Half the year has flown by and it has been an interesting, and at times challenging, period.

With the country in the grip of the worst drought in 100 years it is almost ironic that we have experienced such wet and difficult conditions in June. Gale force winds and flooding rain in Sydney have severely affected or cancelled most events and the wet weather is predicted to continue over some regions during the winter months.

The North Queensland Show runs have been hit very hard. Emerald Show was a complete wash out and ran at a total loss. Rockhampton Show was also a total wash out with reports some rides failed to have a rider over the three days.

Heavy rain also fell in the lead up to and during the Mackay Show presenting a long wet period causing difficulty to many operators. It is at this time you are trying to explain to your finance company that you have not only lost income for a whole month but you have still generated your operating expenses.

It is impressive still that the show goes on with the machinery being erected operated and dismantled in this weather, Moving equipment of this size on the many showground areas is difficult with most trucks getting bogged. It is a credit to this industry that through all these challenges, we still manage to have no incidents.

The Department of Industrial Relations and Employment, Queensland have indicated they are keen to meet and discuss the electrical issues that our industry is facing. Following the AALARA conference the respective Work Cover departments are keen to keep on building a solid relationship with the industry. They have voiced how impressed they are with operators as we strive for the highest standard of operation. This is reflected in our statistics on incident rates and hopefully this will flow on and be reflected in our insurance premiums.

Finally, the AALARA steering committee has commenced work on the Small Business Entrepreneurship workshops. We will be surveying your needs during the development process of the workshops to ensure we deliver an education programme that will best serve your small business for training in business skills. This valuable education programme will be rolled out from April 2008. These workshops will be staged in metropolitan and regional areas therefore providing many travelling showmen and operators a chance to participate.

As this recent rain being so widespread it will give positive boost to rural communities. The Federal Government has recently announced a drought assistance package for rural tourism and in Sydney recently it was disclosed that there are 1000 applications per week for drought assistance under exceptional circumstance. This supports what we already know from our travels to these rural regions.

Phil Durkin

Chair Transportable Rides & Showmen