Category: News

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has made a high profile television splash in China, appearing this week on Talk to Lei, where he was interviewed by the so-called ‘Oprah Winfrey’ of China, Chen Lei.

It’s a promotion money can’t buy in a country of more than 1.35 billion people.

Cr Quirk said the hour-long program highlighted the city’s many attractions and why it was chosen to hostthe upcoming G20 Leaders Summit 2014.

“Brisbane is fast becoming a rising star in the Asia Pacific and this was an incredible opportunity to showcase the city ahead of one of the biggest international events we have ever hosted,” he said.

“Talk to Lei airs on ICS, which is the only English television channel in East China and is broadcast to almost five million homes across Shanghai.

“It’s also aired on cable channel IPTV, which has a viewing audience of a further four million homes, and available online to a global audience as well.”

Chen Lei became a Brisbane ambassador when she hosted the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for the third time last December.

Established in 2007, the awards are now managed by economic development board Brisbane Marketing in a unique collaboration with Paris-based UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations.

During her week-long visit Ms Chen asked to film a series of interviews with the Lord Mayor and other local business leaders and innovators.

Cr Quirk said the savvy TV host knew exactly what sort of exposure the G20 event could generate for Brisbane.

“Chen Lei is an accomplished television presenter who is very highly regarded in her home country and she has interviewed many business and government leaders, and global celebrities for a variety of programs,” he said.

“She knows Brisbane is a city on the move and understands the sorts of economic, tourism and international study opportunities that could flow from hosting the Leaders’ Summit.

“This was a marvellous opportunity to promote Brisbane to the many millions of viewers throughout Asia, with the potential to generate further tourism and business opportunities in the year of the G20.”

The future of Australia depends on our ability to nurture and create the next generation of entrepreneurs, says start-up expert and author Adrian Turner.

In Brisbane as part of Digital Brisbane’s Visiting Entrepreneurs Program, Mr Turner, one of Silicon Valley’s most respected experts on mobile, internet security and entrepreneurship, will meet with local entrepreneurs, business leaders and university students on his six-day trip starting on Wednesday.

Adrian Turner is the author of Blue Sky Mining named, of course, after the Midnight Oil Song. Blue Sky Mining is a “confronting and compelling” book that demystifies the underlying structures and principles that make Silicon Valley so successful in repeatedly spawning new billion dollar industries. Written from the perspective of an Australian entrepreneur who has spent the last 12 years there, the book explains why innovation has been and will always be the most important unit of economic growth. With this baseline, Blue Sky Mining contrasts Silicon Valley with Australia’s commercialisation ecosystem, concluding that Australia’s is on the brink of collapse with devastating consequences.

“By offering the Visiting Entrepreneurs Program, Brisbane is demonstrating it is serious about being Australia’s leading digital city with a global outlook, fuelled by entrepreneurs,” he said.

“From my own experiences, I cannot overstate the importance of being able to interact with entrepreneurs and leaders who have lived it from the trenches.

“Starting any business is hard – in Silicon Valley there is a robust support network for the entrepreneur made up of entrepreneur practitioners.  The Visiting Entrepreneurs Program is an important step in establishing that support network in Brisbane.”

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the program was just one in a series of initiatives within Brisbane Marketing’s Digital Brisbane strategy to encourage and foster high-growth start-up companies.

“These companies are the ones that have the potential to reach global markets and bring billions of dollars into the Brisbane economy,” Cr Quirk said.

“As a city, we need to support this sector and put Brisbane on the front foot to make the most of the opportunities start-ups present.

“Adrian Turner is a great advocate of the entrepreneurial culture we’re building in Brisbane and I hope the members of Brisbane’s start-up sector, the business leaders and the students that meet with him are inspired by his visit.”

Mr Turner, author of the book BlueSky Mining, which looks at reasons behind Silicon Valley’s success in spawning new billion-dollar industries, is founder of mobile and smart device security company Mocana.

When I read in Foreign Policy that Kremlin has stated, “Vladimir Putin stressed that in case of any further spread of violence to Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, Russia retains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population of those areas,” it sent chills down my spine.

It might sound a bit dramatic to say we might be on the brink of World War 3, but if you have any knowledge in history, it is difficult to avoid noticing some similarities to what happened in World War 2.

What Kremlin has stated is basically a paraphrase of the justification Hitler used to invade Poland in 1939. To protect German-speaking people who live in Poland due to the loss of land after Germany being punished for what they did during World War 1.

Which raises the question, are we now seeing history repeating itself before our very own eyes?

To be honest, I really hope not. Then again, we humans seem to be incapable of learning from our mistakes — so buckle up.

Even Prime Minister Tony Abbott seems to be shaking in his budgie smugglers over this. So much he has told Russia to “back off” from invading Ukraine.

Which is a bit of fresh air. Suddenly the government cares about what is happening abroad. Instead of being frightened by those boat people (most democratic countries refer to them as refugees).

But maybe that is why he is so concerned. If another war erupts, Australia might have to deal with more refugees — and we know how the current government feels about them.

Not to mention that this might be a resurrection of the good old Red Scare which made Australia believe that the Vietnam war (a civil war turned into a proxy war), if not stopped, would turn Australia into some kind of communist hellhole.

But the sincerity of his concern falls short, even though it seems well-meaning.

“You cannot just cross the border of another country with military force,” Tony Abbott said on Bolt Report Sunday morning.

“This is not the kind of action of a friend and neighbour.”

Seemingly forgetting that the [Australian Navy breached Indonesian waters six times][4]. After such an act I find it difficult to believe Tony Abbott is in any position to criticise another country breaching a neighbouring country’s border.

With that said, maybe this can be a lesson our government can learn from, that breaching another country’s border, a neighbour and friend, can never be excused or tolerated.

We can only hope that [Ukraine is left alone][5]. They have endured enough. Nor do the world need to experience yet another war that might be devastating. Even though if some of our younger generations do seem to need to experience a world at war to appreciate what they have — which is what happened after World War 2.

Image source: Geysar Gurbanov

You might have heard that there is a breakthrough work, The Mountaintop, on at The Playhouse Theatre QPAC right now. Starring Pacharo Mzembe and Candy Bowers… written by Katori Hall…. It’s a show about equality, civil rights and radical fierce love.

Brisbane’s world music darlings Mzaza and their talented Portland friends The Underscore Orkestra are back in West End for a very special show at the Bearded Lady on the 13th of March.

Click here to view the Facebook event.

Comm Bank CEO defends bank profits at QUT Business Leaders Forum.

PEOPLE who criticise the big four banks for making too much profit are out of touch with financial reality, Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev told a packed QUT Business Leaders Forum today.

Mr Narev, speaking at the sold-out event at in the Hilton, said criticism of bank profits did not take into account those who were benefiting from that profit.

“We are in an environment where there has been a lot of debate about `the banks’,” he said.

“The Banks are too x or The Banks are too y, or The Banks make too much profit.

“But an interesting thing happened to me when I delivered the second profit announcement after I took over (as CEO), I came home and my wife asked me `Are you a psychopath?’. And I said `No, why do you ask?’. She said `Well, I was just reading a blog about you that says anybody who says they are proud of that profit must be a psychopath’.

Business Leaders Forum, March 3, 2014, Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev “That’s one golden rule of readership: Don’t read anything written about you, not even the good stuff because that can soon turn bad. We have among our shareholders 800,000 Australian households who own the Commonwealth Bank directly.

“Then there are millions more that own it through shareholding through pension funds. So of the current market capitalisation of $120 billion, Australian households directly hold $70 billion of that wealth. The average household’s stake is $70-$75,000, which is big money for them. The $1.83 paid in dividends put a total of $2.9 billion back in hands of shareholders.. .

“The people who ask `Do banks make too much money?’ are actually talking about the people who own the Commonwealth Bank, the people of the country we serve… Our view is that profits are a source of pride. People who say it doesn’t matter are distanced from the reason why a lot of people are relying on the Commonwealth Bank.”

He said that when the financial sector looked back on the past few years, they won’t necessarily remember the biggest impact being the Global Financial Crisis. Instead, it will be seen as the period in which technology completely transformed the business of finance.

He said the four major changes were:

Fast broadband and mobile broadband, allowing people faster and faster access to financial services

The service environment now relied on the device the customer used to access financial services

The amount of new Apps that were being downloaded on to that service device

The cost of gathering and storing data had fallen dramatically.

He said the bank recently completed a six-year project updating core computer operating systems, which has impacted every facet of the business.

“One million people have downloaded the Commonwealth Bank app and 40 per cent use it solely to interface with the bank,” he said, adding that service had to be above par because of the social media commentary those apps afforded.

He said the trick to leading such a large organisation was humility and not to make the “arrogant’’ mistake that present industry troubles were harder to surmount than any that had gone before.

“An organisation works 99 per cent better if you just stay out of the way,” he said.

“Every part of history had its own challenges. This is just our version of those challenges.

“The old philosophies of managing a business are now even more important than ever. It’s a matter of bridging the gap between the new and old.”

The next QUT Business Leaders Forum will be on May 23, where Telstra chairman Catherine Livingstone. Details: http://www.qut.edu.au/business/about/events/qut-business-leaders-forum