WAVES

PRESIDENT, ANNE SADLER

Who would have believed that while we were safely listening to our guest speaker talking to us about matters relating to the Banking Royal Commission that people in Christchurch were being murdered because of their religion. April 2019 Number 273 The world is a changing place.

There has not been a shortage of other Working for Australians in news during the last month; Brexit, the Retirement NSW Election and schoolchildren Association of Independent Retirees protests. I must say I have not been impressed with some of (A.I.R.) Limited the media coverage of these events. Too many egos seem to ACN 102 164 385 ABN 35 102 164 385 be in the way of the facts. Newsletter As I write this, I can not help thinking that we have enjoyed a beautiful warm summer, a very short autumn and I think an Northern Tasmania Branch early start to winter. Time to harvest the tomatoes and PO Box 332, Launceston, 7250 pumpkins for soup, relish etc. I recently attended the tomato E: [email protected] and garlic festival near Hagley. I was amazed by the number 0499 438 787 of people attending and at the amount of interest in growing their own vegetables.

Northern Tasmania seems to have been busy with Christmas, Dates 2019 Festivale, Mofo, Ten Days on the Island and the Glover Prize to name a few. A wonderful opportunity for people from General Meeting Friday 12 April the island to the north, as well as overseas, to admire and Political Forum 10:00 am experience our home. It is also pleasing to notice developments to enhance the city, such as work on the City IDG Meeting Friday 26 April 10am Park Duck Pond and a new recreational area at Riverbend Park. Above meetings at Windsor Precinct Committee Meeting: 8 April This week the Treasurer will deliver his first budget. I wonder how we, as retirees, will benefit. 9:30 for 9:45 am

We look forward to seeing many of you at the forthcoming Gospel Church Political Forum. Please refer to page 8. I am sure many members will have some interesting questions they would like to ask the candidates. We are fortunate to have this HOBART UPCOMING MEETINGS opportunity to put our concerns forward. Please prepare your 5 April, Friday 10am Committee at questions in advance, if possible, with a limited preamble so Derwent Sailing Squadron, Sandy Bay that as many members as possible may participate in question time. As members, you will have priority over guests, as the 26 April, Friday 10:30am General Meet- forum will be open to the public. ing Political Forum, Mathers House, Hobart

Contact: Anne Baily (03) 6229 3349 Anne Sadler 1 PAGE TWO PHOTOS

Above Left to Right: Mary Doyle, Nancy Giles, Pam Above: Mary Doyle (left) with Paul Taylor and Ovie Taylor Hodgen (right) current Launceston Airport Manager. Mary Doyle’s husband, Peter, was a former Launceston Airport Manager

Above: Welcome back Yvonne Bathgate (left) a long term branch member who has moved to Adelaide and Above: Joan Jacks (left) and Cynthia Wagner is now a member of the Holdfast Bay branch. (right) discussing life in general prior to the Margaret Fenton (centre) and Norma Barwick meeting. (right)

Above: Our cheerful IDG “tea ladies” Althea Above: Paul Hodgen (left) and Michael Fenton- Harrison (left) and Mary Cornish (right) Jones (right)

2 REPORT ON MARCH GENERAL MEETING

Stewart Nankervis, Regional Community Manager of Bendigo Bank, Australia’s fifth largest bank, our guest speaker, gave us a very detailed and informative presentation outlining the impact and outcomes of the Financial Services Royal Commission’s Hayne Report. The areas of focus for the Commission Hearings were as follows: 1) Consumer lending 2) Financial advice (planning) 3) Small and medium enterprises 4) Regional and remote communities 5) Superannuation 6) Insurance 7) Policy questions Of the 10,000 submissions, 61% were in the banking field, 12% superannuation of which 35% dealt with personal finances. The Executive Summary stated some of the bad conduct was already known to regulators and the public, however, some was not previously known. In an attempt to understand why the abuses started and persisted, the main reason appeared to be greed coupled with short term profit motives at the expense of basic honesty. Sales became the main focus and staff were rewarded on point of sale results and not the long term benefits to the lender or consumer. This led to the misconduct of the lenders through irresponsible lending by non assessment of applications, poor administration, changing of loan terms in documentation, poor dispute resolutions, brokering fee schemes and falsification by lenders with or without the consumers’ knowledge. In the area of financial services, the banks were found to charge unreasonably high fees for services, whether they were rendered or not, and giving inappropriate financial advice, both improper conduct. A few of the Commission’s recommendations, which have not been placed into law as of yet are as follows: 1) Mortgage broker remuneration will be paid in full by the consumer. 2) Disclosure statement changes. 3) Ongoing fee arrangements for financial planners must be reviewed annually and total fees charged must be disclosed. 4) “Hawking” or unsolicited sales, would be prohibited. The balance of the presentation focused on Bendigo Bank’s strategy to be Australia’s bank of choice, continued focus on customers, communities and partners. Bendigo Bank follows the Community Bank Model of 1998, meaning that the community buys shares in the bank and 80% of the profits go back into the community as investments and 20% goes to the shareholders. Over 205 million AUD is re-invested back into local communities. Bendigo Bank has over 500 branches Australia wide with over 320 of those being Community Branches of which 13 are in Tasmania re-investing 5 million AUD into local communities. Stewart told us Bendigo Bank is ahead of the pack when it comes to remuneration of staff (all of whom are on salary with no sales commissions paid), responsible lending and financial planning. There were many questions from the membership. We thank Stewart, for his time to speak with us giving us succinct details around the commissions findings and recommendations. It was also an opportunity to learn about community banks and their importance to smaller towns and rural communities through investments and partnerships.

3 REPORT MARCH IDG SPEAKERS

Although all of us feel that we are quite familiar with our airport in Launceston, Paul Hodgen of Australia Pacific Airports (Launceston) Pty Ltd, who is responsible for the airport operations, gave us an excellent inside view presentation with his delightful, but understandable northern Ireland accent! He has been the general manager for five years and in that time has made several notable improvements receiving public accolades as “Major Airport of the Year “ for 2015, 2016 and 2017. The airport has won a total of 5 awards in 4 years! The Mission Statement for Launceston Airport is “ To be the port of choice, the gateway to Tasmania” for all travelers to our state. It is notable that Launceston airport is the oldest in the state. Paul’s PowerPoint presentation was full of facts and figures regarding the airport, a few as below: 1) There was 1.36 million passengers in 2018 passing through the airport showing a growth of 2% over 2017 and an expected growth in 2019 of 1%. 2) The load factor, or bums on seats, was 85%, ahead of expectations by 2.5%. 3) Qantas is responsible for 70% of the traffic and will continue for 5 more years with expected growth with flights to Gold Coast and Adelaide 4) Virgin Australia will be adding 3 additional flights to Melbourne, growth by an airline. 5) 400 people work at the airport, 29 directly for the management company. The airport has gone through many positive changes, including better passenger flows, improved and larger information monitors, baggage lockers, landscaping, website upgrades and airport calculators on flights using a flight tracker app. Works in process include rental car ready bay upgrades with undercover walkways, Master Plan 2020 required by law to be updated and approved every 5 years, and office space consolidation. Upcoming plans under consideration include security enhancement, ring and ride offsite parking awaiting passenger arrivals, trials on automation bag drops, façade enhancements and the extension of the arrivals hall . There were many questions posed to Paul including the use of air bridges and international flights, both of which are not currently under consideration. Thank you Paul for taking the time to present an excellent program on one of our local assets: LST.

As per usual Chris Elliott, Managing Partner of Crowe Horwath, Launceston, began his presentation with the international and domestic market percentages from 1 July 2018 til 31 December 2018 compared with 1 January to the 22nd of March. Generally speaking, the markets have performed better over the first quarter of this year compared to the prior six months. The AUD to the USD was at .7117 on the 22nd, down 3.9%. Interest rates have remained unchanged. Global growth has slowed from 3.8% in 2018 to 3.5% so far in 2019 with the biggest risk focusing around trade disputes. Chris opines there is unlikely to be any rate increases from the RBA or the Federal Reserve in the near future. The Australian commercial property sector is still positive. Chinese growth is expected to further slow in 2019 which will hurt some emerging markets such as South Africa, Turkey and Argentina. Brexit issues continue making Europe the greatest risk with three of the smaller emerging markets all having elections in May. There are always questions regarding policy proposals from the Labor government which Chris aptly responds. The best takeaway regarding “franking credits” was Chris’s comment that the policy was discriminating against a particular structure in the superannuation scheme (SMSF’s), not individuals. However, it just happens that many of the those individuals affected happen to be members of AIR.

4 SAM MCCULLOUGH , SIMMONS WOLFHAGEN - HOBART

Booth v Brooks: Adult Daughter Receives $800,000 from Father’s estate in Tasmania Adult children can (and sometimes do) make claims against the estate of their parent in Tasmania. Claims are made pursuant to the Testator’s Family Maintenance Act 1912 (Tasmania) (“the Act”). The interesting 2018 Tasmanian case of Booth v Brooks involved a claim made by Tanya Booth against the estate of her late father, Darrell Triffett. Mr. Triffett died in 2013 at 70 years of age. He was survived by his partner of about 40 years, Frances Brooks, their two adult sons, and Tanya. The Court found that Mr Triffett’s wealth had been accumulated through the joint efforts of him and his partner Ms Brooks, initially by a successful log carting business; and then by a successful sheep and cattle farming enterprise. Mr. Triffett’s last Will made in 2011 left his estate of about $6M to his partner Ms. Brooks. It made no provision for his daughter Tanya. In addition to Mr. Triffett’s sizeable personal estate, there was also evidence of a related Trust outside Mr. Triffett’s estate, which held several million dollars’ worth of farming land. Tanya’s financial position was very poor. She had minimal assets, no superannuation, some debt and her only income was a low Centrelink pension. She was 47 years old and unemployed. At the time of Mr. Triffett’s death she had her 15 year old adult son living with her. A finding was made that whilst Tanya had been unemployed for some time she was not permanently disabled from working. The Court looked closely at the relationship between Mr. Triffett and Tanya. Tanya was not brought up by Mr. Triffett, however she described having a good relationship with him during her childhood. Mr. Triffett provided her with some pocket money, and a second hand car on her 18th birthday, but otherwise provided no direct financial support during her childhood. After Tanya separated from her husband in 1998, Mr. Triffett provided her with rent free accommodation in a cottage on his land. This continued until 2005, but Mr. Triffett was found to have then “evicted” Tanya, causing her to move into a women’s shelter. By contrast, Mr. Triffett’s relationships with his partner Ms. Brooks and their sons were very close. Mr. Triffet’s expressed reasons for not making provision for Tanya included the history of their relationship, and the little contact they had. There was also evidence that Mr. Triffett did not approve of aspects of Tanya’s lifestyle, including court cases she had been involved in over custody for her children, and her hospitalisations for substance abuse. Associate Justice Holt found that “although the applicant and the testator were on speaking terms prior to the eviction of the applicant from the cottage in 2008, the testator had very little interest in the applicant from her early childhood and very little regard for her in adulthood”. Associate Justice Holt found that the size of the estate was sufficient to make some provision for Tanya, whilst still providing adequately for Ms. Brooks, and “allowing the family farming operations to continue, to expand and to improve, ultimately for the benefit of the two adult sons.” The Court then had to decide whether and what provision should be made for in all of the circumstances of the case. Tanya’s claim was put as high as her needing $1.9M from the estate. The estate, on the other hand, argued that she should only receive an amount effectively providing for “the bare necessities of life”. Associate Justice Holt declined to make provision for Tanya at the high level that she sought, but also rejected that provision pursuant to the Act should be limited to the bare necessities of life. It was noted that determining the amount of provision did not call for “precise mathematical calculation”. It was ordered that Tanya receive $800,000.00 from the estate, in addition to her costs of the proceedings. Sam McCullough is a strong supporter of our organization, please see the back page for details for Simmons Wolfhagen. The firm plans to open an office in Launceston soon. Thank you Sam for this interesting contribution showing the discretionary power of this court.

5 UNIQUE MEMBER LOGIN

Why is this important ? The generic “Member” sign in is being phased out 1 June and you will no longer have access to your Member Home page on the website. We are going to be utilizing the website more fully posting information online for the benefit of all members. In the March 2019 BMO Newsletter sent out to all branches by Sue Shea OAM, explains in detail how to sign in with a member’s unique Web ID. In a survey at the March General Meeting, it was noted only a few members had gone through this process. Web ID numbers which was originally assigned in July 2017 or given you when you joined the branch. If you have not signed in with your unique number, please follow the 3 easy steps below today: 1) Go to www.independentretirees.com.au and you will see the following:

2) Click on Login (top right side) and you will see the following:

3) Enter you Web ID as Username, which you can obtain from your BMO, [email protected], for Northern Tasmania, [email protected] for Hobart or Cynthia [email protected]. The password is $super+2016. Once you have logged in for the first time, you will be directed to change your password. You will then be able to see the Member’s Section as below:

If you tried to log in previously with your Web ID and were unsuccessful, you may need to contact our webmaster, Ken Rowan to have the Web ID and password reset. Email address below: [email protected]

6 DICK’S DOMAIN

The Indomitable Human Spirit There is something within all of us that makes us persevere in the face of challenges. This is often apparent with those with handicaps. My own brother, a polio victim, never saw that as reducing his life’s chances. He just made do as best he was able with great levels of success. Old people often have diminished capacities, but still make-do. Of course, there are many aids to help them in this. A visit to McLean Healthcare shop in Earl Street is a testament to this. We now take it for granted that we will use glasses to help us see, hearing aids to help us hear, and walking sticks or walkers to get us around with more confidence. We do all these things with good humour, accepting that we are aging and need certain levels of support in our daily lives. My own particular handicap at this time is my vision. I am living in a twilight world where reading is almost impossible. However, a very large font and a memory keyboard still allows me to make these written comments. One really comes to appreciate the essential role of our senses in making the most of life! Dick James

The “Worker Boys” who make magic each meeting before you all arrive and after you leave by setting up the rooms with the chairs, tables, banners, screens and any- thing else needed. After meetings they put it all back!!! Give a big “THANK YOU” to (left to right) Jeff Losh, John Symonds, Shane Dennington and Glen Cornish. As you can see they are also happy to do it!!!

The Committee for the Northern Tasmania Branch of AIR wishes each and everyone a very Happy Easter Holiday

7 April General Meeting Political Forum April IDG Meeting Guest Speakers

THE 2019 POLITICAL FORM IS A MUST FOR “The best laid schemes ‘o mice and men/ Gang ALL MEMBERS TO ATTEND!!! aft a-gley.” from the Scottish poet Robert This is your opportunity to ask questions of the Burns, “To a Mouse” is a very apt quote to candidates who will be running for office in the describe our guest speaker advance Bass electorate and their party’s policy position announcement for the IDG meeting on Friday on a variety of topics. 26 April.

This will be open to the public, however branch All best efforts were made members will be given priority to ask questions to secure a confirmation which will be limited to one per individual. Please from a speaker, however, have your questions written out for your reference this did not happen. in advance. We ask that you do not preface the Therefore, at this point in question with rhetoric, but simply ask the question time, we can not tell about to give more members the opportunity to ask the mystery speaker questions. (pictured above). It is hoped that by this Friday, Each candidate will be given 15 minutes to state 12 April, at the Political Form, we will be in a their policy positions followed by question time position to announce the speaker. We remind and a 5 minute each wrap up. our members that the General Meeting is the 2nd Friday of this month only and not the 3rd Friday, due to it being Good Friday, a Moderator: Christina Holmdahl public holiday. We would like to hear from the membership with regards to speakers or topics you would PARTICIPANTS: like presented. All suggestions are welcomed. Please email: [email protected]. Bridget Archer, Liberal Party Your editor also apologises for the tardiness of this edition of AIRWAVES due to the fact I was

in Sydney at the NSW Division meeting as well as a Board meeting last week. Please refer to your Air Active for the Board Highlights listed on the back page. Peter Whish-Wilson, Green Party

Chris Elliott, Managing Partner, Crowe Horwath, Launceston will once again be giving us all the markets’ performances for the last 12 months and a calendar year to date for the international and Carl Cooper, National Party domestic markets.

Chris has been giving a vast amount of information over the past 2 months regarding a variety of market segments and current events both nationally and internationally and their possible effect on your portfolios. Ross Hart, Labor Party Members always have many questions which Chris readily answers. Do not miss out and attend this IDG!

8 NOTICES NONSENSE & WISDOM

Morning Tea April General Meeting Pauline Ford, Jean Blew, Peter Ford We are still in need of volunteers for the General Meeting for June, July and August. Do not miss this opportunity to serve. Telephone Pauline: 0417 262 602

March Raffle Winners Gourmet Gift Basket: Tim Sadler Bottle of Wine: Betty Watt Book “Apple Island” John Wettenhall

Simmons Wolfhagen March Entrants We are starting a new year for the draw at the November meeting sponsored by Sam McCullough of Simmons Wolfhagen, Those in the draw for November are: Sue Shea OAM John Stevenson Cheryl Best Don’t Miss out—Come to our IDG meetings!!

April 2019 in Tassie 7 Sunday Time Changes at 3am, back to 2am AEST 19 Good Friday Australia wide holi- day 21 Easter Sunday 22 Easter Monday Australia wide holiday 23 Easter Tuesday, Tasmania holiday 25 Anzac Day Australia wide holiday

9 If undeliverable return to: AIR Northern Tasmania PRINT POSTAGE P.O.Box 332 POST PAID Launceston TAS 7250 100000591 AUSTRALIA Newsletter

Printed as a community service by the office of Senator Wendy Askew ,71 Paterson Street, Launceston

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