Business – Page 28 – Michmutters

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Melbourne Airport removes T3 security, diverts passengers via T4

Melbourne Airport removes T3 security, forces passengers via T4

Melbourne Airport’s ambitious plan to link Terminals 3 and 4 has finally come to fruition, although a removal of security screening at T3 – home to Virgin Australia – now sees passengers required to walk to T4 for checks before heading back for their flight.

That reconfiguration is a key element of the hub’s $30 million transformation, which the airport described as ‘an elevation to the traveler experience’. The project’s centrepiece is an indoor walkway linking the landside departures levels of Terminals 3 and 4.

Among the other enhancements are greater connectivity between the terminals, in addition to smart security technology, also seen at the Gold Coast and Sydney T3. This time-saving tech allows travelers to keep laptops, tablets and liquids in their bags.

Two extra security lanes have also opened to meet increased demand.

As part of the linkway, the Virgin Australia lounge is now located in the secure airside zone, meaning premium travelers will be able to enjoy the facilities right up until boarding.

Premium screening has also re-opened for Platinum, Gold, Beyond and Business Class passengers from 5-10am weekdays.

Melbourne Airport says its T4 scanners halve the time it takes to go through security.

Melbourne Airport says its T4 scanners halve the time it takes to go through security.

Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus says the upgrade work – which also includes new amenities at T4 – was much needed, with the terminal receiving no significant works in over 20 years.

“One of the biggest pinch points for Virgin guests has been the security check points, and we expect this change will help improve the experience for passengers as they pass through screening,” Argus explains.

“A lack of space means expanding existing checkpoints to accommodate modern technology was not an option, but we think consolidating the screening operation results in a better outcome for passengers.

Here is a map of the new Departures process…

…and also the Arrivals.

Melbourne Airport says that “under the (T3) reconfiguration, domestic travelers will have more time to relax inside restaurants and retailers before boarding their flights.”

We’d suspect they’ll have less time if they have to walk from the T3 check in desks through to T4 for security screening and then walk back to T3 again – especially if their Virgin Australia flights are departing from the higher-numbered gates 7 through 10 at the top of the T3 pier.

One Melbourne-based frequent flyer told Executive Traveler that he expects that even with the T4-T3 walkway located behind security, that could come close to a 10-minute walk.

The new parents' room at T3.

The new parents’ room at T3.

That said, there are several upgrades to love, including:

  • a more streamlined exit point in arrivals to “intuitively guide guests to outdoor transport options”
  • upgraded bathrooms at T3, which include all gender areas, adult change rooms, and assistance animal relief spaces
  • a parent’s room featuring “interactive full-length walls so children can play and stay entertained while their guardians tend to other needs.”

As previously advised to executive traveler by a Melbourne Airport spokesperson, Virgin passengers with only cabin bags should check in online or via the Virgin app and head straight to T4, while also pointing out that some Virgin flights depart from T4.

What about Virgin’s promised T3 Premium Entry?

Interestingly, many of these changes – including the inter-terminal walkway and the relocation of T3 security to T4 – were first announced in December 2017 in partnership with Virgin Australia, with work scheduled to begin in 2018 for completion by 2020.

However, those plans included a “kerbside Premium Entry for Virgin Australia’s Business Class guests and Platinum and Gold Velocity frequent flyers, including dedicated check-in, bag drop and security screening features and direct access to the Virgin Australia Lounge.”

The original plan for T3 included private security screening and direct lounge access for Virgin Australia's premium passengers.

The original plan for T3 included private security screening and direct lounge access for Virgin Australia’s premium passengers.

This would replicate the kerbside Premium Entry facilities at Virgin’s Sydney and Brisbane domestic terminals, although both of those remain closed at the time of writing.

Contacted for comment, a Virgin Australia Group spokesman told executive traveler “Our plans to deliver a Premium Entry at Melbourne Airport remain under review amid the global pandemic.”

“We are committed to working with airports to deliver the world-class Virgin Australia guest experience and we welcome Melbourne Airport’s investment in the Terminal 3 transformation.”

Additional reporting by Chris Ashton.

David

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveler and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

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Elon Musk sells Tesla shares worth $9.8 billion, cites chance of forced Twitter deal

Elon Musk stands in front of one of his Tesla cars as speaks and gestures to an audience

Tesla boss Elon Musk has sold US$6.9 billion ($9.8 billion) worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses a legal battle with the social media platform.

“In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” he said in a tweet late on Tuesday.

Shares of the microblogging site rose 3.5 per cent to $44.35 in pre-market trading, but were still trading significantly below Mr Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.

Tesla shares were up 1.6 per cent at $863.1.

Mr Musk in early July tore up his April 25 agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

Twitter has sued Mr Musk to force him to complete the transaction, dismissing his claim that he was misled about the number of spam accounts on the social media platform as buyer’s remorse, in the wake of a plunge in technology stocks.

The two sides head to trial on October 17.

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Following the announcement of the share sale on Tuesday, Mr Musk took to Twitter and said “yes” when asked if he was done selling Tesla stock, adding he would buy it again if the Twitter deal does not close.

“The removal of the ‘fire sale’ risk, the fact Musk has already raised cash in case of a Twitter decision going against him and the comment that he’ll buy back stock if Twitter deal gets dropped all builds into a positive bias for Tesla ,” said Mark Taylor, sales trader at Mirabaud Securities.

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Australian chocolatiers ditch cocoa’s murky colonial history in favor of new trade routes

chocolate aisle

When you stand in the confectionery isolate, how do you choose a block of chocolate? Is it decided by your taste buds? Or maybe your wallet?

The reality is that few of us consider the farm the cocoa was grown on.

If you do, your mind might reach for hazy images of western Africa’s Ivory Coast.

Yan Diczbalis, chief horticulturalist of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, says the region supplies more than half of the global cocoa commodity market.

It is a market that feeds the likes of Nestle, Hershey and Mondelez International, which produces the Cadbury brand.

But it is an old market, one long muddied by allegations of child labour, slavery and underpayment of the farmers who grow the beans.

“A lot of the pre-existing chocolate trading houses are out of Europe and have been around for 100, 200 years, which have grown out of this colonial commodity trade,” Dejan Borisavljevic, owner of Indonesian-based trading company Biji Kakao Trading, said.

“It’s an incredibly old trade route, and of course it’s had lots of issues with transparency.”

Almost all the chocolate on supermarket shelves is sourced in bulk from this commodity market — and when you are talking about the trade of over 4.5 million tonnes of cocoa, it can be difficult to trace a bean’s origin any further than the continent it was grown on .

For consumers, this makes it almost impossible to guarantee that any of your dollars make it to the farmer.

“I suppose [payments for cocoa are] beyond the remit of ours — all we know is we can’t influence the commodity market at all,” Mr Diczbalis said.

Cocoa farmers growing for the commodity market rely on corporate morality and schemes like Fairtrade to ensure growers are being justly paid for their product.

Mr Diczbalis says it is a system that lacks accountability.

Mulch around the cocoa beans
The cocoa beans grow inside a “mulch”, which is removed before roasting.(Courtesy: Igor Van Gerwen)

A modern take on the historic cocoa trade

While container upon container of cocoa beans is unloaded onto the ports of Amsterdam and Hamburg another, albeit smaller, market is emerging.

Between the tall, corrugated iron sheds that line Toowoomba’s industrial area sits a small, unimposing building — one that you are likely to smell before you see.

That aroma comes from a factory owned by a pair of Swedish chocolatiers who make Australian chocolate using cocoa beans sourced from the Solomon Islands and Indonesia.

Trevor Smith
Trevor Smith at his Toowoomba chocolate factory only sources cocoa from farms in the Solomon Islands and Indonesia.(Rural ABC: Alys Marshall)

When Magda and Trevor Smith moved from Sweden to Australia, they wanted to continue their chocolate-making, but quickly realized that they would prefer a new trade route.

“Europe has an established cocoa industry, that spice trade has been going on for many hundreds of years,” Mr Smith, co-owner of Metiisto Chocolate, said.

“It makes sourcing cocoa [from Europe] really easy, but what it does is distance you from the actual farms.”

“You can’t check where your cocoa is coming from; you’ve got too many people in between you and the cocoa farmers.”

Instead of buying from the global commodity market, the Smiths buy their chocolate direct from Pacific farmers.

Those farmers include the likes of Robert Waisu, who has been growing cocoa in the Solomon Islands for the past 35 years.

Robert Waisu
Robert Waisu harvesting cocoa pods in the Solomon Islands.(Supplied: Robert Waisu)

An opportunity for Pacific cocoa growers

Mr Waisu sells his cocoa direct to “bean to bar” chocolatiers like the Smiths of Toowoomba.

“I’m selling my cocoa as premium cocoa that’s sun-dried at an attractive premium price,” Mr Waisu said.

“The domestic market pays us here 12 [Solomon Islands] dollars per kilogram of dry beans; they [the specialty buyers] pay us more like 50 per cent on top of this.”

He and other Solomon Islands cocoa farmers are proud of their cocoa’s quality, something he says the rest of the world is yet to recognize.

“Other people, globally, they don’t really know what’s going on here. But myself, I am really proud; we are really proud,” he said.

cocoa bean
Cocoa bean samples displaying the farm’s origins.(Rural ABC: Alys Marshall)

Chocolatiers like the Smiths are working to provide this recognition, labeling each of their bars with the name of the locality the cocoa was grown in.

Heather Smyth, a flavor chemist at the University of Queensland, describes it as something of an emerging market.

“For big companies in the likes of Cadbury, they’re really looking for a very consistent cocoa flavor that matches the flavor that they had before and the year before that and the year before that,” Dr Smyth said.

“SW [major corporations] will actually source cocoa from a whole lot of different regions to come up with a flavor profile which is recognizable to their customers.”

Heather Smyth
Heather Smyth believes there are growing opportunities to market cocoa by region. (Supplied: University of Queensland)

“But just as we recognize that wine and coffee have diverse flavor types, we need to recognize that with cocoa as well.”

“Within different regions there can be spicy notes, there’s often fruity notes that are present, even citrus notes, then of course your typical chocolate and coffee flavours.”

“It allows the community to receive payment for their specialty beans and for the quality of cocoa that they produce.”

legitimate transparency

While work is being done to reform the traditional cocoa trade system, Mr Diczbalis says that these emerging “bean to bar” trade routes are a good alternative for consumers looking for a transparent supply chain.

“All that sort of plantation cropping — for want of a better term — was sort of instigated during the colonial era,” Mr Diczbalis said.

“We can’t go back and change the way that it was. But what we can do is work with producers currently to improve their outlook.”

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Price of packaged beer set to rise as brewers pass on higher production costs

Pouring a pint of beer on tap at the pub

Brewers have warned that packaged beverages will become more expensive and could increase by a larger margin that pints at the pub.

Independent and larger-scale brewing companies across Australia are feeling the pressure of a recent increase in excise tax, as well as a spike in aluminum and ingredient prices.

Wilson Brewing Co founder Matt Wilson said brewers had tried to keep prices as low as possible, but it was inevitable they would rise.

“You’re not only going to see an increase in pint prices at the pub, you’re actually going to see a larger increase of packaged product that you would purchase and take home to drink,” he said.

Excise tax strain

The alcohol excise tax increases every six months, and the most recent hike of 3.84 per cent for full-strength beer was the largest in 20 years.

Mr Wilson said brewing costs had ballooned by about 60 per cent over the past two decades, and that flowed on to consumers.

“You might see a $5 to $10 raise in carton prices coming up around Christmas time or even before,” he said.

“The unfortunate thing about excise taxes, it never goes backwards.”

Man behind bar at the pub with a beer
Mr Wilson says carton prices could rise by up to $10 by around Christmas time.(ABC Great Southern: Sophie Johnson)

Everything is going up

There are multiple inputs that go into crafting and brewing beer, all of which have inflated.

Mr Wilson said aluminium, used to package cans of beer, was rising in cost.

“Grain, barley especially, is the highest spec of barley of grain that a farmer can grow to … so their direct energy input costs is directly reflected on the price that they’ve charged for their grain,” Mr Wilson said.

“grain [is probably] our third biggest input.”

Bird's eye view of header harvesting a paddock of barley
The cost of barley production is affecting the ingredient price for brewers.(ABC Great Southern: Tom Edwards)

GrainGrowers chief executive David McKeon said Australian barley prices were trading above historical averages.

“Right across Australia, we’re looking at bids anywhere into the low to mid three hundreds for for barley [dollars per tonne] … it’s a fairly strong price,” he said.

He said it was important to not only consider the raw price of barley going into an end product.

“We are seeing a lot of other factors influencing a lot of our processors, manufacturers and retailers … some of those [being] challenges around supply chains, freight costs, labor costs, and energy costs,” Mr McKeon said.

Resource analyst Tim Treadgold said aluminium, a popular material choice for packaging, was an expensive item to produce due to the amount of energy it required.

“In order to get the can through the plant onto a truck off to the bottling or packaging depot … the trucks that haul up there are running on liquid fuels, which are also expensive,” he said.

“The energy input into the whole process has gone up substantially in all facets of production.”

Taps of beer at a bar
Packaging takes up more than 20 per cent of Mr Wilson’s input costs.(ABC Great Southern: Sophie Johnson)

Worse than COVID-19

Independent Brewers Association chief executive Kylie Lethbridge said she had concerns for the industry.

“We fared … relatively well out of the last two years of the pandemic, but by no means are we in recovery mode, in fact, some feel that this is more of a challenge,” she said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

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Why is everything so expensive?

She said skill shortages, material shortages and challenges such as freight costs would be applicable to any business in the country.

“If those waves keep hitting, then there is only so much a business can stand, and sadly, that may mean we lose… some independent breweries around the country.”

“The challenge … for the consumer is that the price of beer will rise, whether you drink it in the pub from a tap, or whether … you pick it up from the bottle shop,” she said.

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Skoda Karoq 1.0 TSI SE Drive 2022 UK review review

Skoda Karoq 1.0 TSI SE Drive 2022 UK review review

This is Skoda delivering big with so many of its trusty ‘simply clever’ practicality features, for a fairly small price – and when you take them all in, you can’t help but wonder why every car isn’t so perfectly designed for life .

The Karoq’s driving environment is pretty simple and easy to interact with. It’s presented with only a sparing amount of style or material flourish, but there’s enough to catch the eye and to give the car the odd bit of visual intrigue in places. You sit medium high in a medium-sized but comfortable, fairly adjustable front seat, in front of supremely readable analogue instruments, and with chunky, physical secondary controls for the air conditioning, door locks and parking sensors on the lower center stack.

The standard-fit Amundsen infotainment system is well presented and easy to navigate and it offers wireless smartphone mirroring for Apple and Android handsets, too. You can use the left-spoke steering wheel cursor controls to interact with it if you don’t like a touchscreen interface. Alternatively you can use natural-speech voice control although be warned: the system’s standard wake-up command is ‘Okay Laura’, which could make for frustrating journeys if you’ve already got one of those in your family.

On standard 17in wheels and fitted with that 109bhp three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, the Karoq does refined, laid-back, cost-efficient family motoring very well. You can have one with sportier variable-ratio steering and adaptive dampers if you want, but you’ll need neither to end up with a car that has a supple and isolated ride, mature, predictable and easily manageable handling, creditable real-world economy , and decent performance and drivability.

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Giant offshore wind turbines flagged for NSW and Victoria

Giant offshore wind turbines flagged for NSW and Victoria

Larger turbines generate energy more cheaply too, says Andy Evans, who was the co-founder and chief executive of Star of the South and who is now leading another offshore wind farm company, OceanEx.

A single 14-megawatt wind turbine of the sort now being built needs just a single connection to a substation and less maintenance than two 7-megawatt turbines that were typical just a few years ago. Maintenance at sea with crews ferried by boat or helicopter is expensive.

Evans confirmed that the project OceanEx is championing for 20 kilometers off the coast in the Hunter region will be visible from shore on clear days, while the turbines proposed for the Illawarra could be slightly closer.

Despite this, the industry has broadly maintained community support. Friends of the Earth spokesperson Cam Walker said given the NSW proposals were fairly new, it was difficult to gauge opinion.

“We think there is wide support for the jobs that would come with the development of an offshore industry near cities like Newcastle and Wollongong, which have traditionally relied heavily on fossil fuels for employment and economic activity,” he said. “In Gippsland, we feel that there is solid support for the Star of the South project, which is the only one that has so far advanced in the planning process.”

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the community welcomed energy sources that weren’t driven by fossil fuels and the proposed projects would bring significant economic benefits to the community. He added there had been some opposition within the community about the visual pollution, impact on shipping lanes and whale migrations. These will be addressed as the projects develop.

“At the same time, I think in light of [the] climate change we are experiencing – and its impact on the Illawarra and NSW coastline – I think everyone is on the same page that anything that mitigates carbon emissions [is good],” he said.

For its part, a NSW Department of Planning and Energy spokesperson said the offshore wind industry had the potential to play a significant role in achieving net-zero by 2050.

The Newcastle council has issued a mayoral minute backing the Hunter proposal.

Why not just build them on land?

Despite the extra cost of building and maintenance, there are key advantages to harvesting wind at sea – even in countries like Australia that, unlike wind-power hotspots off the coasts of Europe, have land to spare.

Giant wind turbines could be installed offshore from popular coastal spots in NSW and Victoria.

Giant wind turbines could be installed offshore from popular coastal spots in NSW and Victoria.Credit:Getty Images

Wind over water is more consistent than that found on land, explains Associate Professor at ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy Llewelyn Hughes, who specializes in energy transition.

Further, wind is stronger over water at night and over land during the day. As a result, offshore wind farms perfectly complement the spread of land-based solar and wind in Australia’s energy mix.

But there are historical, political, geographical and even geological factors that make some sites preferable to others.

Wind is stronger and more consistent in Australia’s south-east and, in this part of the country, rich coal seams are found along the coast. As a result when the nation industrialized, coal and power industries coalesced where these seams and deepwater ports could be found together – places like Gippsland, Newcastle and Port Kembla.

Where once the steep undersea drop-off would have precluded building large wind farms at a reasonable distance from shore, new technology allows for turbines to be floated and moored to the sea floor.

The east coast’s power system was built to suck electricity from power stations near these ports and distribute it. These regions evolved into centers of steel making and manufacturing.

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Today, as the transition from coal gathers pace, these same regions are starved of new industry and jobs, which offshore wind farms provide; and they offer ports and skilled workforces that the wind industry desperately needs.

The Climate Council expects the industry to need 8,000 workers a year from 2030.

Their power stations are already connected to the grid, saving hundreds of millions that would otherwise have to be spent on new transmission infrastructure.

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said the drawcard of offshore wind is that it adds greater geographical and technological diversity to the energy market. He said Australia had been slower than other countries to take up offshore wind, but its renewable energy sector had come leaps and bounds in the past ten years.

Buckley added there were a few key reasons why offshore wind projects had been delayed in Australia, including the huge capital investment needed to get the projects up – often two or three times the cost of building an onshore wind farm and ensuring supply chains are prepared.

I have added another major setback had been the former Liberal government’s attitude towards renewables. “We’ve had chaotic energy policy, there has been total inconsistency between state and federal [governments],” he said, “We now have a situation where there is a level of ambition. I would expect a significant unlocking of private investment capital – much of which has been scared off by the lack of consistent policy until now.”

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While the offshore wind farms provide greater energy diversity and security, he added they would make up a portion of the renewable energy push that would be needed if Australia had any hope of reducing its emissions.

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Jerry Hall asks judges to cancel divorce petition against Rupert Murdoch – reports | Jerry Hall

Jerry Hall has reportedly asked judges to cancel the divorce petition she filed five weeks ago against Rupert Murdoch.

The notice was filed at the Los Angeles superior court by the former model’s California lawyer, Ronald Brot.

The document states the divorce should be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that it can be revived, according to the Daily Mail.

It is unclear why Hall, 66, filed the dismissal or whether the couple had agreed to settle out of court.

Murdoch, 91, is understood to have had 30 days to respond to the petition, a date which had passed by the time Hall filed her request for dismissal.

In June, it emerged that the couple were to separate after six years of marriage.

Last month, it was reported that Murdoch was served the divorce papers at RAF Brize Norton after he attended his granddaughter’s wedding nearby.

The couple had a civil ceremony before a celebration at St Bride’s church on Fleet Street, the historical center of the British newspaper industry.

In 2019, they spent £11.25m on a house near Henley-on-Thames. Last year, they celebrated Murdoch’s 90th birthday together in New York, at the Tavern on the Green.

The Australian-born Murdoch was married three times previously. Hall married Mick Jagger in 1990 but the union was annulled nine years later.

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US inflation cools after 41-year high, Wall Street rallies, Australian dollar surges

US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell walks with a clipboard in behind an American flag.

US consumer inflation has eased thanks to a sharp fall in the cost of oil, sending US stocks higher.

The Consumer Price Index was flat in July after rising by 1.3 per cent in June, when prices reached an annual rate of 9.1 per cent — the highest in 41 years.

The US Labor Department said over the year to July, prices rose at the slower pace of 8.5 per cent, better than expected by economists.

The data is the first notable sign of relief for Americans who have watched inflation steadily climb over the past two years.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, is considering whether to make another large interest rate increase of 0.75 per cent in September, after a string of rate rises this year.

July’s slowdown in monthly inflation was the largest since 1973 and followed on the heels of petroleum prices falling by around one-fifth since mid-June.

Prices at the pump spiked in the first half of the year because of the war in Ukraine and reached a record high of more than $US5 a gallon in mid-June.

Gasoline prices fell 7.7 per cent in July, but food prices remained elevated, climbing by 1.1 per cent.

However, prices are still rising at levels not seen since the high-inflation era of the 1970s and early 1980s.

The core consumer price index, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.3 per cent in July from June, and 5.9 per cent from a year earlier.

US consumer prices have surged for a variety of reasons including the global supply-chain squeeze, massive government stimulus from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Chicago Federal Reserve president Charles Evans said the inflation reading was the first “positive” one since the central bank began raising interest rates earlier this year.

But he said inflation was still “unacceptably” high and the Fed would continue to need to raise rates likely to between 3.25 per cent and 3.5 per cent this year, and to between 3.75 per cent and 4 per cent by the end of next year.

“This is not yet the meaningful decline in inflation the Fed is looking for,” Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said.

“But it’s a start and we expect to see broader signs of easing price pressures over the next few months.”

US stocks surge

Equity markets rallied after the US inflation report came out, with investors betting the Federal Reserve might raise official interest rates by 0.5 percentage points instead of 0.75 percentage points next month.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 surged more than 2 per cent.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 per cent to 33,310, the S&P 500 rose 2.1 per cent to 4,210, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.9 per cent to 12,855.

All 11 sectors on the S&P 500 gained, led by miners, consumer staples and technology stocks.

The US inflation data calmed nerves in Europe.

The FTSE 100 index in London rose 0.25 per cent to 7,507, the DAX in Germany rose 1.2 per cent to 13,701, and the CAC 40 in France rose 0.6 per cent to 4,954.

The Australian share market is expected to open higher.

At 7:20am AEST, the ASX SPI 200 index was up 1 per cent to 6,950.

The Australian dollar jumped 1.6 per cent as the greenback fell. It reached an overnight high of 71.09 US cents.

At 7:20am AEST, the local currency was trading at 70.77 US cents.

Brent crude oil rose 0.8 per cent to $US97.11 a barrel, while spot gold fell 0.1 per cent to $US1791.39 an ounce.

ABC/Reuters

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I’m on a higher income bracket – is it super worth it if I pay more tax?

I'm on a higher income bracket – is it super worth it if I pay more tax?

When it comes to what is described as a tax-concessional super contribution, there is a base rate of 15 per cent tax that applies to the annual cap of $27,500, says Fry.

Instead of paying this base tax of $4,125 on a one-year $27,500 super contribution entitlement, which will reduce the contribution to $23,375, a potential extra $4,125 in tax could reduce this further to $19,250.

That’s not to say this will automatically happen if your taxable income exceeds $250,000 and you contribute $27,500 to super.

To determine how much extra tax, you might be up for requires you to be aware of the rules that apply to Division 293 tax.

These rules require you to add your super contributions to your taxable income to create what is described as an adjusted taxable income, on which you then pay 15 per cent tax on the amount greater than $250,000.

For example, say your taxable income (including your capital gain) is $240,000 and you contribute $27,500 to super, your total adjusted taxable income will be $267,500 – $17,500 greater than $250,000.

This will make you liable for extra tax of 15 per cent on $17,500, or $2625.

To be up for the maximum Division 293 tax, you will need income that is well above $250,000. Say you earned $300,000 and contributed $27,500 to your super, your total adjusted income will be $327,500, which is well over $250,000. This will make you liable for an extra 15 per cent on your entire $27,500 concessional contribution – or another $4125 – reducing your super contribution to $19,250

Regarding your question whether this extra tax makes a super contribution worthwhile, says Fry, if you didn’t make a super contribution, the full tax payable on $27,500 at the highest personal tax rate would be $12,925.

So, making a tax-concessional contribution to super will result in an overall saving of $4,675 after the extra 15 per cent tax has been deducted. That is an important attraction offered by super.

Regarding your profit on the property investment, says Fry, it will need to be a substantial gain to push you into Division 293 tax given you will only be paying tax on half the capital gain after the cost base has been deducted.

So if your taxable capital gain pushes your income well above $250,000, you will still be nearly $5,000 better off making a super contribution, says Fry.

Regarding your wish to help your children, taking full advantage of your super opportunities might involve maximizing the super you transfer to the pension phase ($1.7 million) where investment earnings and withdrawals are tax-free.

Once you can access your super, this leads to the second part of your question regarding death benefits being paid to your adult children and the tax an adult child may be liable for.

Where super is paid as a death benefit to an adult child who is not a financial dependent of their parent with super, tax of 17 per cent (15 per cent plus 2 per cent Medicare) can apply to the taxable component – ​​the super sourced from investment earnings and tax-concessional contributions.

But if the payment is made through an estate, the Medicare levy will not apply, meaning only a 15 per cent tax rate.

That said, no tax will apply if the super is withdrawn in your lifetime as this will be tax-free and can form part of an estate, if not spent, and therefore also be tax-free to any beneficiaries.

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Heading to Iceland? It may be cheaper to park your plane than your car – report

Heading to Iceland? It may be cheaper to park your plane than your car – report

Parking your own plane costs less than parking a car… but it’s still quite expensive for both!

James Ward
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Budgeting for a trip to the land of fire and ice, and tossing up between taking the private jet or renting a Dacia from Hertz?

In a strange ‘who actually thought to check this’ story, the Icelandic publication Fréttablaðið.is reports it is cheaper to park your personal aircraft than it is to park a car in downtown Reykjavík.

Spending five days on the ground in Iceland, flying a five-seater private jet like an Embraer Phenom 100E will set you back ground fees of ISK35,485 ($AU375).

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The fees are based on the aircraft’s weight (the small Phenom has a maximum take-off weight, or MTOW, of 4750kg).

For those running the numbers, you start with a landing fee, which the main Reykjavík airport charges at ISK1330 per tonne ($AU14) to the nearest whole tonne.

Smaller airports are even cheaper, at ISK660 per tonne ($AU7.00). That means our Phenom gets calculated at 5000kg.

Each passenger pays ISK1600 to disembark ($AU17) and then you pay ISK1545 per tonne ($AU16) for the first 24 hours (although the first six hours are free), the same again for the next 24 hours, and then ISK945 ($ AU10) for every 24-hour period after that.

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For five days, with landing fees, you get to the ISK35,485 figure quoted by the publication.

At a parking garage in the center of Reykjavík city, the parking fees are calculated at ISK440 per hour ($AU4.70) between 8.00am and 8.00pm, and then an additional ISK210 per hour ($AU2.20) overnight.

At ISK7800 per 24-hour period ($AU82) for five days, the fee comes to ISK39,000 ($AU411) to park your car.

By Australian standards, that’s quite expensive.

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We did a quick scan of five-day parking in both Melbourne and Sydney CBD, and the most expensive we could find was $211 for five days at the Wilson Parking on Harrington Street in Sydney.

Even at Melbourne Airport – which isn’t known for cheap parking – five days of valet caps out at $236.

Now, we’re sure you could find a cheaper car hole to ditch the Dacia rental car for a week, and given larger plans like a Dassault Falcon 900 have maximum take-off weights of more than 20,000kg, the aircraft parking fees can get really pricey, really quickly.

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However, any hard-working jet wouldn’t be on the ground longer than the initial ‘free’ six hours to get the meter started, let alone ticking for five days anyway.

But in a world where the cost of parking is just another pressure point on the ever-growing list of living expenses, it’s good to know that there are pinches at every point of the economic scale.

Our advice would be to avoid both, by flying commercial and only renting a car for when you’re driving it – but you do you.

James Ward

James has been part of the digital publishing landscape in Australia since 2002 and has worked within the automotive industry since 2007. He joined CarAdvice in 2013, left in 2017 to work with BMW and then returned at the end of 2019 to spearhead the content direction of Drive.

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