AUSTRALIA Post announced in May that it would re-brand its Messenger Post Courier services as StarTrack Courier in a move it says is designed to develop greater efficiency.

Australia Post acquired Qantas’s 50 percent interest in StarTrack in October 2012, making Australia Post the sole shareholder in StarTrack, and Australia Post has since been deciding how best to rationalise its courier and transport services, aiming to “create the largest logistics force in the country” according to official statements. 

The complete Australia Post StarTrack acquisition was finalised in November 2012. following consultation with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

It is thought that moving more capability into the StarTrack branding allows greater possibilities for commercial promotion and collaboration than the government-linked and perhaps limiting Australia Post brand.

In March StarTrack signed a three-year premium partnership deal with Sydney FC as a Sky Blues back-of-shirt sponsor. In December 2013, StarTrack partnered with Linfox to win the Australian Defence Force warehousing and distribution management contract. StarTrack is the transport services partner in that deal.

At the time Richard Umbers, StarTrack CEO said, “This is an exciting development for StarTrack and a great opportunity to deliver value for the ADF through the breadth of our network and variety of services.”

Since Australia Post’s acquisition of StarTrack in 2012, the group has been steadily bringing the two businesses together to maximise its network and capabilities.

“Together, Australia Post and StarTrack intend to improve and grow our courier business by broadening our reach and creating even better services whilst remaining committed to providing a high level of service,” an Australia Post statement read. “Everything that was good about Messenger Post Couriers will only get better in the future.”

Although the general public does not yet directly link StarTrack with Australia Post, the official line is that “together StarTrack and Australia Post form Australia’s most trusted freight and logistics provider. The combined business brings together the premium service standards of StarTrack with the trust, reach and convenience that Australia Post is renowned for, to create the largest logistics force in the country”.

There are precedents for this optimism. Star Track Express and Australian Air Express’s door-to-door retail business was integrated in 2011, successfully bringing together two leading road and air freight networks for a more profitable operation.

www.startrack.com.au

www.auspost.com.au

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THE Federal Government’s ‘big numbers’ of the Federal Budget have been under discussion in great detail, but the smaller details of what is being changed through the ‘red tape reduction’ efforts of the government are just as important operationally for many businesses.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Josh Frydenberg, said back in March the government introduced legislation and tabled documents to repeal more than 10,000 “unnecessary and counter-productive pieces of legislation and regulations”.

He called the more than 50,000 pages set for repeal “unnecessary and costly legislation and regulations that are a dead weight on Australian businesses, community groups and households” expecting this reduction in red tape across the economy to save “more than $700 million a year, every year”.

“We are committed to cutting red tape costs by $1 billion a year to improve our nation’s competitiveness, help to create more jobs and lower household costs,” Mr Frydenberg said. 

“It will be easier for small businesses to do business with government. There will be a simplified process for tendering for contracts below $200,000, standardised terms and conditions and user-friendly online templates.

“We are making it easier for small businesses to be paid with the introduction of a new policy; credit and debit cards will become the Government’s preferred payment option for purchases under $20,000.”

Mr Frydenberg said the goal was for national businesses to operate under one workers’ compensation scheme right around the nation, rather than have to operate in up to eight.

Other specifics outlined were:

• Businesses will no longer be required to administer the former government’s paid parental leave scheme.
• Importers of agricultural chemicals and veterinary medicines, such as pet worm tablets, household weed killers or agricultural fertilisers, will no longer need to re-register well established products over and over, when the products haven’t changed.
• A reduction in paperwork for Australians seeking to do business in the Asia Pacific  region with a streamlined accreditation process for the APEC Business Travel Card.
• A new one-stop-shop for offshore petroleum environmental approvals (NOPSEMA) will streamline approval of projects that include offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas activities in Commonwealth waters.
• Repealing the Carbon Tax and the Mining Tax should not only reduce cost of living pressures and help create jobs, but will also save nearly $100 million in compliance costs.
• The film industry will be able to make minor modifications to films (for example, turning 2D into 3D, then DVD and Blu-ray) without going through the classification process every time.
• Job service providers will no longer have to retain cabinets full of paper files and will now be able to keep records electronically.
• Slow moving machinery – like concrete mixers or ‘wacker packers’ (used to compact soil) will no longer need to be registered as ‘motor vehicles’ under the Personal Property Securities register.
• Universities will no longer be required to submit extensive (and duplicated) survey data on the size, use, management and maintenance of their lecture theatres, laboratories, offices and other facilities each year.
• Charities will no longer be subjected to as much duplication with their paperwork.
• Aged care providers and Disability Employment Service Providers will be spared many thousands of hours of paperwork.

Mr Frydenberg said, “Common sense changes will be made to Labor’s recent Future of Financial Advice laws to reduce the compliance costs for small businesses, financial advisers, and the broader financial services industry, whilst maintaining the quality of advice for consumers.”

That particular pledge has recently come under fire and may yet be modified on its course through the Parliament.

“Cutting red tape is at the heart of this Government’s mission: to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia,” Mr Frydenberg said.

www.cuttingredtape.gov.au

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POSTED MAY 27, 2014

QANTAS has decided to ‘consolidate’ its three Australian call centres into one facility based in Hobart by 2016 – closing its Melbourne and Brisbane call centres. The move is part of its previously announced $2 billion transformation program and associated reduction of 5000 jobs.

The decision came after a comprehensive three month review and will ultimately result in the closure of its Brisbane and Melbourne call centres. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman was “disappointed” at the closure of the Brisbane centre, but said Qantas has shown its commitment to the state with the move of its heavy engineering facility to Brisbane Airport.

But Queensland ASU Secretary, Ms Julie Bignell described the act as “a slap in the face of Qantas call centre professionals who were working with their union to negotiate in good faith with Qantas”. 

Ms Bigell said the union was stunned by the timing of the announcement, with a Qantas making the it public ahead of a national meeting organised to discuss the future of the Australian call centres.

“Rather than waiting for that meeting, they make the announcement the day before,” she said. “It is an appalling lack of process and really typifies what we have come to expect from Qantas.

“It is unclear at this stage, but we have grave concerns that a significant proportion of the Qantas telesales business could be off shored in the future,” Ms Bignell said.

“This is a bad decision with devastating consequences for hundreds of workers and not a positive move for the future of Qantas.”

Qantas Domestic chief executive officer, Lyell Strambi, said operating three call centres in different states was simply not efficient, particularly as customers increasingly turn to online, mobile and social media to communicate with Qantas.

“We are facing some of the toughest conditions Qantas has ever seen, which means we have to look at ways to become more efficient and remain competitive,” Mr Strambi said.

“Having call centres in three different states presents a number of challenges including property costs, duplication of management and operational complexity.

“In addition, more people are using online channels to manage their travel needs. Since 2005, call volume has halved and we now see 30 times more visits from customers to qantas.com than we receive in our call centres. This is a long-term change in customer behaviour that we expect to continue.”

Mr Strambi said Qantas had invested in new customer service technologies in recent years and by the end of this month, one million people will have downloaded the Qantas app for mobile devices – a channel that did not exist 12 months ago.

Mr Strambi said consolidating three Australian call centres into one location would ensure Qantas continues to provide the level of customer service that people expect, as well as delivering significant cost savings for the business.

“We are proud that we answer calls from Australia, in Australia, but it is not efficient to have three sub-scale facilities,” he said.

“Hobart was the logical choice for us to base our Australia call centre operations because of the modern facilities, the space available within the existing site and the ongoing costs of operating there.

“The Tasmanian Government has been very supportive of our Hobart call centre and is passionate about the future of Qantas Group operations in the state.”

Mr Strambi said employees in the Brisbane and Melbourne call centres will be offered re-deployment to Hobart, including payment for relocation costs, should they wish to move interstate.

“We will commence an expression of interest process with our employees to understand how many would like to move to Hobart. Employees who choose not to move interstate and remain employed until the closure of their centre will be provided redundancy packages,” he said.

“Today’s decision in no way reflects on the contribution of our contact centre workers. We want to thank all of our employees for their hard work.

“These are decisions we make in full knowledge of the impact on our people, but also the need to protect thousands of Australian jobs across the Qantas Group by taking action to strengthen our company.”

This announcement does not impact Qantas’ New Zealand call centre operation which has operated for over 10 years and mostly handles calls from English speaking customers from outside of Australia.

Qantas has operated its call centre in Hobart since 2000 and currently employs 200 full time equivalent employees. The Brisbane call centre, which employs around 200 full time equivalent employees will be closed by 2016.

The Camberwell call centre, which employs 250 full time equivalent employees will be closed by mid-2015.

Qantas has offered to provide affected employees with transition support and redundancy packages in excess of regulatory requirements. Qantas will also continue to use call centres in overseas markets answering calls originating from  non-English speaking customers in locations such as  Japan and South Africa.

www.qantas.com

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QUEENSLAND tourism businesses can share in more than $40,000 in prizes through the 2014 Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) Prize for Innovation in Tourism.

QTIC chief executive Daniel Gschwind said encouraging innovation within the tourism industry was imperative for the ongoing sustainability of businesses and future growth of the sector.

“The QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism is an opportunity for Queensland tourism businesses to be publicly acknowledged for their dedication to drive the industry forward,” Mr Gschwind said.

“Tourism directly and indirectly accounts for 241,000 Queensland jobs and contributes $23 billion to Queensland’s economy. The QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism reinforces the value of continually innovating in order to cultivate industry prosperity.”

Last year, the inaugural 2013 QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism was awarded to Longreach-based family business Kinnon & Co., for Starlight’s Spectacular Sound and Light Show, a 25-minute outdoor multimedia production. 

The 2013 runner up prize was awarded to Cairns ZOOm, a wildlife dome located on top of the Cairns-based Reef Hotel Casino. The 2013 judging panel also presented a highly commended to Surfers Paradise Alliance for development of a two-part event analysis measurement instrument.

The QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism program is open to micro and small to medium sized Queensland tourism enterprises that have developed and adopted innovative products, services and processes in Queensland between January 2013 and June 2014.

Mr Gschwind said ‘innovation’ was defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as ‘the process of introducing new or significantly improved goods or services and/or implementing new or significantly improved processes’.

The 2014 QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism first prize is made up of:

• Courtesy of the Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games, the winner will receive a prize package to the value of $30,000 of business support. The prize package will comprise of stages one and two of the Velocis program which will be delivered by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC). 
• Other elements of first prize include $3,000 worth of travel and flights to undertake a business familiarisation as well as development and distribution of a dedicated Public Relations (PR) Case Study in partnership with EC3 Global.

The runner up receives free membership to the EarthCheck International Certification program (value $3,800) and will also be included in media releases, QTIC communication and the QTIC website.

QTIC’s award program partnersare  the Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and Commonwealth Games (Queensland Government), EC3 Global and EarthCheck.

http://www.qtic.com.au/

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POSTED MAY 25, 2014.