• ‘Critical time’: Commercial growers urged to join fruit fly fight
• SA regional tourism under review
• SILK eyes $8.4m NSW acquisition
• New leadership and tech at Harrison McMillan

‘Critical time’: Commercial growers urged to join fruit fly fight

The state government is urging commercial fruit growers in the Riverland to access free bait and lures to protect their crops from fruit flies, with a new eradication program launched for the new year.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) last week launched its new “summer eradication program” to raise awareness in outbreak areas about preventing fruit fly.

According to PIRSA’s outbreak map, there are still nine Queensland Fruit Fly outbreaks in the Riverland affecting land near Renmark, Loxton and Waikerie.

The new eradication push, running from January to March 2023, will offer free bait and traps to commercial growers across the Riverland, with the state government saying it has made changes to the program to make it easier for growers to participate.

It comes at a “critical time” for fruit fly detection as the pest reaches the end of its life cycle in April, the state government said, with commercial growers “strongly encouraged” to participate in the free bait and traps program.

“The Malinauskas Labor Government remains committed to getting rid of fruit fly in the Riverland and working towards reinstatement of the pest free area,” Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said in a statement.

“Significant progress was made in fruit fly eradication over spring and the heightened level of activity will go a long way to lowering fly numbers.”

According to Scriven, 282 million sterile fruit flies have been released since August 2022 in a bid to curb local outbreaks.

That’s in addition to 39,000 traps deployed, 200,000 litres of bait mix used and 21,500 residential properties visited “regularly”.

The Riverland, Swan Hill and Goulburn Valley are responsible for more than 50 per cent of the nation’s stone fruit production.

The Riverland growing region is also the third largest citrus growing region in Australia, with 5518 hectares of planted citrus contributing 20 per cent of Australia’s commercial citrus industry.

SA regional tourism under review

The South Australian Tourism Commission has commissioned a “comprehensive” review of the state’s regional tourism structure and is looking for “opportunities to market our regions more effectively”.

The SATC released a tender last week for a “South Australian Regional Tourism Review” examining four areas: regional structure management, promotion of regions, product development and industry capability building.

According to the tender, the SATC is seeking a “comprehensive review of South Australia’s current regional tourism structure and working relationships” via a “written report outlining recommendations for the sustainability of South Australia’s Regional Tourism Structure”.

It is also seeking the successful applicant to “determine the opportunities to market our regions more effectively via better collective application of SATC, RTO (regional tourism organisations), local council and regional tourism industry marketing resources”.

The review will consult with regional tourism managers and chairs along with councils and boards, the Tourism Industry Council of South Australia and the Minister for Tourism Zoe Bettison.

The final report and its recommendations are due to be handed down on April 30, 2023,

SILK eyes $8.4m NSW acquisition

SILK Laser’s Marion store. Photo: Brad Griffin.

Adelaide-based beauty therapy chain SILK Laser Clinics is proceeding with an $8.4 million acquisition of 10 cosmetic clinics across New South Wales and the ACT.

In its latest national expansion play, the ASX-listed company has announced the acquisition of Eden Laser Clinics – an 11-year-old cosmetics business with more than 130,000 clients.

The $8.4m acquisition, expected to be completed in March 2023, will add 10 cosmetics clinics (nine in NSW, one in the ACT) to SILK’s national network.

It will increase the number of SILK-owned clinics from 131 to 141, bringing the company closer to its pre-listing goal of expanding to 150 clinics.

SILK CEO Martin Perelman touted the acquisition as an “exciting opportunity for SILK to grow in the key state of New South Wales”.

“Eden Laser Clinics is closely aligned to our existing service offering and provides upside through increasing the sale of injectables to their clients and via procurement and systems initiatives,” he told the ASX.

SILK posted a net profit after tax of $9.56m for FY22 off the back of a huge increase in its injectables service offering.

The company ranked 49th on InDaily’s 2022 South Australian Business Index.

SILK was founded in Adelaide in 2009 and offers laser hair removal, cosmetic injectables, skin treatments, body contouring and skin care products.

New leadership and tech at Harrison McMillan

Adelaide recruitment and HR consultancy, Harrison McMillan, is predicting triple digit growth in 2023 on the back of managing director and co-founder Dani Cuff acquiring sole ownership of the 10-year-old business and stepping up to chief executive.

The firm has also announced the national launch of its high-volume recruitment technology solution that is already supporting customers such as Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), Opal Packaging and Bridgestone.

Cuff, an InDaily 40 Under 40 alumnus, said the post-Covid landscape was the right place to introduce their “recruitment 4.0” approach to a national market.

“Covid-19 changed everything we had come to accept as ‘normal’, none more so than in the human resources and recruitment sectors where a ‘new normal’ dominates,” she said.

“Today, it’s all about agility with work-from-home options and flexi Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Augmentation solutions needing to be balanced with the traditional office work scenario and the permanent workforce to achieve the best outcome for all concerned.”

She said the new model combines the art of recruitment with the science delivered by advanced technology.

The company says it’s also recently added “Hybrid Recruitment Process Outsourcing” to its suite of recruitment services.