In Watsons Bay, a doer-upper on the beachfront sold for $27 million in November, while an original-condition four-bedroom house around the corner sold for $12.38 million.
A three-bedroom waterfront home in Birchgrove, with a private jetty, sold for $8,115,000 in April. The four-bedroom terrace across the street on a slightly smaller block sold for $3.9 million.
A three-bedroom waterfront home on Birchgrove’s Wharf Road, with a private jetty, sold for $8,115,000. A three-bedroom home across the street sold for $3.9 million.Credit:
Buyer’s agent Simon Cohen, chief executive of Cohen Handler, said waterfront homes in the eastern suburbs could be at least twice the price of non-waterfront properties on the same street.
“On Wolseley Road [in Point Piper]The Crescent, Coolong Road and Fitzwilliam Road [in Vaucluse]you definitely see a doubling of the prices … on The Crescent it could be three or four times higher to get something on the waterfront,” he said.
Tightly held harbor homes, particularly those with deep waterfront jetties, were the most desirable, Cohen said, and interest mostly came from locals looking to upgrade. Demand was holding up in the cooling market, but there were a few waterfronts “hanging around”.
A waterfront five-bedroom house in Point Piper, on Wolseley Road, sold for $45 million earlier this year.
A non-waterfront home on Wolseley Road sold for $15.01 million in 2021.Credit:
“I think they’re probably hard to sell because they may have some warts on them, but the good stuff will sell very quickly.”
Most in the eastern suburbs were undeterred by the threat of rising sea levels, he said, but buyers were more wary when looking at beachfront homes in areas such as the Central Coast.
Nigel Mukhi, of Di Jones Neutral Bay, has noticed an influx of buyers shopping for waterfront homes, but properties were in short supply.
“Convincing people to sell them is hard. Buyers understand a lot of these properties are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s a matter of getting something, not how much they pay.”
Homes on the waterfront side of Elamang Avenue and Kirribilli Avenue in Kirribilli, and Bay View Street in McMahons Point, could fetch at least twice the price of similar homes on the high side of the street, I have noted.
Waterfront apartments were also in strong demand. Units with views of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House commanded the greatest premiums, and were particularly popular with overseas buyers.
“They all have a water view, but if it’s a view of the icons, that can easily add $1 million-plus [to the price of an apartment],” he said.
Danny Cobden, of Cobden Hayson, said premium properties in Balmain and Birchgrove had outperformed other price points.
A waterfront home in Cronulla sold for $7.4 million last year, while the home across the street sold for $4.65 million.Credit:
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I have noted a waterfront Louisa Road home with a mooring and Harbor Bridge views recently sold for $9.75 million, up about 60 per cent from its 2018 sale price. Other properties in the area had seen price lift of 30 to 40 per cent over that time.
While waterfront homes were more valuable, the premiums were smaller when comparing them with non-waterfront homes on desirable streets. However, they could be more than twice the price of equivalent homes in other parts of the suburb.
Beyond this, all drivers must consider what level of optional insurance they want to cover the damage bill for any vehicles or property involved.
Given the regularity of road accidents, it is definitely worth having at least some level of coverage to protect against the nightmare scenario that you collide with a Porsche. If you don’t have insurance, you’ll be responsible for paying the entire Porsche damage bill out of your own pocket. ouch!
There are three main choices for optional car insurance coverage.
The most minimal is called a third-party property damage (TPPD) policy, which pays the damage bill of the Porche (or any other car you hit), but not any damage to your own vehicle, either by theft, fire, or an accident that you cause (remember, if you’re not at-fault, the other driver will be responsible for paying your damage bill).
One step up from this is a third-party fire and theft (TPFT) policy, which covers you for the Porche you hit, plus damage or loss to your car from theft or fire.
The top-level coverage is called comprehensive insurance and covers you for the Porsche plus all damage to your car, including damage you cause (although exclusions apply, so you have to read the fine print). This type of insurance can also help you avoid the hassle of chasing payments if you are hit by an uninsured driver (your insurer will chase them for you).
Comprehensive is the most expensive. Indeed, I ran a quote this week and downgrading my coverage to TPFT would reduce my annual premium to $351 a year, and reducing it to TPPD would shave it to $272.
For cheaper and older cars, you may want to consider one of the lower levels of coverage, particularly if you felt confident you’d have the savings needed to repair or replace your car if it is damaged. Entirely up to you.
Agreed or market value?
If you opt for comprehensive cover, you can consider an agreed-value policy or a market-value policy.
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Agreeing to accept a pre-determined dollar amount to be paid if your car is totaled – rather than having your payout calculated at the prevailing second-hand market rate of your car – can substantially reduce your premiums.
I have my coverage set to the lowest agreed value allowable for my car, at $11,250. It wouldn’t be enough to buy my car back, but I figure it’s enough to buy a set of wheels, should the worst occur.
Up your excess
I also have my policy set to the highest allowable excess – that’s the dollar amount you agree to pay out of pocket if a claim is made. This reduces your upfront premiums. My excess is set to $2000.
shop around
Former competition tzar Allan Fels conducted an inquiry which found insurers, despite their claims, charge a so-called “loyalty penalty” to longstanding customers.
Premiums are set low in the first year or two, and then inflate to higher rates than those offered to new customers. Sneaky.
So, shop around on websites such as Finder, Canstar, Compare The Market and RateCity. And if you do call your existing insurer and ask for a better deal, make sure they provide a quote to you as a new customer, not as a modification to your existing policy.
Calculate your kilometers
Premiums are generally lower the less you drive your car. Some insurers even charge a low annual base premium plus a per-kilometer rate throughout the year, which could work out well for infrequent drivers or second cars. Check comparison sites to find these deals.
Restrict driver ages
Some insurers also offer cheaper premium policies if you agree to only let people of a certain age, such as 40-plus, drive your car. Sorry, kids.
Beware add-ons
Consider your own individual needs, but I dropped my windscreen cover when I found out I could get it cheaper by opting for a slightly higher tier of roadside assist membership.
Last week the Reserve Bank of Australia announced a year-long research project with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center to explore “use cases” for a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Here is what’s going on.
What is a CBDC and how is it different from cryptocurrency?
Banknotes are a physical form of money we exchange for goods and services. And we’re increasingly making digital transactions, whether tapping credit cards or smartphones. ATM use is down about a third in three years, the RBA says.
Now, the RBA and counterparts around the world are studying new digital forms of money that central banks themselves might issue. Research will examine uses of CBDC for commercial banks – the wholesale market – and a retail version the public may one day use.
Cryptocurrencies, by contrast, are decentralized, unlike “fiat currencies” produced and regulated by governments. Bitcoin and ethereum are among prominent digital currencies relying on cryptography to secure transactions.
To curb price volatility of cryptos, stablecoins have been created to mimic “fiat currencies” by anchoring value to assets such as the US dollar. The failure of TerraUSD and other stablecoins reflects the sector’s infancy. CBDCs might fill the gap.
“A fully realized central bank digital currency has the promise to bring the regulatory certainty and power of digital assets to a place that’s coupled with the trust and faith that we have in money that’s issued by the Reserve Bank today,” said Michael Bacina, a partner at Piper Alderman and a fintech specialist.
Why is the RBA getting involved?
Partly exploratory. “I don’t think it’s inevitable” that the bank will issue CBDCs, says the RBA deputy governor, Michele Bullock.
“In terms of day-to-day payments that touch you and [me] and our friends and family, it’s not clear to us what the case for it is,” she says. “We have banknotes. We have lots and lots of digital money alternatives [including] fast payment now.
“I think we just need to keep our toes in it, and not be at the bleeding forefront.”
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The focus will be less on the technology itself but rather settling on design principles of how decentralized such currencies might be, while maintaining standards of protecting privacy that the public can accept.
“Do you put limits on the amount of money people can have in this? Does the central bank issue it directly, or [as] we do with banknotes issue CBDCs via existing banks,” Bullock says. “I don’t think anyone’s come to a complete consensus.”
Is there an appetite?
If an Australian Securities and Investments Commission report on investor behavior released on Thursday is any guide, the market for digital currencies is growing rapidly.
Its survey of 1,053 investors found that cryptocurrencies were second only to Australian shares in terms of most common asset held, at 73% and 44%.
In terms of the value of the holdings, cryptos were also on a par with residential investment properties.
An ASIC survey of 1053 retail investors found their holdings of cryptocurrencies were on a par with resident housing investments, with only their holdings of Australian shares larger. pic.twitter.com/uF7e4iJtgk
Andreas Furche, the chief executive of the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, notes the RBA’s ongoing caution.
“It’s not something that’s a done deal,” Furche says. “It’s not clear yet whether from the RBA perspective this is going to fit or be useful or not.”
The trial will be “ring-fenced” with only registered parties taking part. It will, though, be open in another sense: “We don’t have a preconceived outcome.
“Those of us who build or discuss or provide infrastructure aren’t necessarily the innovators that build new kinds of market infrastructure, business models or whatever on that infrastructure,” Furche says. “If we just make that assessment based on what we can think of ourselves, we’re not going to get anywhere.”
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He says the rise of stablecoins indicates there’s an opportunity to meet people’s interest in digital currencies without the exposure to as much volatility.
“Despite the name, [stablecoins] are often still fraught with risk because they’re not necessarily backed 100%,” he says. CBDCs, based on a national currency, are an “ultimate stablecoin”.
What do market participants say?
Chloe White, an independent consultant and formerly Treasury’s representative on the Council of Financial Regulators examining cryptos, says blockchain and the ecosystems that are building around it will continue to function and grow whether governments issue CBDCs or not.
“What we see happening in cryptocurrency markets at the moment very much mirrors what we see in the traditional system,” White says. “You have a so-called real economy where people are transacting goods … and then you have a financial layer wrapped around” with derivatives, insurance and so on.
There may even be national security reasons for having CBDCs and not missing out on emerging technologies and new ways of doing business.
“China, in particular, seems quite determined to want to leverage this technology in some way,” she says. “And there’s barely a corner of the world that you can point at that has influence and economic power that’s not looking at these issues in some way.”
Bacina says the fintech world is evolving faster than the internet at its genesis. “It’s the same as we could not predict Netflix and we could not predict Amazon’s next-day delivery when the internet was being invented and rolled out.
“There are no wires to be put down, and that physical infrastructure to be connected – it’s already there.
“We’re talking about the ability to automate things like bank guarantees, and other slow, manual processes which currently drive up compliance costs.”
As for who might benefit from the RBA and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center study, Bacina says participants may learn as much as the institutions.
“It’s a six- or seven-way street,” he says. Interest will focus on “deep analysis of systems contracts, regulatory interfaces – that kind of analysis doesn’t occur very often”.
Gavin Carfax-Foster, a former executive chef at Dedes Waterfront Group where he oversaw menus at venues including Deckhouse, Watergrill and View by Sydney, is dishing up hundreds of ready meals each week since the launch in June of Westbourne Lane.
The former executive chef at Dedes Waterfront Group, Carfax-Foster was responsible for the menus at venues including Deckhouse, Watergrill and View by Sydney.
The business is rolling out home delivery to the inner west with plans to expand across Sydney, catering to busy parents and professionals who want restaurant-quality food they can eat at home.
“Many of us are working longer hours and have less time to prepare meals,” he said. “Also working parents who are time poor. Our meals take the stress out of planning and cooking.”
His ready meals for two to four people include slow-cooked meats, Sri Lankan fish curries and classics such as shepherd’s pie, pork and fennel meatballs and pasta bakes.
“We specialize in really simple but classic food that people want to eat every day,” he said.
Australian ready meals manufacturer Beak & Johnston supplies more than a million meals each week under brands such as Simmone Logue, Strength Meals Co, Latina and Pasta Master.
The company’s chief commercial officer Shannon O’Connell said high protein and nutritionally balanced meals, including vegan and plant-based, were driving growth.
“Household penetration is at record levels, yet consumers still only buy into the category once in six weeks, demonstrating the ongoing opportunity that exists to continue growth,” she said. “Over the recent COVID-19 lockdowns there was a shift in demand for family-sized meals, specifically those that are more difficult or time-consuming to make from scratch such as a quiche, pie or lasagne.”
My Muscle Chef distributes more than half a million ready high-protein meals each week, according to the company’s chief executive Tushar Menon.
“While we still cater to a range of young people looking to refuel after their workouts, our customer profile has shifted significantly in recent years with more working professionals and young families buying My Muscle Chef,” he said.
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Patrick Kelleher, who runs a commercial property business in Manly, eats My Muscle Chef ready meals each week, usually opting for meat-based dishes while his wife and four children prefer pasta recipes.
“Family life and work life fill up the week and weekends so less time spent sourcing, preparing and cooking food the better,” he said.
Kelleher said the brand’s ready meals were “quick, healthy, filling and very convenient”.
“I have tried and tested many but a number fell short on criteria, mainly taste and variety,” he said.
Menon said customers wanted ready meals that were convenient and helped them achieve health goals such as weight loss, calorie control and muscle gain.
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“Programs like master chef have opened people’s eyes to cuisines from other cultures, different cooking techniques, and ingredients that wouldn’t traditionally have been part of the weekly shop or found on restaurant menus,” he said.
Coles’ brands of ready meals include Coles Kitchen, the plant-based Natures Kitchen, premium label Coles Finest and Coles Perform, a range of high-protein ready meals.
A Coles spokeswoman said shoppers purchased ready meals as a “midweek solution to feed the family” or as an affordable alternative to cooking from scratch, minimizing food waste and managing different dietary requirements and taste preferences.
“We know people are leading busy lives and are seeking a convenient meal solutions that give them time back, without compromising on taste or nutrition,” she said.
Butter chicken, spaghetti bolognese, lasagne and cottage pie are the most popular ready meals sold by Woolworths, but the supermarket giant is set to expand its range to include international cuisine.
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Woolworths Food Company managing director Guy Brent said the company regularly reviewed recipes to improve the quality and nutritional content of ready meals to “make them taste as close as possible if they were made from scratch in the home kitchen”.
“When you factor in the time needed to prep, cook, clean up as well as utilities used, time-poor customers love convenient solutions that allow them more time to get on with more exciting parts of life,” he said.
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Two Melbourne dads landed a deal with both Woolworths and Coles worth $1 million before they had even sold one of their products.
Dad-of-two Seong-Lee Ang, set out to solve a problem with his business partner, after an experience “threw” his family’s “world upside down”.
The 45-year-old’s children both have severe anaphylactic food allergies.
Both are allergic to nuts but his four-year-old in particular is impacted by a range of foods.
“My daughter is allergic to dairy, egg, whole nuts, sesame, fish, shellfish and citrus seeds and that’s just the list we have tested so far,” he told news.com.au.
“It’s been pretty awful and it’s been a real challenge having such severe allergies. Eating out is really difficult, we take our own food for our daughter as no restaurant can cater to her allergies from her.
“We have had multiple close calls, hospital visits and ambulances called and as she was heading towards school age it was most frightening thinking about her being at school with hundreds of other children eating lunch around her.”
So in the middle of Melbourne’s long string of lockdowns when visiting the supermarket was a treat, Mr Ang realized apart from Vegemite and jam, every product in the spread aisle of the major supermarkets contained nuts.
“I guess we were thinking what is an easy thing to pack into school lunch boxes and it’s a sandwich but the spreads are really limited. There are hundreds of spreads in the spreads aisles and most contain nuts,” he explained.
“There are ‘no nut’ policies across the country where children can’t take peanut butter or Nutella sandwiches to school. It became our mission to solve this big problem, so it’s not just for allergy kids but all the children who would love to take a peanut butter sandwich to school and can’t.”
This is where their business called Buddee was born, with an aim to create an “inclusive” spread for all children and adults.
But Mr Ang and his co-founder Rodney Chieng knew they were in for a challenge as allergy-free products are “notorious” for tasting terrible, gambling around $400,000 from their own savings to make it happen.
Both also wanted their product to end up in the mainstream aisle, rather than being relegated to the health food aisle.
Dad-of-three Mr Chieng drove the product development, which took 60 versions of their first chocolate spread to get it right, with the early types tasting “awful”, Mr Ang admitted.
“Most of the first ones were disasters, in truth because of my children’s allergies I really wanted to make something that my daughter could eat and she’s not just allergic to nuts … so it was very limiting in terms of the ingredients we could use as we really wanted it to be allergen friendly,” he added.
His daughter was one of the chief taste testers and by version 30 she really started to like them rather than scrunching up her face, he said, and now absolutely loves it.
“Pretty much every day my children want a Buddee sandwich or the spread on toast or to dip carrots in. They eat it daily so they are going to put me out of business,” he joked.
Chickpea is the main ingredient, which presents problems initially on the taste front as well as with its water content.
“We got around it and roasted the chickpeas and that gives the nutlike flavor of the nutty spreads,” he said.
“It still tastes very familiar to people who still like nut spreads and people who do blind taste tests cannot believe it doesn’t contain nuts.”
The business partners were “shocked and over the moon” when both Woolworths and Coles wanted to stock their spreads before they had “sold a single jar yet”, Mr Ang said.
The deals will see Buddee Chocolate and Smooth spreads available at Woolworths supermarkets nationwide from August 15.
Meanwhile, Buddee Chocolate and Crunchy spreads will be available at Coles supermarkets nationwide from September 2022 and will retail for $6.50.
“It’s a testament to the need for this product and there is nothing like Buddee on their shelves,” Mr Ang said.
“There are so many spreads on the shelves but all contain nuts, so there is a big gap in the market we are filling and the supermarkets needed it even though we haven’t sold a jar yet.
“We are trying to find a solution for Australian families and children at school. We want school playgrounds to be inclusive and no one to miss out but instead they can take Buddee and don’t harm the kids next to them.”
But he said adults can also enjoy the spreads too.
Compared to other conventional spreads, Buddee contains less sugar, less saturated fat
and is free from palm oil as well as being entirely free from the top 10 allergens
including nuts, wheat, soy, dairy and sesame, according to Mr Ang.
Having been in “scary” situations where EpiPens have had to be used on his child in a restaurant, Mr Ang said Buddee is “so personal” to him.
”It’s been pretty tough the last six years with both our children having allergies,” he added.
“I have been in business before but this is why this business means the world to me. It’s actually creating change in the community, that’s why it’s so meaningful to me.”
Mr Ang said the duo have huge plans for the brand with future allergy-free products beyond the spread aisle.
Google has been with a massive $60m fine after it was found the tech giant mislead Australian Android users about how it used their data in order to target them with advertising.
The fine comes as a result of Australia’s consumer watchdog taking the tech giant to court in 2019.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged that Android phone settings were misleading.
It accused Google of storing the location data of some users even if they had “Location History” turned off.
The Federal Court ordered the tech giant to pay the $60m penalty after it found it had breached Australian consumer laws by misleading some Android owners between January 2017 and December 2018.
The court found that another setting titled “Web & App Activity” also allowed location data to be shared with Google.
The ACCC says its best estimate, based on available data, is that the users of 1.3 million Google accounts in Australia may have viewed a screen found by the court to have breached Australian consumer laws.
Google took remedial steps and had addressed all of the contravening conduct by 20 December 2018, meaning that users were no longer shown the misleading screens, the ACCC said.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the court’s decision sent a strong message to digital platforms and other businesses about using people’s data.
“Personal location data is sensitive and important to some consumers,” she said in a statement.
“Some of the users who saw the representations may have made different choices about the collection, storage and use of their location data if the misleading representations had not been made by Google.”
Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the penalty was the first instance of public enforcement to come from the ACCC’s digital inquiry platforms.
A spokesman for Google confirmed the company had agreed to settle the matter with the ACCC.
“We’ve invested heavily in making location information simple to manage and easy to understand with industry-first tools like auto-delete controls, while significantly minimizing the amount of data stored,” he spokesman said.
“As we’ve demonstrated, we’re committed to making ongoing updates that give users control and transparency, while providing the most helpful products possible.”
The renewables industry has exploded in Victoria, with ambitious energy targets set by the state government and an abundance of job opportunities in the fledgling sector to be realised.
Key points:
Renewable Energy proponents and the state government are predicting more than 6,000 new jobs in Gippsland
Australian Renewables Academy hopes to harness lower-than-average work participation rates to fill the workforce
Training for the new workforce needs to begin quickly so locals can be placed in jobs
Gippsland, in south-eastern Victoria, has been touted as the golden child of the renewable energy industry.
The region has windy seas, extensive land resources, and existing grid infrastructure in the Latrobe Valley thanks to its coal mining legacy.
Thousands of jobs are set to be created during both construction and operational phases in the switch to renewable energies.
But in a job market crying out for people to fill 86,000 vacancies in rural and regional Australia, doubt remains on the ability to fill roles in the new industry.
In Australia, the labor force participation rate sits at 67 per cent, while in Gippsland, the rate is lower, varying between local government areas.
training gap
A recent renewable energy conference held in the region attracted interest overseas and nationwide interest.
Bernadette O’Connor, of Australian Renewables Academy (ARA), heads up a local organization tasked with training the workforce needed to work on renewables.
Ms O’Connor said mediocre participation rates should be seen as an opportunity to bring more people into the workforce.
The group has intentions to retrain skilled workers in the move away from the coal, oil and gas industries.
“We need to look at who’s existing in the sector to transition across to the renewable energy industry,” Ms O’Connor said.
“[We look at] what level and what skills. Who is not in the sector, but could be in the sector, because they’ve got skills that could transition.”
Australian Renewables Academy director Bernadette O’Connor presenting at the the Gippsland New Energy Conference.(Supplied)
The federally funded ARA identifies entry level jobs and determines which people could be recruited with basic training.
Given offshore wind is in its infancy in Australia, skills and knowledge to train the workforce in the new technology will likely come from overseas initially.
Ms O’Connor said the industry was evolving at a fast pace, and communication around the sector’s resourcing needs was imperative.
“If we can have really good teachers who know how to teach and know how to facilitate learning, partnering with industry who know what the industry needs, then that would be the ideal scenario,” Ms O’Connor said.
Shift in thinking
Historically, the offshore oil and gas industry in Gippsland has attracted fly-in fly-out workers from across the country, but the number of interstate workers have dropped in the past few years, according to unions.
As offshore assets have been sold off or decommissioned in Bass Strait, FIFO workers have needed to look elsewhere.
In 2017 when the Hazelwood Power Station closed, 700 Latrobe Valley workers were left without jobs. At the time, it was suggested the lucrative roles often brought more than $100,000 into the household budget.
When it was operational, Hazelwood fed 1.65 gigawatts (GW) into the grid.
The Star of the South offshore wind project will alone generate 2.2GW.
After Hazelwood’s closure, there was little talk of renewable projects setting up in the region to take advantage of existing grid infrastructure.
Victoria bets big on offshore wind
For years, community groups and environmentalists have touted the potential for renewables in Gippsland, but efforts were dampened when the former state government’s investment in private companies attempting to find clean ways to use coal came up empty handed.
Five years on, hundreds descended on the Gippsland New Energy Conference last week, a forum to present pipeline projects and investment opportunities in renewables.
At a packed theater in Sale, Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio received an enthusiastic response when she spoke of the state’s ambitious targets.
They include supplying 13GW of offshore to the energy grid by 2050 and for the state to produce 50 per cent of its power from renewables by 2050.
While offshore wind drew the most buzz, solar was also a key player, with eight solar farms in the pipeline or operational across the region.
community concerns
However, renewable projects were not entirely met with open arms.
Friends of Nooramunga Coastal Reserve did not want turbines along the “pristine” coastline, while farmers in Giffard did not want above-ground pylons erected on their land.
Fishers are also concerned about not being able to use waters in the construction phase of offshore wind farms and said they needed to be compensated.
A panel which discussed how renewable energy companies should engage with communities affected by infrastructure put forward that communities should be provided with clear information that would indicate which aspects communities could and couldn’t have influence over.
Woodside farmer Rosemary Irving fought against the Bass Link in the early 2000s.
She told the ABC she wouldn’t be overly happy to have underground cables through her property, but preferred them over the above-ground pylons expected to be built by Ausnet Services.
“If we’ve got to have renewable energy the best practice to date is to have the turbines out to sea and the cables underground, which causes no disturbance to anybody,” Ms Irving said.
“It’s not fair for landholders to have overhead cables.”
Energy sector ‘exploding’
At this stage, Star of the South has committed to underground cabling while other proponents have not, while Ausnet Services would construct the transmission lines.
It has not yet committed to whether they will be above or below-ground, but underground cables are much more expensive.
Offshore wind farms in Gippsland will include turbines standing at 196 metres, drilled and grafted into the seabed.
Flotation Energy plans to build the 1.5GW Seadragon project off the Gippsland Coast.
Flotation’s chief operating officer Tim Sawyer said Seadragon’s location was closest to Exxon Mobil’s offshore assets.
He said it was chosen in hope of using existing or decommissioned platforms, the Barry’s Beach terminal and other infrastructure.
“We can potentially reuse some of those assets whether that is a platform itself for a substation, whether that is shore crossings, easements for existing pipelines,” Mr Sawyer said.
“We can potentially reroute electrical cables along existing easements to reduce some of that disturbance.
“But it also extends to personnel that may be transitioning out of the oil and gas industry and retraining.”
The construction stage alone for Seadragon is estimated to employ 1,000 workers, while up to 250 jobs will be ongoing in operational maintenance.
Businesses encouraged to take part
During the event in Sale, Ms D’Ambrosio encouraged local businesses hoping to get into the sector to register with the Industry Capability Network.
She said her department was in the process of mapping out the supply chain.
The first offshore wind project set to be up and running is the Star of the South, which aims to feed power into the grid by 2028.
That’s the same year Energy Australia’s Yallourn Power Station in the Latrobe Valley is due to close.
As part of its decommissioning agreement, Energy Australia is required to build a 350 megawatt (MW) battery at the site to store surplus energy.
AGL, which runs the nearby Loy Yang A power station has plans to build 200MW battery.
Gippsland Climate Change Network chairman Darren McCubbin, who described the sector as exploding, organized the event.
He praised the state government’s targets and acknowledged protesters, encouraging business to take notice of the community throughout consultation periods.
“These are once-in-a-lifetime alterations to our infrastructure… There are going to be enormous challenges with that, there are clearly communities concerned about it.
“It will be a much more abundant and cheap electricity.”
ALDI Australia is set to open a new pop-up dumpling truck – offering a takeaway feed for less than $1.50 per serve.
For one night only, diners can purchase six Urban Eats dumplings for a low price of just $1.44.
But the offer is only at the ALDI Bankstown Central car park in Sydney’s west between 5pm and 7pm on Friday, August 12.
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A family of four can expect to enjoy a feed from just $5.76.
The gyoza flavors to choose from include the fan-favorite prawn and the new seasonal addition to the range – chicken.
Aldi Australia is set to open a new pop-up dumpling truck – offering a takeaway feed for less than $1.50 per serve. Credit: David Thomson Photography
The truck proves just how easy it is for Aussies to enjoy a “fakeaway” dinner any time of the week without breaking the bank.
“At a time when consumers are feeling the pinch, it’s rewarding to provide an option for people to still enjoy their Friday night rituals when they shop with us,” said Andrew King, ALDI’s Frozen Food Buying Director.
“The dumpling truck demonstrates how good food doesn’t have to hurt your pocket.
“You can dish up quick, delicious and affordable Friday dinners at home for less than $1.50 a serve.
The gyoza flavors to choose from include the fan-favorite prawn and the new chicken. Credit: David Thomson Photography
“We are so proud of our curated convenience range of frozen food items that have been developed by our trusted supplier partners and are a firm favorite with our customers for good reason.”
Shoppers can recreate the “restaurant-quality” meal at home with the supermarket chain’s dumpling range.
New research commissioned by ALDI found almost half (46 per cent) of Aussies are paying between $15 and $20 on a takeaway food order per person, at least $13.56 more than the cost of a serving from the range.
The truck proves just how easy it is for Aussies to enjoy a “fakeaway” dinner any time of the week without breaking the bank. Credit: David Thomson Photography
The truck will be pitched up at ALDI Bankstown Central, Chapel Road on Friday, August 12, from 5pm to 7pm, while stocks last.
The prawn will cost just 25c per gyoza while the chicken is priced at 23c per dumpling, which is the equivalent price of the individual dumplings or gyoza if bought direct from ALDI’s freezers.
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Someone on $45,000 receives a tax benefit of 19.5 per cent – income tax of 32.5 per cent plus the 2 per cent Medicare Levy, minus the 15 per cent contributions tax your fund pays on the money.
Chapman points out that for those with incomes up to $42,016, there is also a super co-contribution scheme, under which for each added dollar of after-tax contributions put into a fund, the government contributes a matching 50 cents. The government’s co-contribution is capped at $500.
If your income exceeds $42,016, the co-contribution from the government progressively reduces and cuts out at $57,016.
However, those on lower incomes are more likely to have more immediate uses for their refund, including paying bills, Chapman says.
Fast track home deposit
Glen Hare, financial planner and co-founder of Fox and Hare, says parking your tax refund in superannuation under the federal government’s First Home Super Saver Scheme can be a good way to fast-track getting on the first rung of the property ladder.
Under the scheme, first-home buyers can save for a home deposit in a quarantined area of their super account, where the money is earmarked for the purchase of property and benefits from concessional tax rates.
The amount that can be held inside super under the scheme increased from $30,000 to $50,000 on July 1.
The limit on annual contributions for a home deposit that can be parked in excess of $15,000. They must be personal voluntary contributions, rather than compulsory payments made by your employer.
Start a share portfolio
Chris Brycki, founder of online investment adviser Stockspot, says a tax refund is an excellent way to start investing for your future in the sharemarket.
A good starting point for newbies is to purchase an exchange-traded fund (ETF), whose units are bought and sold on the Australian Securities Exchange.
ETFs provide broad exposure to market returns without having to worry about trying to pick winning stocks.
ETFs are available that track the returns and prices of all sorts of markets, not just Australian shares. They include overseas equities and even commodities, such as gold – and have low management fees.
“There is no need to constantly watch the market or know which shares to buy and sell, as ETFs are meant to be ‘set and forget’ investments,” Brycki says.
Nearly one year after the last Airbus A380 was delivered to Emirates, its CEO Tim Clark has announced a desire for Airbus to build a replacement jumbo jet. The airline has undoubtedly been the biggest supporter of the aircraft, acquiring nearly half of all A380s. Airbus has no plans to restart production of the aircraft as global demand is calling for smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft. It is unlikely that Airbus would build another jumbo to meet the needs of one airline.
Hopeful for another jumbo
The CEO of Emirates, Tim Clark, has recently made it known to the public that both he and the airline he represents is hopeful that Airbus will produce a replacement for the gargantuan A380. This information was shared nearly a year after the last A380 was delivered to Emirates. Airbus has entirely ceased production and has informed the public that it has no plans to restart the project.
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Emirates has acquired nearly half of all Airbus A380s. Photo: Emirates
Clark has been one of the aircraft’s most vocal supporters. Nearly half of all A380s ever produced have become valuable assets of Emirates. It has become a key asset to the airline’s operations. Based in Dubai, the A380 has assisted Emirates in connecting passengers from all corners of the earth through its central hub. Clark told the public that he believed the aircraft to be far from obsolete. Clark stated,
“The notion that the A380 was a spent force was always a little bit of a difficult one for us to swallow.
“I was chuckling to myself, thinking ‘Wait and see.’ We started flying the A380 into Heathrow six times a day in October of last year, and we haven’t had a [free] seat on any of them since.”
A shrinking fleet
Airbus chalked up the A380 project as a commercial failure. Despite selling hundreds of aircraft, the manufacturer did not receive sufficient orders to consider the project a success. Emirates has 118 A380s in its fleet, 80 of which are currently operating. The aviation industry has seen a significant resurgence in demand for air travel since travel restrictions have been eased. While the pandemic was the nail in the coffin for many jumbo jets, Emirates had little choice but to hold on to the jumbo.
Emirates fleet of Boeing 777s does not have the capacity required to fully replace the A380. Photo: Boeing
The airline now has plenty of demand to fill its jumbos and plans to see all of its A380s returned to service by spring 2023. Close to 70 of these A380s will undergo interior renovations later this year. The airline will be installing a new premium economy class, reducing the number of available seats from 519 to 484.
Emirates currently plans on retiring its A380 fleet in the mid-2030s. The airline is hopeful that a new jumbo will come along before this, but it is preparing to operate without these jumbo assets. The airline has ordered 50 smaller, more fuel-efficient A350 aircraft to fill the crucial role played by the A380, as well as the 777X. The airline also operates a sizable fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft. Unfortunately for the airline, neither the A350 nor the 777 can rival the capacity of the A380.
What do you think of Emirate’s request for another Airbus jumbo? Let us know in the comments below.
