12 October 2009

Australia’s reformed and fully operational bulk wheat export marketing system finally took effect from last week with the news that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had approved the grain port access arrangements of CBH, GrainCorp and Ausbulk (the wholly owned subsidiary of ABB Grain).

It is the final milestone in the reforms, which are designed to ensure fair access to port infrastructure for all wheat growers and exporters.

The ACCC said the access arrangements ‘will unlock constraints at grain ports, to the benefit of the overall Australian economy.’

Twenty-two companies are now accredited for bulk wheat exports under the reformed system.

“This milestone marks the end of the transition period and the start of the new, fully reformed bulk wheat export marketing system,” Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said.

In 2008-09 the total Australian wheat export crop was around 13.4 million tonnes, worth A$5 billion.

According to Wheat Exports Australia, exporters shipped almost ten million tonnes of Australian wheat to 41 countries between October 2008 and the end of July. This included countries receiving bulk Australian wheat for the first time in at least four years, including the UK, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Malawi and Tanzania.

Hong Kong is again first in the rankings of 141 nations and jurisdictions for economic freedom, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading economic think tank.

In this year’s main index, Hong Kong retains the highest rating for economic freedom, 8.97 out of 10. The other top scorers are Singapore (8.66), New Zealand (8.30), Switzerland (8.19), Chile (8.14), United States (8.06), Ireland (7.98), Canada (7.91), Australia tied with the United Kingdom (7.89), and Estonia (7.81).

The rankings and scores of other large economies include Taiwan, tied for 16th with Finland and Mauritius (7.62); Germany, 27 (7.50); Japan, 28 (7.46); South Korea, 32 (7.45); France 33 (7.43); Spain, 39 (7.32); Sweden, 40 (7.28); Italy, 61 (6.95); Mexico, 68 (6.85); China, 82 (6.54); Russia, 83 (6.50); India, 86 (6.45); Argentina, 105 (6.10); and Brazil, 111 (6.00). Zimbabwe once again has the lowest level of economic freedom followed by Myanmar, Angola, and Venezuela.

This year’s report also includes new research that examines the likely impact of the global recession on levels of economic freedom. It suggests that economic freedom may decline in the short term in response to crises, but over a longer time, economic freedom has a tendency to increase after a banking crisis.

“Opponents of economic freedom are blaming the global recession on the operation of markets and hoping to use it as an excuse for a vast expansion in government. But even in recession, the quality of life in nations with free and open markets is vastly superior to that of nations with government managed economies,” said Fred McMahon, Fraser Institute director of trade and globalization studies.

“To successfully navigate the global financial crisis, nations must focus on policies that support the principles of economic freedom. By choosing this path, the current crisis will be reversed and fade into history. But if we learn the wrong lessons and choose reforms and policies inconsistent with economic freedom, our destiny will be like the generation of 1930; we will face a decade of stagnation and decline.”

The annual peer-reviewed Economic Freedom of the World report is produced by the Fraser Institute in cooperation with independent institutes in 75 nations and territories.

The Economic Freedom of the World report uses 42 different measures to create an index ranking countries around the world based on policies that encourage economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and security of private property. Economic freedom is measured in five different areas: (1) size of government; (2) legal structure and security of property rights; (3) access to sound money; (4) freedom to trade internationally; and (5) regulation of credit, labour and business.

Research shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity, greater individual freedoms, and longer life spans.

“Economic freedom is the key building block of the most prosperous nations around the world. Countries with high levels of economic freedom are those in which people enjoy high standards of living and personal freedoms. Countries at the bottom of the index face the opposite situation; their citizens are often mired in poverty, are governed by totalitarian regimes and have few if any, individual rights or freedoms,” McMahon said.

The International Chamber of Commerce Commission on Trade and Investment Policy, holding its biannual meeting in Geneva last week, heard from selected chairmen of the Doha Round negotiating groups to discuss the latest status of the negotiations, notably in the fields of rules, services and trade facilitation.

While these issues are of key concern to business, they tend to be overshadowed by the negotiations on agriculture and industrial products. 

“It is crucial for business representatives to engage in person with Geneva-based senior officials, through organizations such as ICC, to dispel the notion that business has lost interest in the Doha Round,” said R.V. Kanoria, Chair of the ICC Commission on Trade and Investment Policy and Chairman and Managing Director of Kanoria Chemicals & Industries, India.

The commission, ICC’s main working body on multilateral trade and investment policy issues, engaged in a candid exchange of views with ambassadors to the WTO from Brazil, India and South Africa on the prospects for completing the Doha Round in 2010. The G20 Summit held recently in Pittsburgh set the end of 2010 as the deadline for successfully completing the talks.

The commission also heard from the Director of the Investment and Enterprise Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) about the downturn in foreign direct investment flows and prospects brought about by the global economic crisis, as well as the impact of the crisis on policy developments concerning foreign direct investment.

The export earnings of the world’s poorest countries were slashed by up to 50 per cent over the first six months of 2009, according to latest figures from the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva.

This far exceeded the damage suffered by developed countries, although their export earnings were down more than expected, falling globally by 32 per cent.

The world’s 49 least developed countries (LDCs) saw their earnings cut by US$26.8 billion as exports slumped 43.8 per cent. Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the sharpest decline in value terms: its exports to the world’s most important markets crashed by 48.6 per cent (of which South Africa and Nigeria accounted for 52 per cent of this decline), compared with the first six months of 2008, according to ITC’s trade flow monitoring tool, ‘Trade Map’.

“These figures dramatically highlight the devastating impact of the continuing economic crisis on the economies of the poorest developing countries and the well-being of their people,” said ITC Executive Director Patricia R. Francis. “Green shoots of recovery may be appearing in parts of the developed world, but there is no sign of them in the economies of less developed states,” she added.

The new figures showed that hopes that emerging economic powers, such as Brazil and China, would take up some of the slack by absorbing more exports from LDCs, were not realized.

The share of LDCs exports to these emerging economies surged during the commodity boom years, reaching 31 per cent in 2008 from 12 per cent in 2001. However, over the first six months of 2009, Brazil and China imported 58 per cent less from LDCs, a significantly steeper decline than the 24 per cent fall seen in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

For some goods, notably oil, foodstuffs and fish, lower prices rather than lower volumes caused the sharp decline in earnings. Non-energy export earnings for LDCs fell 13.5 per cent, much less than the overall decline. Export volumes even rose slightly in some key sectors, with shipments of textiles and knit apparel from LDCs increasing 4 per cent.

Indeed, the textiles and apparel sector seemed to have emerged relatively unscathed, with the overall value of LDC shipments up by 0.5 per cent. Prices did not surge so much as in other sectors during the 2002–2008 global commodities boom and so did not react as strongly to the economic slowdown.

Bangladesh, which depends heavily on the textile and apparel sector, saw the value of its exports to OECD countries rise 7 per cent over the period. But Cambodia, another major exporter, did not fare so well, with its earnings dropping 15.7 per cent. While Cambodia sends 80 per cent of its exports to the United States, Bangladesh spreads 80 per cent of its business across 11 trading partners, which demonstrates the importance of diversifying markets, ITC said.

Exports from landlocked developing countries (LLDC) to OECD states and other major importers, including China, dropped 49.7 per cent to US$23.4 billion as markets everywhere shrank in the global economic crisis.

LLDCs face special challenges, particularly in relation to transport and customs clearance, which exacerbated the decline in their exports. Oil exporters Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan earned over 50 per cent less, losing US$11.4 billion and US$6.6 billion respectively compared with January–June 2008. Turkmenistan’s earnings from exports to the OECD and China shrank by 60 per cent.

The Geneva-based ITC is a joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations whose mandate is to promote export-led growth in developing countries, with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized companies. Over 50 per cent of its budget is devoted to LDCs and LLDCs.

ITC’s Trade Map www.trademap.org provides online access to the world’s largest trade database and presents indicators on export performance, international demand, alternative markets and the role of competitors from both the product and country perspective.

The International Trade Centre at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia receives buy/sell offers and trade enquiries daily from overseas. A list of last week’s offers and demands is available by clicking here.

Australia has reaffirmed its long-standing support for the negotiation of a new trade and economic integration agreement in the Pacific – known as PACER Plus.

The first A$250,000 of Australia’s contribution to establish the Office of the Chief Trade Adviser was delivered to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat last week as part of its commitment to provide A$1.5 million for this purpose over three years.

The Office of the Chief Trade Adviser will be based in Vanuatu and will provide Forum Island countries with independent support and advice over the course of the PACER Plus negotiation.

“Australia is aware that Forum Island countries face negotiating capacity constraints and is committed to ensuring they can participate in the negotiations and reap the benefits of the new opportunities this agreement can deliver,” Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said.

In addition to supporting the Office of Chief Trade Adviser, Australia has funded each Forum Island country to conduct independent trade research and train additional trade officers.

In June, Australia announced it will provide up to A$15.5 million over four years to boost market access for Pacific exports by helping countries meet customs and quarantine requirements of key trading partners, including Australia.

Pacific Island Forum leaders agreed at the August Forum meeting to start PACER Plus negotiations. The negotiations will involve at the outset Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

No one can accurately forecast the future, but we do know the economy is constantly changing. So we are inviting all small business owners across WA to be part of the BiZFiT program and get ready to meet the challenges ahead!

Click here for further information.

CCI invites WA business executives to attend an exclusive corporate luncheon featuring Jon Sutton, managing director of Bankwest and Western Australia's most senior banker.

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Click here for corporate table registration

The OSH legislative reform package, which is currently being drafted, will create a national OSH model with a number of provisions more onerous, prescriptive, detailed and resource intensive than current Western Australian occupational safety and health legislation. This session will provide you with an insight into what the final Bill will look like, and information on how to best prepare your workplace to ensure you remain compliant under the new regulations.

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This interactive half day workshop you will provide you with an insight into how the media works, why it does what it does and how you and your company can benefit from a strong media presence. The workshop includes the opportunity for you to experience a simulated television interview with the presenter.

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This program will help you develop a better understanding of current legislation and the requirements for major hazard identification and control. The principles of risk assessment and the essential elements of a safety management plan are developed in a practical skills-oriented manner.

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This program provides an excellent overview and introduction to the basic management skills required of new managers and supervisors. You will also develop a practical action plan to suit your individual and organisational needs.

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This practical half day course will provide you with a complete understanding of the do's and don'ts involved with Manual Handling in the workplace. It covers legislative requirements, a manual handling risk assessment, procedures, controls  used to prevent manual handling injuries and a training package that can be ulilised within your workplace.

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This essential workshop will provide a detailed insight into how premiums are set in WA and how employers can proactively negotiate for a better deal. In a practical and interactive environment, it will provide employers with the necessary information they need to be confident that they are paying the right premium for their specific business.

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This interactive two-day workshop presented by CCI's workers' compensation advisers will provide you with the necessary skills and tools to effectively manage your workers' compensation claims to maximise control and minimise costs.

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In the global stadium or in the boardroom, it is not marks in an MBA that gives the top achievers the winning edge.  It is far more complex than can be measured by university professors.   It is that elusive quality that communicates with influence, inspires a sense of direction, produces the most innovative solution, predicts most closely future scenarios, and is able to sustain their mental agility in all conditions.   It is the ability to use the mind and creative skills most effectively.

We’re pushing the boundaries of our abilities.  To do this, we need to use the latest technology and research to hone the skills we have.  Just as athletes train in mind/body techniques – the mental athlete needs mind/body training for the boardroom or market “stadium”.

Specific mental strategies can be applied for specific tasks. Brain imaging techniques have provided valuable insights for the mental athlete.    For example, during sustained concentration & learning, the type of brain activity is not the same as during moments when creative ideas are generated.  For most of us – we leave it to chance that the brain will work in the way we hope it to when the need arises.   Yet how many times have you had the great idea or brilliant retort long after the moment has passed?

Consider those moments when you do have those flashes of genius.  A moment where you were functioning at your peak  -  combining your potential resources such that the best of yourself has emerged at levels you previously thought impossible.  Those moments when the great idea revealed itself, or the speech went brilliantly, or the negotiations were successful beyond your dreams.  .  In sports psychology it is called “flow” or “the zone”.    For everyone it is a similar experience.

Until recently, the predictors of these flashes of insight or flow were elusive.   Most people experience them from time to time but admit that they occur largely by chance - and not frequently enough.

The antithesis is those long hours when you know you are functioning below your potential.   Those times when you have to read the same item 2 or 3 times before it sinks in; when you are forced to write and re-write before the finished product emerges; when the solution to a complex problem just won't appear; when your memory fails you; when you just can't concentrate.

Between these 2 extremes lies the area of moderate performance where most of us function most of the time.

It is possible to learn to trigger those moments of peak performance - not just occasionally but consistently.

A wide range of complex factors combines to trigger the brain into high levels of effectiveness.   By applying recent research into the brain it is possible to combine a number of these factors to trigger the mental athlete’s “flow zone”

For an 8-10 hour mental marathon, much of the time can be wasted in under performance if strategies are not put in place to trigger peak mental functioning.  It has been well documented that concentration span wanes after 20 minutes of sustained activity.  (Witness your own memory after hearing a one-hour conference presentation – let alone 8 hours).   In most organisations today people are pushing beyond the mental decline believing that they are operating at their mental best.  In reality they are accomplishing the best they can at 20% of their best.

For the brain to function effectively, it needs fuel.    While the brain represents only 2% of body weight, it requires 20% of the available oxygen and 50% of available glucose.    Sedentary work results in a reduction of oxygen uptake and over extended periods, a consequent reduction in the ability to concentrate, absorb and recall information.    You probably know the symptoms.    After several hours of solid concentration, you become mentally fatigued.    You search for simple, mechanical tasks that require the minimum concentration. In an attempt to get the brain working you take a lunch break but find you quickly return to the same lack-luster level of concentration.

Aerobic exercise, and meditation are two simple methods of refueling the brain.  While these have been promoted largely for their effect on cardiac health, the after effect of 20 minutes of either of these activities include not only a lowering of heart beat and blood pressure, but also an increased flow of oxygen to the brain.   All this results in increased energy and improved ability to concentrate for up to 24 hours.

While aerobic exercise will improve thinking, stress will have the opposite effect.   A stress reaction will direct oxygen supply away from the cerebral cortex (the thinking part of the brain - the intellectual brain) to the lower brain to activate the physical functions of the flight and fight response.   Knowing how to control the stress response and developing stress hardiness are critical to high-level mental performance.

Fueling the brain effectively is one component.   Another is directing the thinking process.   One recent study of highly creative individuals and those considered “genius” reveals their ability to:

• Create a mental image
• Hold the image in the mind
• Manipulate the image
• Change the image

Einstein was known to have conducted all his experiments in his mind before committing them to paper.  The strategy is the same as that used by athletes when using   mental rehearsal and visualisation.  Mental athletes could well develop the same skills.

Neurologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger Sperry revealed how the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex essentially operate as two separate brains.    The left is required for step-by-step processing, calculations and   language.  The right is essential for problem solving, decision-making negotiation and interpretation.   It is the right brain that sees the overview, draws on non-verbal input and processes multi-factorial information simultaneously to generate new ideas or solutions to complex problems.  It is the part of the brain responsible for creative thinking.

Creative thinking results from being in a specific state.   Consider for example, when you have your best ideas.   Are you hunched over the computer? Locked in debate?  Or do they happen when you are mentally disengaged.  Standing in the shower?  Just before drifting off to sleep? Or other occasions when you are equally ‘switched off”.   Studies of the creative process have revealed ways in which this brain state can be intentionally manipulated.    You can learn to be more creative at will.   You don’t have to wait for the serendipitous moment that may or may not occur.

It is possible to draw on a wide range of findings that have emerged from recent mind-brain research.   Further these can be translated into practical strategies that can be applied to improve mental functioning - including learning how to directionalise the brain, becoming stress-hardy, mind mapping, and creating new patterns of thinking.

While science has begun to explore the vast potential of the brain, we are still a long way from complete understanding of mental functioning.   It is known that the process is complex; no single contributing factor can be considered in isolation.   Any attempt to enhance thinking must employ a wide range of interacting strategies. 

Einstein said, the only difference between genius mentality and lay mentality is that a genius uses more of his mind and uses it in a different manner.

As any mental athlete already knows – the leading edge is far more than simply having the information at hand.  It is tapping their genius mentality – “the flow zone”.

Article by Susanne Rix and Deborah Moyle

Susanne Rix is developer of the globally-renowned Superworking® program.  Deborah Moyle is one of the few Superworking® presenters personally trained by Susanne and delivers Superworking® around Australia.

For further information, researched results and workshop dates:

Deborah Moyle
M: 0407 271 357
www.actionideas.com.au

Each year the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA (CCI) selects a Charity of the Year for which funds are raised through a workplace giving scheme for staff who wish to contribute through payroll deductions and other charitable activities. 

Previous CCI Charity of the Year programs have provided new equipment, facilities or resources for organisations such as the Cancer Support Association of WA, Cerebral Palsy Association of WA, the Salvation Army and Guide Dogs WA.  Our 2009 charity is World Vision. 

Charitable organisations that are members of CCI, may be nominated to be chosen as CCI’s Charity of the Year 2010, by providing the committee with a proposal to the value of $15,000 - $25,000.  If your proposal is chosen by our staff, CCI’s Charity of the Year effort would be directed to raising the necessary funds for that project over the course of 2010. 

If you have not yet received an invitation to apply for CCI’s Charity of the Year 2010, please contact Linda Gibbs, in the first instance, on 9365 7624 or email linda.gibbs@cciwa.com or Cheryl Harris on 9365 7439 or email cheryl.harris@cciwa.com. Closing date for nominations is 5.00pm, Friday 20 November 2009.

The new Food Act 2008, along with its supporting regulations, will come in effect on 24 October 2009.

The Act will introduce significant changes to current regulations and will impact any business involved in providing, producing, packaging, preparing, or selling food to customers.

Click here for further information or to register.

This one-day workshop is aimed at providing participants with in-depth understanding of China and its unique business culture to enable them to achieve more effective outcomes when doing business in the world’s most populous country.

Click here for further information or to register online.

The Department of Health has announced that the Food Act 2008 (the Act) and supporting regulations will be introduced on 23 October 2009.  However, the introduction of Part 8 Division 2 – Auditing and Reporting Requirements will be further delayed.

The Act and supporting regulations will be enforceable as of 24 October 2009 following the repeal of food regulations and by-laws created under the Health Act 1911 and associated legislation.

The Department will soon release a local government “checklist” highlighting expectations of what should be done with food businesses.  In addition, guidance on temporary food businesses is being prepared for distribution to local government.  WA food regulation information is available from the Department of Health website at http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/1/50/2/food.pm.

Transitional provisions exist for businesses registered as eating houses.  All other businesses have until 31 December 2009 to register under the new Act.

CCI will hold a briefing session on Monday 19 October 2009 to provide industry with an overview of the new regulations and explain how business can prepare to ensure compliance with the changes.  For details of the briefing or to register attendance, call CCI’s events hotline on 9365 7500 or visit the CCI website.

For more information contact CCI’s Warren Barbetti on (08) 9365 7720 or e-mail: warren.barbetti@cciwa.com

An agenda for reform of the Western Australian planning framework has been released by the Department of Planning and the WA Planning Commission.

‘Planning Makes It Happen - a Blueprint for Planning Reform’ sets out the strategic priorities and a forward work program covering a wide range of planning initiatives designed to improve the WA planning system.

The blueprint identifies 11 strategic priorities and a further 22 actions within a forward work program for the next two years.

Key strategic priorities include major project facilitation, urban land supply and infrastructure co-ordination, development assessment panels and the establishment of regional planning committees.

The Blueprint for Planning Reform can be viewed online at http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/reform 

For more information contact CCI’s Warren Barbetti on (08) 9365 7720 or e-mail: warren.barbetti@cciwa.com

To help address the re-emergence of iodine deficiency across most of the population, from 9 October 2009 it will be mandatory in Australia to add the essential nutrient iodine to bread.

The mandatory iodine fortification regulation requires the replacement of the existing salt in bread with iodised salt.  This is preferable to people adding extra iodised salt to their food.  The only exception is organic bread which is not required to contain iodine because of the rules about organic food.

Iodine is essential for the healthy function of the thyroid gland to help it produce hormones that regulate metabolism, including the regulation of body temperature. Most people need only a small amount a day but we need iodine regularly because we cannot store large amounts in the body.

Iodine is particularly important for the normal development of a baby’s brain and nervous system, especially during pregnancy and in the first 2-3 years of life. Not having enough iodine during pregnancy and early childhood can cause developmental delay and lead to reductions in mental performance. This damage prior to 2-3 years of age is irreversible.

For more information about iodine and folic acid mandatory fortification in Australia, including a web seminar for health professionals, consumer videos and fact sheets, see the FSANZ website at http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/foodmatters/fortification/index.cfm .

For more information contact CCI’s Warren Barbetti on (08) 9365 7720 or e-mail: warren.barbetti@cciwa.com