Make Your Voice Heard
Every day the Federal and State Governments pass new laws and new regulations that affect how we shop, live and do business in Australia.
E-Mail editor@fightbacknews.com.au if you have any examples of chains threatening your local community or independent shopping centre.
FIRB extends Sucrogen sale review
August 11, 2010
The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has extended by up to 90 days its assessment of the proposed sale of CSR Ltd's sugar and renewable energy business, Sucrogen, to Singapore-based agribusiness Wilmar International Ltd.
CSR said in a statement on Wednesday that the interim order to extend the review was "expected, given the timing of the federal election" on August 21.
CSR last month agreed to the $1.75 billion Sucrogen sale, which it expects will be completed in the final quarter of 2010.
AUSTRALIA STANDS TO LOSE CONTROL OF ITS LARGEST SUGAR REFINER, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCE AND FERTILISER PRODUCER!
THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE!
Make your voice heard.
TELL THE TREASURER TO REJECT THE SUCROGEN TAKE OVER IN OUR NATIONAL INTEREST
WRITE/EMAIL/PHONE
The Hon Wayne Swan MP
Deputy Prime Minister; Treasurer.
Parliament House Contact
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7340
Fax: (02) 6273 3420
Email: Wayne.Swan.MP@aph.gov.au
Electorate Office Contact
Nundah Office:
Location:
1162 Sandgate Road
Nundah Qld 4012
Postal Address:
PO Box 182
Nundah Qld 4012
Tel: (07) 3266 8244
Fax: (07) 3266 4263
Email FIRB and tell them to reject the Sucrogen sale!
firbbusinessapplications@treasury.gov.au - for business acquisitions (ie acquisitions of shares in a company operating an Australian business).
Website www.firb.gov.au
The people who make the recommednations to the Federal Government
Current Board Members:
Mr John Phillips AO was first appointed Chairman of the Board on 16 April 1997 and was reappointed for a further term of five years on 18 April 2007. He has extensive high-level experience in the public, finance and business sectors including the position of Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. His present responsibilities include: Chancellor, University of Western Sydney and Member, Organising Committee, World Youth Day 2008.
Mr Patrick Colmer commenced his appointment as Executive Member of the Board on 20 November 2006. Mr Colmer has an extensive background as a public policy adviser in a variety of government agencies. Prior to this, he was the General Manager of Treasury's Indirect Tax Division from 2002. He was an Assistant Commissioner in the Australian Taxation Office from 1999 to 2002 and earlier, a manager in the Commonwealth health department with responsibility for general practice standards and health workforce policy.
Mr Brian Wilson was appointed to the Board on 10 December 2009. Mr Wilson has extensive financial services experience, including involvement with both the funds management and investment management sectors. He is a former Australian managing director of the global investment bank Lazard and a former vice-chairman of Citigroup Australia. Mr Wilson is also Pro-Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney.
Mr Hamish Douglass was appointed to the Board on 10 December 2009. Mr Douglass has been a member of the Takeovers Panel since March 2009, and has special expertise in the resources sector. He has more than 18 years experience in the financial services industry and is currently the managing director and CEO of Magellan Asset Management Ltd.
Ms Anna Buduls was appointed to the Board on 15 July 2010. Through her corporate advisory work and 15 years of non-executive company directorships Ms Buduls has gained wide commercial experience across a broad range of companies and industries. She is currently owner/Chairman of a travel software group, and is a non-executive director of listed companies, Centro Properties Group and SAI Global Ltd.
Chains continue push to crush independents
Report says new retail development will damage Warburton highway communities.
An independent consultant has slammed a huge new supermarket development proposed for the tiny community of Seville in the Dandenong Ranges.
The report by MacroPlan Australia says a new retail development proposed by Lascorp will damage the "string of pearls", or series of self-sufficient villages (including Wandin, Seville, Woori Yallock, Yarra Junction and Warburton) that currently give the Warburton highway its character and charm.
The report also says the new supermarket will increase car pollution, take away local jobs and reduce income to local food producers stocked by the current IGA supermarket.
Seville IGA supermarket owner Barry Entwistle last year completed a $5 million expansion to cater for the community, and his investment will be in ruins if the new supermarket is approved.
The third generation owner says, "There simply isn't enough room for two supermarkets in a community of some 2000 households which has hardly grown in 25 years."
The report says the demand for retail space hasn't grown, and the population is forecast to reduce along the highway, so a new retail development was not warranted. Government figures show the population along the Warburton Highway has hardly grown in 25 years and is forecast to fall over the next 15 years.
The Lascorp proposal includes a chain supermarket with 17 additional retail shops, a car park, a service station and a medical centre. It would double the size of existing Seville retail space and be larger than supermarket based centres in more populous nearby suburbs.
The report also criticised the sustainability of the new supermarket development because chain supermarkets stock less local produce, require a larger catchment area meaning customers drive further, and have inferior energy saving policies.
It concludes that many stores along the Warburton Highway will be forced to close after an artificial regional shopping centre is created at Seville.
For further details, go to www.saveseville.com.au
