Chairperson\’s Xmas Message 2016

                                    

Chairman\’s Christmas message 2016

 The past 12 months has seen the business community of Port Lincoln continue to face some incredible challenges. The economic climate throughout the year has presented less than ideal conditions for small to medium businesses to flourish. The recent blackout highlighted to all the vulnerability that exists for a business owner on Lower Eyre Peninsula. This coupled with a lack of confidence in the performance of both state and federal governments has meant that business owners and people in general have needed to make prudent decisions about what they will invest or spend their money on. This lack of confidence will always dent the spending of consumers and therefore impact on the trade of particular businesses.

 There have been some positive signs however that Port Lincoln in particular is better placed than many other regional centres due to our diversity of industries and in particular the Agricultural and Tourism sectors in Port Lincoln and even the great Eyre Peninsula region. Recently we saw the arrival of the first cruise ship for the season in which we will see a record number of cruise ships arriving in Port Lincoln. The SALT Festival in March and the Teakle Auto Sprint at Easter next year will add two new and dynamic tourist opportunities to the calendar for Port Lincoln in 2017. These are just some example of the types of opportunities we will continue to enjoy within this community.

 The Chamber in the past year has continued to raise its profile within the many spheres of influence, namely local, state and federal government when appropriate, as well as working closely with the peak Chamber of Commerce in South Australia, Business SA. Representing our members and their views at each of these three levels of government is a critical role of the Chamber and we will continue to do this into 2017.

 A real highlight for the year was the recent Business Excellence Awards. We were again thrilled to have Beyond Bank as the major sponsor of this event and welcomed Mr Anthony Kittel, Director of Redarc Electronics as our guest speaker on the night. Congratulations to our deserving award winners.

 The ever present battle to attract new members to the Chamber remains one of the keys to future success of the Committee and one which I strongly encourage our committee to devote a lot of energy and drive to in 2017. Members are the reason we exist and it is critical that we are relevant for their business if we are to hold our place in the city of Port Lincoln.  

 I take this opportunity to thank the dedicated members of the committee, who despite being extremely busy themselves continue to volunteer their time and efforts to the Chamber for the benefit of the Port Lincoln business community and the development and promotion of this amazing region.

 On behalf of the Chamber I would like to wish all our members and partners a great holiday season and hope that the lead up to Christmas is a strong trading period for you all. We look forward to continuing our work with you in 2017.

All the best

 

Richard Horgan

CHAIRPERSON 2016