October General Meeting Minutes

General Meeting

10 October 2018
Held at The Australian Plant Bank, Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan

1.Welcome – Shaun Pereira, President

Shaun welcomed Chamber members, guests and life members and acknowledged and thanked guest speaker, Graham Ross

2. Apologies

Iain Richard-Evans was noted as an apology.

3. President’s Report

Shaun advised:

• that it had been a busy and productive month with the New Board and new plans.
• Emails being looked at to streamline process.
• Planning meeting has been arranged.
• Congratulated Anne Parnham – Life Member of Campbelltown Chamber.
• Congratulated Adriana Care and the Coutts team as Finalist for Boutique Diversities Law Firm of the Year at 2018 Women in Law Awards.

4. Secretary’s Report – Jean Galloway, Secretary

Jean advised the minutes from 12 September 2018 were on the website and were moved by Shaun Pereira, seconded by Brett McGrath and accepted.  No business arising from those minutes.

5. Treasurer’s Report – Amy Woodley, Treasurer

Amy presented the Treasurer’s Report as at 30 September,2018.  The Chamber is in a healthy financial position.  The report was moved by Geoff Rogers and seconded by Pania Gregson  and accepted.

6. Membership Update – Renee Garcia, Membership Coordinator

Amy advised there are 174 financial members and welcomed our 6 new members:

• Sada Services – David Dubier
• Macarthur Tourism and Travel Events College – Tina Edney
• Sparkling Voices – Wendy White.

Member’s spotlight videos were shown by Andrew Pink – Combined Real Estate, Natalie Vujica – Coutts Solicitors and Conveyancers and Brad Hanagan – Lifeline.

7. Sponsorship Update – Sue Robinson, Sponsorship Director

8. Business Tip – Peter Nonnemacher

Peter spoke of the importance of having workflows and systems in place to give consistency.  Used McDonalds as an example – all restaurants all the same providing the same standards.

When started in business did everything himself became too busy.  His wife joined him in the business and now has 10 employees.

Need planning and know what specialties each staff member has and utilise them.  Do your part of a job and pass it on to the appropriate staff member.

Use mistakes to fix systems and make opportunities.

“Be Successful on Purpose”

9. Whats On – Elisha Crismale, Vice President Communications

Elisha advised the following upcoming events:

16/10/2018 -Youth Solutions – Shopping Night.
17/10/2018 – Campbelltown Chamber.
17/10/2018 – The Local Business Network  Four Futures.
26/10/2018 – Lifeline – Mens Long Lunch – Up Stairs at Fred’s.
26/10/2018 – Youth Solutions – Trivia Night.
13-15/11/2018 – The Advertiser Digital Marketing Seminar.
14/11/2018 – Narellan Chamber November Meeting.
28-30/11/2018 – CRET – Tourism Industry Taster Course.
12/12/2018 – Narellan Chamber Xmas Party.

10. CRET Update – Debbie Roberts

Debbie advised:

• Botanical Gardens 30^th
• Need to work on Tourism Industry – Asset MABG.
• Attract visitors from outside the area and local visitors.
• Airport will provide a huge opportunity for jobs and businesses.
• People need to start thinking about Tourism as a career or business.
• Tourism Taskforce.
• Acknowledged Peter Sidgreaves as Mayor of Camden and Adriana Care.

11. Tourism Update – Harry Hunt OAM – President South West Sydney Tourism Task Force

Harry spoke about the following:

• Need for more collaboration between Hotels and Clubs in the area.
• There is a need to keep the members up to date on changes.
• Development of sporting competitions will increase domestic tourism.
• This area is missing out on the “Grey Nomads”. Need more Caravan Parks to bring this tourism into the area.
• Demand for hotels will increase with the new Airport. Need more hotels.  Blue Mountains is at its capacity at the moment.
• This area is a great central base for Chinese tourists – can access day trips from here to Blue Mountains, Sydney, Canberra, Southern Highlands and the South Coast.
• Need more adventure based activities e.g. Aussie BBQ, Hot Air Balloons, Skydiving etc.
• All need to work together and share information.

12. Christmas in Narellan Update – Shaun Pereira, President

Shaun advised

• Meetings now weekly
• Paulinii is headline act.
• Launched band competition to perform at the event. Anyone know of a band pass this onto them.
• Secured approximately $67,000.00 this year and still looking for further Sponsors.
• Rides suited to 4-10 year olds at the event.
• Thanked sponsors and Amanda Good from Good Events.

13. Curator of Mount Annan Botanical Gardens and Plant Bank Address – John Sieman

John advised

• Acknowledged the Dharawal people.
• Yandel’ora is the name given by the aboriginal people for Mount Annan. Meaning “place of peace between peoples”.
• 100 million seeds are held at the Plant Bank.
• Seeds are stored here and also sent overseas to the Millennium Seed Bank.
• They have a Reference Collection which covers 60% of the threatened species.
• $40 million building to be constructed for cultural collection.
• Would love a train station in the underground rail link. Visitors would then have a direct link to the Gardens and concerts could be held at the Gardens to encourage tourism.

14. Guest Speaker – Graham Ross VMM

Graham spoke with great enthusiasm and passion about the Mount Annan Plant Bank.  He thought of it as The Premier facility on the Planet and confirmed there are only 2-3 of these on earth.

Mount Annan Botantical Gardens is celebrating its 30^th birthday and is visited by children from all over Australia.

He called it “Macarthur’s Hyde Park”.

Graham spoke about Climate Change and the changes in seasons.  In the past 38 years the Cherry Blossoms in Japan have flowered later by 1 day each year.  Therefore they now flower 38 days later than they did before.  The Autumn foliage has been delayed by 30 days.

We need to be aware how science affects our gardens and horticulture and the need to recycle – don’t wait for politicians – take away the message “It’s up to Us”.

There has been a huge downturn in young people going into careers in horticulture.  This needs to be turned around.

BBM Youth Support Awards has been set up to send young Australian around the world to come back and revitalise the nation with their new experience, skills and knowledge.

https://www.bbm.asn.au/

Biggest rise in tourism overseas is Garden Tourism.

Australis 2020 is to take place at Sydney Olympic Park from Spring 2022 to Autumn 2023.

This will be the first 6 month International Garden Festival ever held in the Southern Hemisphere.

It is an Eco Tourism attraction which will provide 2,500 jobs and 8,000 volunteer positions.  It is expecting 4 Million visitors.

http://australis2020.com/

Beijing China is hosting the 2019 Exhibition

http://www.horti-expo2019.org/

Harry Hunt suggested we hold one in the South West Sydney area but Expo’s have been allocated until 2032.

No plants, no food, no life, no you.

Shaun thanked Graham and Sue Robinson presented him with a gift.

15. Lucky Door Prizes

Donated by the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens – $280.00 voucher for use of Boardroom – won by Greer Jones – Carrington.

Donated by Chamber – boxed bottles of Chandon – won by Damien Bleeker of South West Property Inspections and Pena Borg OCAGI.

 16.Member Spotlight Draw

Three lucky members were drawn to present a 1-minute video at the next meeting.  These were Shona Arcella from AceIt, Peter Nonnenmacher from Hillross Financial, and Kaisha Gambell from Coutts Solicitors and Conveyancers.

17. Closing Remarks – Shaun Periera, President

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 14^th November 2018 at Harrington Grove Country Club with special guest speaker Nicole Eckles.  Arrival from 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start.

Thanked the following:

• Mount Annan Plant Bank for holding the function for Chamber
• The Chef and I
• Natalie from Absolutely Fabulous Event Decorations
• CRET
• Alpha IT
• Sponsors
• Board
• Leanne Wolf
• Mayor Peter Sidgreaves
• Harry Hunt
• Graham Ross

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 9:07 pm.