Biggies winners John Appleby and ATCO gave hope during bushfires

Winners in the BCA’s inaugural The Biggies awards went above and beyond in the devastating bushfires that swept through NSW.

Biggies winner John Appleby kept Coles in Batemans Bay running to supply bushfire refugees with food.

Batemans Bay and Mogo are just 10 minutes apart by car — the first is the regional centre for the NSW south coast, the second a tiny hamlet that operates as an afternoon tea stop and shop spot on the way south to Narooma and Bermagui.

The devastating bushfires that surged on New Year’s Eve 2019 and continued into the new year locked the bay town and Mogo in a battle against the elements.

Now 16 months later the two locations are again linked by the announcement of winners in the inaugural Biggies awards celebrating the commitment of business to community service.

Corinne and John Appleby at the BCA's annual dinner. Picture: Jane Dempster

The awards announced by the Business Council of Australia on Monday honour an individual, John Appleby, a Coles regional manager based in Bateman’s Bay; and a structures and logistics company, ATCO.

Mr Appleby, who was at Monday’s BCA dinner to receive his honour, kept his supermarket open through the crisis, delivering food to refugees who rushed into the town from beach resorts up and down the coast to shelter at the evacuation centre on the local oval.

As the only supermarket open for three days, Coles fed the community, providing essentials such as bottled water, fresh bread and roast chickens in particular.

Mr Appleby also supported hundreds of team members across multiple stores, an effort that won him the Big Heart category ahead of three other finalists, as well as the People’s Choice voted by the public via the internet.

Read more about The Biggies in the special edition of The Deal.

The other finalists were Kaytee Collins, a branch manager at BankSA on Kangaroo Island; Scott Hart, a customer relationship manager at Braidwood Community Bank in NSW; and Simon Doyle, a medical doctor and former EY consultant.

The judges said Mr Appleby’s actions “shone through the entries” and he demonstrated exemplary leadership and a commitment to his community.

ATCO entered the picture later, donating a pop-up shopping mall comprising 13 modular buildings to Mogo to replace the shops and other businesses destroyed by the fires.

The buildings, worth about $200,000, had allowed people to continue to make an income within their local community.

The temporary structures were occupied immediately while the slow process of rebuilding was under way.

ATCO also donated $1m to the BCA’s BizRebuild initiative launched after the fires.

ATCO won the Big Impact award against six other finalist companies — Fortescue Metals/Minderoo Foundation, Coles, EY, Accenture, Woolworths and BP Australia.

The People’s Choice award went to Woolworths for its work in “assisting competitors to keep communities supplied, donating tonnes of supplies and supporting workers who lost their jobs in the pandemic”.

The chair of the Biggies judging panel, David Gonski, said businesses contributed through their people doing “incredible” things, both to the communities in Australia and throughout the world.

At the BCA annual dinner (L-R) EY CEO Tony Johnson, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Scott Hart, Sir Peter Cosgrove, ATCO MD Pat Creaghan, Coles’ John Appleby, Coles CEO Coles Steven Cain, (2nd row) BP’s Ashley Mackay, Fortescue director Alison Terry Director, BankSA’s Kaytee Collins and Dr Simon Doyle. Picture: Jane Dempster.

“I think it’s time that we actually looked at that, saluted it, and absolutely praised the people who do it,” Mr Gonski said.

Biggies judge and former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove said he was proud of the way the business community responded first to the bushfires and then COVID in 2020.

“They stepped forward to assist small businesses who were smashed and helped them get back on their feet,” Sir Peter said.

“I think this was an amazing venture by business.”