guest speaker for this event and will present on ‘Vision for Mackay’. To register & purchase tickets for this event, please click here to visit the REDC e-store.

REDC hosts lunch with Savanth Sebastian In an exciting joint venture with Commonwealth Bank Corporate Financial Services Central Qld, REDC will host a lunch on the 15th April 2010 at Ocean International.  The guest speaker will be Savanth Sebastian, regular presenter on the Channel 7 Sunrise program.  Savanth is responsible for analysis of economic trends in the Australian and global economy as well as the likely impact on equity markets.  Registrations for this event will be open soon. Watch this space!

Regional Development Register (February 2010)

The Regional Development Register is released quarterly and contains information on key developments across the region.  The latest release (February 2010) also includes several new sections including a summary of anticipated employment outcomes, developments by council area, stage of development and public/verses private investment.

To access the latest Regional Development Register, click here. 

Note: This report is free for members to download. Login with your company login to access the report for free.

Regional Economic Profile (December 2009)

The Regional Economic Profile is released six-monthly and contains key statistical information on the region including Gross Regional Product (GRP), population, labour force data, commodities, tourism and property data. Separate reports are also available for each local government area.

To access the latest Regional Economic Profile, click here. 

Note: This report is free for members to download. Login with your company login to access the report for free.

The Rudd Government recently announced five sites to be the test beds for the NBN.  The sites include parts of Townsville, in Liberal Peter Lindsay's marginal seat of Herbert, the NSW coastal communities of Minnamurra and Kiama Downs, in Liberal MP Joanna Gash's seat of Gilmore, and an area to the west of Armidale in NSW, in the New England electorate of independent Tony Windsor.

Our understanding is that these locations have been selected for fibre to the premises trials for their geographic diversity to evaluate methods of fibre network design and deployment, and include underground cable installation and overhead delivery from existing power lines.

A business case, co funded by the Mackay, Whitsunday and Isaac Regional Councils, along with REDC, is currently being prepared to be presented to the NBN. This will demonstrate the economic and community needs of the rapidly growing region and how high speed fibre optic connectivity will enhance productivity and quality of life.

The results of the recently completed Resident Confidence Survey, compiled by the Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDC), has found that residents in the Mackay Whitsunday Isaac area would utilise financial planning, retraining and employment assistance services if offered for free.

Almost 90% of respondents were confident about their current economic situation and 29% of residents felt that their job security is stronger now than it was twelve months ago.  When asked whether or not they were confident about their employment opportunities in 2010, 58.5% of respondents indicated that they were.

Close to 80% of respondents felt that their financial situation is the same or stronger than this time twelve months ago. 

To access the full report, please click here.

This article, written by Peter Beattie, was published in the Weekend Australian on 6th March 2010.  It is about President Obama’s visit to Australia this month and makes for an interesting read.

WHEN Barack Obama visits later this month Australians will understandably applaud. There is less applause for the US President at home.

There is increasing opposition to his presidency and policies and an economy that is still hurting from 10 per cent unemployment. A recent CNN poll had 52 per cent of Americans saying the President did not deserve to be re-elected. It will surprise many Australians that this has happened so quickly. Obama is President of more than 300 million people and a $US14 trillion ($15.57 trillion) a year economy, still by far the world's biggest. By comparison, Australia's economy is worth about $US1 trillion.

His country was in deep economic trouble when he came to office. He promised hope and change and just more than 12 months ago he delivered the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $US800 billion stimulus package designed to protect jobs and create new ones. The measures also were focused on getting the US economy back on track.

Since then the sharemarket has stabilised with the Dow Jones index back above the 10,000 mark, which is an indication of investor confidence slowly returning. There are tentative signs of recovery and a long-term recession seem to have been averted.

All this may be good for the US and the world economy. But Obama is in political trouble.

The US housing sector is expected to bump along the bottom for another year with sustained home building and price recovery unlikely for at least another 12 months. Unemployment is stubbornly high, particularly in industrial cities such as Detroit, where it is in the 25 per cent realm.

The President's flagship legislation on health care and climate change is stalled, still lost in some unresolved partisan brawl somewhere between the House of Representatives and the Senate. He is struggling to address liberal issues such as gays in the military and immigration reform, all key planks of his hope agenda.

The President has had to ramp tip troop numbers in Afghanistan, just as George W. Bush did in Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay is still open. He talked tough about closing the much-criticised detention camp within in a year of taking office. Well, that deadline passed last month and 192 inmates remain. His new deadline is sometime before the end of his first term.

From an administration perspective, there was the fiasco of the poor reaction to the Christmas Day underpants bomber, the inept rollout of the swine flu vaccine and the size of the public debt, which will be a congressional election issue later in the year.

Politically the Democrats lost their super majority in the Senate with the stunning election of a Republican to the Senate seat held by Democratic Party figure Edward Kennedy for 47 years.

Now the two-term Democratic senator from Indiana, Evan Bayh, has kicked off the mid-term election campaign by announcing he won't seek a third term. There's even speculation that the former Indiana governor is eyeing a run at the White House in 2012. That there is even such speculation that Obama has internal challengers this early and that he may be a one-term-wonder is unbelievable to me.

The fallout from partisan politics, which candidate Obama made a big deal about fixing, will make the congressional mid-term elections very interesting.

Independent voters (those not registered as Democrats or Republicans) are increasingly disillusioned with both sides of politics.

There is a growing perception among Americans I talk to that the President's fine rhetoric, ambition and ideals about hope and decency and a better America are not being delivered by an inexperienced administration struggling with the realities of the US congress and Washington politics.

Americans are bombarded daily with partisan political fighting and a shaky economy. It is little wonder that in the two years I have been in the US many of my American friends are exhausted with politics.

Against this background, the issue for Australia is where do we forge future links with the US that are of economic benefit to the nation and what should be on Australia's agenda when the President arrives in Canberra.

The key area is energy cooperation. The Obama administration's determination to see the development of new energies to reshape the US economy continues as powerfully as ever, notwithstanding the failure of the Copenhagen summit and stalled cap-and-trade legislation.

Two weeks ago the President announced the federal government would back $US8bn in loan guarantees for two nuclear reactors in Georgia. This will build the first new nuclear reactors in the US in almost 30 years. This is a huge investment in low-carbon energy projects that will create thousands of jobs. It's where the US is heading.

Obama wants energy independence, partly for national security reasons but also because it will drive a new economy based on clean energy and the creation of jobs through the development of new energy industries.

Wherever you look you can see innovation spurred by private and government funding and policies such as the Environmental Protection Agency's new rule for the implementation of the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion US gallons of biofuel production by 2022.

There are high hopes for geothermal energy, and companies such as Google are supporting the development of new technologies to ensure the great potential of geothermal is realised.

Clean coal technology is also central to the President's green energy agenda. The President, like Australia, is a strong supporter of clean coal technology. The Obama administration has just created the Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a co-ordinated national strategy to accelerate the advancement and deployment of clean coal technologies.

The President believes the US economy will rely on domestic coal for decades because of its abundance and affordability. Clean coal advances are therefore necessary to reduce pollution.

The President wants as many as 10 commercial clean coal demonstration projects to be up and running by 2016.

Australia and the US are obvious partners in this; that's why Dave Freudenthal, Governor of Wyoming, the biggest coal producing state in the US, is visiting Queensland later this month. There are many opportunities for businesses working in Australia's emerging alternative energy and cleantech industries to engage with the US and be part of the green energy revolution.

This should be high on our list of discussions with the President. We will be talking his language, and we have the skills, expertise and knowledge he needs to deliver outcomes he hopes will earn him a second term.

Peter Beattie is Queensland commissioner for the Americas, based in Los Angeles.

As part of our ongoing commitment to serving our members, REDC have reviewed the level of benefits provided to members at each level of sponsorship.

REDC membership is available in five levels; Associate, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.  Membership levels are designed to reflect both an organisation’s size and contribution to the local economy and thus, their capacity to benefit from improved economic conditions.

Benefits provided to members include: discounted tickets to networking events/conferences, an allocation of free tickets to REDC events, free/discounted access to reports and publications and for the higher levels of membership, the ability to nominate for involvement on project steering committees and a place on the REDC Board of Directors.

For the full listing of member benefits, click here to access the membership proposal.  A matrix of members benefits can be found on page 6. 

Did you know that members are able to share stories in the REDC e-newsletter?  If you have a story you'd like to share with other members, drop us a line!  Email your story to m.woodman@mwredc.org.au today!

Note: Inclusion of articles is subject to approval and may attract additional fees.