Mackay Region Chamber of Commerce business matters column

Business matters: While Queensland has binged on double doughnuts, the southerners have been putting in the hard yards and Queensland is at risk of being left behind, writes Sarah Miotto.

Queensland’s vaccination rate has recently been described as fantastic news by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

At the time, Queensland was tied dead last in the country.

A day earlier, Deputy Premier Steven Miles celebratorily announced a total of 148 people had been vaccinated at last weekend’s NRL finals at Suncorp Stadium, and 179 at Townsville’s rugby double header.

A drop in the ocean and virtually meaningless when considering the combined crowd numbers having attended these matches.

But most notably is both the Premier and Deputy Premier’s refusal to commit to any plan for Queensland’s emergence from its sustained border closure.

With ambiguous reference to needing “as many Queenslanders as possible to be vaccinated” and touting the border closure conversation as “entirely academic”, the Queensland Government’s disconnectedness from the reality of business being able to do business is on full display.

The government’s rhetoric is confusing, uninspiring, and void of visionary leadership. While Queensland has binged on double doughnuts, the southerners have been putting in the hard yards and Queensland is at risk of being left behind.

By most people’s standards, the current vaccination rate is too slow, unworthy of celebration, and in need of a sharp northern-bound uptick.

But why should Queenslanders bother? There is little to no impetus to do so. No plan, no goal, no vision, and no reason that outweighs the resistance.

It will likely take more than a feel-good advertising campaign to turn this around – the ship has sailed on that approach especially since the premise of the campaign’s promise is largely status quo.

The government must stop seeking to fool Queensland with its parochial patronisation and shiny distractions.

Business and Queenslanders are smarter than that and rightly expect better.

It’s time for the Premier to step up to the responsibility of articulating the vision, setting the plan, and executing the strategy.

The government must put some skin in the game and overcome its own fear of commitment. It must be held to the same account as that expected of business.

Three top tips for Mackay businesses moving to a new home

Relocating business premises is exciting. Often the evidence of business growth and prosperity, it’s one of the most significant tasks undertaken.

If relocating is on your agenda, here are just three top tips you may find helpful:

Understand Compliance Obligations

Land and building use regulations are two of the main compliance frameworks to satisfy. Before beginning to search for your commercial property, invest time in identifying whether your business can seamlessly relocate to your desired location or whether relevant applications for changes of use will be needed.

While this detail is available online, it can be complex – seeking professional advice from relevant specialists will eventually save you time, money, and energy.

Allow Time, Then Some More Time

Suitable commercial property may be thin on the ground so start looking early.

Online commercial property sites and registering your interest with a commercial property agent is a good place to start but complement this effort with your own on-the-ground research.

Sarah Miotto shares her tip on moving a business premises.

For example, driving the streets in your desired location may reveal unlisted vacant properties worth pursuing directly with the property owner.

And remember – dry gullies and dead ends will be par for the course – just keep looking.

Mitigate the Risks

The more moving parts there are to a relocation exercise, the more risk it likely carries.

If your relocation is complex, over a protracted period, and conditional upon factors not within your control, take the time to identify the precise risk and the likelihood of this risk eventuating.

Then plan and execute your mitigation strategy – it may come at an additional cost but consider it insurance against your business being homeless.

Relocation can be a lengthy exercise demanding sustained energy and effort – keep your eye on the higher goal.

And be sure to celebrate when it’s done. Good luck!

Queensland has been kept safe but may be weaker for it

During a press conference on Sunday, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath celebrated Queensland being the only state to be open on the east coast of Australia – safe from the virus.

The inconvenient truth not merely mentioned by Ms D’Ath and her colleagues was that just two days earlier, Queensland was named as the second lowest jurisdiction in Australia to have its eligible adults be fully vaccinated.

Only Western Australia trailed it.

Much like a child who’s been wrapped in cotton wool, Queensland has been kept safe. But now, Queensland is arguably weak.

Weak against the virus and weak against returning to pre-Covid conditions – where business is sustained by customers, not handouts; and where business has reliable and continued access to a national and global labour supply.

If the Premier continues to opt for safety over strength, the cost incurred will be a weakened state and this cost will fall squarely on the shoulders of business and consequently, Queenslanders.

Even when vaccination rates do reach the nationally agreed target, Queensland business continues to receive confusing messages on the State Government’s plan.

Sunday’s press conference may have subtly provided an eye-widening insight into the government’s plan where Dr Jeannette Young stated that “the sooner we’ve got the vast majority of Queenslanders from 12 years of age and older vaccinated we’ll be able to remove the restrictions”.

Note the age threshold Dr Young identified as being 12 years and older.

Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced additional vaccine supplies for the country had been secured and that between now and the end of October everyone, who wanted to, could be vaccinated.

With supply seemingly secure and a vaccinated Australia being the milestone needed for business to get back to business, Queensland must now fasten the pace of its vaccination uptake.

The Premier and her government must decide – keep Queensland safe or make Queensland strong.

Will you stick to the plan, Premier?

Seemingly, there remains a way to go until the nation achieves 70 per cent of eligible adults being fully vaccinated – the first vaccination milestone detailed in the National Plan and agreed to by National Cabinet.

Even so, the goalposts have been set.

There is a tangible and shared goal that can be tracked and measured giving a real-time score on progress.

Where uncertainty has prevailed for months – testing business to its limits – the certainty offered by the National Plan is a much-needed energy boost for the mentally exhausted business community – a fundamental economic contributor to public resources, infrastructure, and services and without which the public debt level will remain at an eye-watering level.

So, when Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk raises doubt on whether Queensland’s goalposts might shift, the business community must ask this simple question to the Premier: will Queensland be departing from the National Plan?

The Premier, despite previously agreeing to the National Plan, is now arguing there is insufficient detail in the plan’s modelling.

The business community is well versed in modelling.

It’s a tool also used by business to articulate goals, set plans, and mitigate risk. Mitigate, not eliminate – a key distinction.

Business accepts that inherent in even the best modelling, some risks remain but that for the greater good, mitigated risks must be taken.

Business accepts the responsibility of risk. But when the responsibility of risk is avoided, it doesn’t simply go away – it just gets passed on.

If the Premier is indeed preparing Queensland for a departure from the national plan, the burden of responsibility she and her government avoids will simply be passed onto the business community, and consequently the community at large.

Is the Premier then, asking the business community, and the community at large, to accept a greater responsibility of risk than she is willing for herself and her government to accept?

Business doesn’t look to a Premier to keep it safe.

Business looks to a Premier to demonstrate courageous, and measured responsibility.

Just as business itself does – every day and for the greater good.

Don’t run around in the dark

Finding good, quality people is like playing spotlight on our own – we’re running around in the dark looking for people who don’t seem to be there.

It’s little wonder when we consider that skilled migration is compromised, the unemployment rate is falling, and presently there’s over 1000 advertised job vacancies in Mackay. The super-tight labour market is being squeezed by powerful, external forces beyond our control.

Maybe we need a fresh perspective to throw a new light.

What would happen if we shone the torch back on the things we can control, and asked quality questions of ourselves and our business? Questions like, “have we truly reached our capacity with our current team or is there more juice to squeeze?”.

If you haven’t asked this question or answered it with anything more than a ‘gut feel’, it’s time to get some dirt under your fingernails.

Put some science around it by identifying the economic driver of your business. Once you know this driver, measure it frequently and over time.

For example, in my business it’s hours. Hours drive my costs and my sales. Perhaps it’s the same for your business but if it’s not, take the time to understand what is.

Understanding the rate of productivity is a simple, powerful metric. Using hours as an example, you can measure this rate by calculating how many hours are available to be invoiced and how many hours are actually invoiced in any given time frame.

If the percentage of invoiced hours is below what it should be there’s some unlocked potential – some more juice to squeeze.

What else can we throw some light on? Perhaps it’s processes and systems. What would happen if we examined the workflow of our business by shining the light on every touch point of the transaction?

Resisting these examinations is understandable.

Shining the light on them may reveal some uncomfortable and ugly truths that demand action and intervention.

But the alternative might be like running around in the dark with a blown torch.

Business matters: The power of a paintbrush

BHP recently announced record shareholder results, but its strong financial performance was not what made business news headlines.

Instead, it was the global company’s divestment of its oil and gas assets – a move speculated by some analysts as an indicator of the company repositioning its environmental and social credentials.

Consider this alongside the big banks’ anticipated decline in lending to the fossil fuel industry and the paint-by-numbers picture starts to take shape.

In the gallery of current debate, this big picture is not the only artwork on display.

Hanging beside it is a colourful canvas depicting the tussle on net zero targets; a messy masterpiece, some might say.

Not to be confined to a climatic climactic, also on display is a collection of works portraying the tension of an age-old agony: freedom and responsibility.

Inspired by a virus that will not go away, this eclectic exhibit cleverly invites and incites.

The simple truth, however, is that these objects of debate are not pieces of artistic expression on “Display Only” for passive observation.

They are, rather, objects of global trends and public policy; market drivers combining to return an emerging reality and you, the private enterprising businessperson, are a major shareholder invested in this return.

It will be private enterprise who, like always and for continued nationwide prosperity, will need to convert this reality into economic and social advantage.

Unlike BHP shareholders though, who passively await their record dividends, passivity is not a luxury afforded to you, the self-determining, private enterpriser.

And nor should it be.

Consider your investment as your wealth, created by the toil of your hands and minds and then “invested”, by way of paying taxes, in the public purse.

Your return on this investment, your very way of life and business environment, becomes entrusted to policy makers.

Like artists, influenced by the world around them, they hold the power to paint the picture of your reality.

If you didn’t think you were into art, perhaps it’s time to think again.