• Adelaide to host 2023 Dreamtime Festival
• Supply chain mapping tool to link Australian space capabilities to UK
• Late nights in Rundle Mall
• Govt to create ‘land supply dashboard’ for developers
• Business in Schools is inspiring young women to make their mark
• Equity crowdfunding platform launched in Adelaide
• Duxton Pubs Group acquires BSGM Hospitality Services
• Survey results indicate a decrease in disposable income for Australians
• SA wineries picked for ‘Explore Canada’ program 
• Broadway Property expands across SA borders

Adelaide to host 2023 Dreamtime Festival

Adelaide will be the host city for Dreamtime 2023 as the festival returns after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event invites business event planners and media from around the world to increase awareness of and interest in Australia as a business events destination.

Dreamtime 2023 will be hosted from 7-10 November with guests visiting other Australian destinations before and after the event.

Tourism Australia Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison said Dreamtime is a key event on Tourism Australia’s calendar and will be more important than ever as Australia continues to rebuild a pipeline of international business events.

“Dreamtime 2023 is a valuable part of our distribution activity to bring qualified planners and media to Australia to experience the wealth of new product available and our world class event delivery,” Harrison said.

“Like so many of our destinations, Adelaide has undergone unprecedented infrastructure development, welcoming new product such as Sofitel Adelaide, Adelaide Oval Hotel and Eos by SkyCity and the Southern Ocean Lodge, which will reopen later this year.”

Business Events Adelaide Chief Executive Officer, Damien Kitto, said “our hard work winning Dreamtime is an exceptionally worthwhile investment for the state’s long-term economy and Business Events Adelaide.

“Hosting Dreamtime puts Adelaide front and centre of vital global event decision-makers.”

Supply chain mapping tool to link Australian space capabilities to UK

Adelaide-based SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has partnered with the United Kingdom’s Satellite Applications Catapult to develop an International Comparison Dashboard focused on the Australian space industry.

The dashboard aims to identify potential gaps in either market that could be addressed by foreign direct investment and export opportunities.

To be launched at the 2023 Avalon Airshow, the dashboard is also designed to stimulate new opportunities for organisations, industries and researchers across nations to collaborate on potential projects and programmes and to attract international customers and end users.

Stuart Naylor, Director of International Engagement at the Satellite Applications Catapult, said they built the tool to strengthen ties between the respective space industries, governments and end users by identifying growth areas.

“Innovation and collaboration across nations are a vital part of future economic growth and a key element of our work at the Satellite Applications Catapult,” Naylor said.

“This new and exciting initiative begins the process of providing a quantitative evidence base for decision-making to enable growth.”

The project was supported by the UK Space Agency, with matched funding for supply chain tagging from the Satellite Applications Catapult and SmartSat CRC.

During the initial pilot, the Satellite Applications Catapult catalogued 240 Australian organisations, which represent a significant portion of the Australian space ecosystem.

– Jim Plouffe

Late nights in Rundle Mall

A trading hour exemption requested by the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) has seen Rundle Mall trading hours extended until 7pm on Saturdays for the duration of the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

In place until 18 March, the extended shopping hours saw foot traffic more than double between 5-7pm on 18 February when compared to foot traffic on 11 February.

“There were more than 30,000 people in Rundle Mall between 5pm and 7pm, which is more than double at the same time on the previous Saturday and the first festival Saturday of last year,” said AEDA’s Executive Manager of Rundle Mall, Andrew White.

“The entire day was incredibly busy, with Rundle Mall visitor numbers up 27 per cent on the same Saturday last year.

“What we’re seeing is tourists and visitors ready, willing and able to get out to enjoy the fun and atmosphere in Rundle Mall during Festival season, and that’s a great opportunity for our traders.”

The extended trading hours coincide with MallFest, an event in Rundle Mall that adds a curated schedule of buskers, food trucks and a pop-up Coopers Bar to the busy shopping district.

Govt to create ‘land supply dashboard’ for developers

The state government is developing an online tool for councils, agencies and developers to track land availability and rezoning activity in South Australia.

Scheduled for launch mid-year, the online dashboard will make urban land supply and development activity data “more timely, accessible, transparent, and interactive”, according to the state government.

“The creation of this dashboard was called for by industry as a tool to keep the sector, local government and authorities up to date on trends in land supply,” Planning Minister Nick Champion said in a statement.

“This will be another important step for us to respond quickly to changes in the market and improve housing affordability.”

Urban Development Institute of Australia SA division CEO Pat Gerace said the dashboard “has the potential to assist developers save time and money and ultimately deliver cheaper housing for South Australians”.

“The industry has been calling for more contemporary and accessible data on the state of the land markets in South Australia and we welcome this announcement and look forward to assisting with its development and implementation,” Gerace said.

The new online tool comes on top of other development tracking dashboards, such as the publicly available Metropolitan Development Activity Tracker.

Business in Schools is inspiring young women to make their mark

Not-for-profit educational organisation Business in Schools has announced the launch of its new program, Making Her Mark.

The program aims to encourage South Australian women to explore careers that go against traditional gender stereotypes.

The launch event will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre on 1 March with over 18 schools attending and a growing waitlist.

The event’s keynote speaker is Senior Systems Engineer at Shoal Group, Shena Howell, who will be accompanied by panel members Civil Contractors Association SA CEO Rebeca Pickering, Myriota Rapid Prototyping Engineer Alex Schutz and carpenter Bailee Major.

“Inspiring girls is really important to me, I’m making my mark by being present and visible, engaging the next generation of girls in engineering and science, and showing them that you don’t need to change who you are to work in this field,” said Howell.

Business in Schools Board member and Principal of Springbank Secondary College, Wendy House said the initiative’s goals are to break down gender norms, educate through resources and key learnings, encourage through shared experiences and connect through events to support career choices.

“Girls and women can’t be what they can’t see. We are creating opportunities including helping students identify and achieve their goals in life after school by increasing awareness of the business world as well as encouraging teachers and industry leaders to create more authentic learning experiences,” House said.

Making Her Mark will feature an ambassador program to attract girls and women to share their career pathway journeys and experiences to inspire others.

Equity crowdfunding platform launched in Adelaide

Called The Apiary, the platform is run by Swarmer, an Adelaide headquartered company giving people a place to invest at the early stage of potentially high-growth businesses, scale-ups and start-ups.

Roseanne Healy, Founder and Managing Director of Swarmer said they have created The Apiary as a way to support those who are time poor but keen to invest in the growing economy of Australian start-up and scale-up investments.

“It is designed for the investor who is serious about getting in on the ground floor, has an eye on growth; the sectors and scale as well as having a genuine interest in innovation,” Healy said.

“We are creating a connected community. The Apiary supports the members investing experience through exclusive early access events, and early notice prior to Equity Raise campaigns going public to retail investors.”

The Apiary will enable members to be at the front of any investment waitlist for companies raising funds that have exceeded their maximum funding goal as well as lend their expertise and support to founders.

– Jim Plouffe

Duxton Pubs Group acquires BSGM Hospitality Services

The Duxton Pubs Group has announced its acquisition of BSGM Hospitality Services (BSGM) and will be rebranding the business as Duxton Hospitality Services (DHS).

Duxton Pubs Group Chairman Ed Peter said the latest acquisition will transition the company into a fully integrated hospitality owner and operator.

“This will give us an incredibly dynamic and fully integrated hospitality offering in keeping with our goal to become Australia’s pre-eminent hospitality group,” Peter said.

BSGM is jointly owned by Brett Matthews and Martin Palmer who co-founded the Duxton Pubs Group alongside Peter.

Under the deal, Matthews and Palmer will take additional equity in the Duxton Pub Group in exchange for BSGM ownership.

“Given the natural synergies, it’s logical to align our interests by integrating BSGM with Duxton Pubs, especially given Duxton’s growth trajectory,” Matthews said.

“It’s an exciting time in the group’s development journey and this latest evolution will strongly position us for further expansion.”

The transition is expected to be completed by early March.

Survey results indicate a decrease in disposable income for Australians

New data from a survey conducted by YouGov indicates that over two in five Australians reported a decrease in disposable income over the past year.

The Financial Outlook 2023: Navigating the storm report investigated the effects of COVID-19, growing inflation, rising cost of living and higher energy bills on Australian consumers to examine how financial institutions can best respond.

The data was based on the responses of 1,058 Australians over the age of 16.

The top financial activity among participants was paying for health insurance. Photo: YouGov.

Some 38 per cent of Australians reported that insurance was their highest priority over the past 12 months. Another 37 per cent chose savings as most important to them.

Other areas of concern were paying for pets, homes and automotive insurance, as well as money management for mortgages and home loans.

According to the report, Australians are increasingly taking measures to track, review and adapt their spending habits.

Australians under the age of 45 are more likely to need help managing their finances. Photo: YouGov

Although 45 per cent of respondents said they didn’t need help learning to manage their finances, understanding how to invest was a top priority among people aged 18 to 34 years old.

– Charlie Gilchrist

SA wineries picked for ‘Explore Canada’ program 

Twenty South Australian wineries have been selected for a state government program to help them break into the Canadian export market.

The program, run by the Department for Trade and Investment and Wine Australia, will hold export briefings this month to help the chosen companies secure initial orders and connect with Canadian retailers.

The state government said the chosen wineries represent a cross-section of emerging brands, progressive and traditional styles and regional South Australian wineries.

Canada is South Australia’s fourth biggest wine export market.

“Canada is such an important market for McLaren Vale and SA’s other 17 wine regions,” said Labor MP Leon Bignell, whose electorate takes in the McLaren Vale wine region.

“Because the provincial governments of Canada own and control the distribution it is very important that they see our government working alongside our winemakers to get more wine into their markets.”

Bignell said he met with the head of the Ontario Liquor Control Board last year who said Australian wine sales had slumped 15 per cent the previous year.

“With the China market collapse the last thing we want is export figures going backwards,” Bignell said.

“We need to sell every possible bottle of SA wine and it’s where governments can help industry with this type of assistance.”

The 20 selected wineries are:

• Dandelion Vineyards
• Gibson Wines
• Tomich Wines
• Nova Vita Wines
• The Pawn
• Hither & Yon
• Yelland & Papps
• Riggs Wine Co.
• Living Roots Wine & Co.
• Eight at the Gate Wines
• Levrier Wines by Jo Irvine
• Chalk Hill Wines
• Corryton Burge Wines & Barossa Boy Wines
• Bremerton Vintners
• Teusner Wines
• Angas & Bremer
• Pindarie
• Lou Miranda Estate
• Hart of the Barossa
• Sevenhill Cellars

Broadway Property expands across SA borders

Adelaide property advisory firm Broadway Property is expanding its operations and launching an office in Melbourne.

Established in 2018 by Ben Heritage and Ryan Stewart, Broadway Property provides independent strategic purchase and lease transaction advice, asset, development and transaction management, and consultancy and advisory services.

The new office will be headed by Myles Heritage who will be responsible for expanding existing services into Victoria and the eastern seaboard.

“I am extremely excited to head up Broadway Property’s Melbourne office and look forward to working closely with the Adelaide team to continue Broadway Property’s impressive trajectory,” Heritage said.