18th March 2013

Issue 10/2013

Camera House Deserves Our Support 

Everyone would have been shocked to receive the anonymous email circulated late last week re: Camera House.

It was made all the more powerful, as it contained enough believable content to seem like it was written by "an insider".

That apparently is not the case, and the source is likely to be revealed in coming days.

Our Industry needs Camera House to be healthy, active and consistently marketing the benefits of buying from a specialist. They may not get it right on all occasions, however being the structure they are, their decisions are made public and often announced at "open" sessions, as we experienced at their AGM in Manly last October. That allows many of us to agree or disagree with direction and the decisions, as they are made.

Having held the role of GM at Camera House some years ago, I was continually impressed with the way members worked as a team to achieve their agreed objectives. That culture still prevails and whilst all members do not always agree with all decisions no one can argue that the staff, management and the board have the members interests at "top of mind".

Friends and allies are easily found when things go well, however at a time like this, The Camera House Team needs the industries support, to ride out what must be a very distracting period.

 
Until next week,

Peter Rose 
Director Australian Activities
PMA - The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations

Your PMA Australia Executive

 National Chairperson

Phil Gresham
philip@fotofast.com.au

Eastern Region TVP

and NSW Chairperson

Mark Alderson

mark.alderson@camerahouse.com.au

WA, SA, NT, QLD TVP

and QLD Chairperson

Andrew Mason 

print@photocontinental.com.au

 TAS Chairperson

John Mullavey

 jandaagencies@netspace.net.au

VIC Chairperson

Jeff Crowley

jeff.crowley@fujifilm.com.au

SA Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

WA Chairperson

Murray Gibbs

murray@ggch.com.au

Director of Australian Activities

Peter Rose

prose@pmai.org

Australian Directors for PMA

John Paxton

jpaxton@paxtons.com.au 

Len Sandler

len.sandler@starshots.com.au

PPFA Chairperson

Bob Smith

bob@classicframing.com.au

APCI Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au
 

PSPA Chairperson

Paul Dawson

pd@hydrophotographics.com.au

PIEA Chairperson

Earle Bridger

e.bridger@griffith.edu.au

PMA Australia Office

02 9454 2444

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Editor

Glynn Lavender

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

"No, I didn't buy a copy of their report . . . it's $129 and for $1 I can get local newspaper with comics in it, I don't have to buy $129 worth of comics "

The point I guess I am trying to make is that while the research may not have a lot of substance we need to take positives wherever we can.

We may feel that we have reached saturation point for our products, especially hardware, but the reality of what percentage our products take up of our customers income is very small.

And that means there is a lot of opportunity for us to grow - we just have to find a way to tap into that potential.

Thanks to Allan Hall for passing on this information on dormant Superannuation accounts.

The Government has recently changed legislation where they will force Superannuation providers to transfer all small "lost" super accounts under $2,000 (raised up from $200) to the ATO.  This is expected to raise the revenue for the ATO by around $550 million dollars.

Under the new rules your superannuation account will be deemed "lost" if there have been no contributions for 12 months. Also accounts of less than $2000 where the members are contactable but which have lain dormant for five years will also be transferred to the Tax Office.

Some points to note with these new rules are: 

• If you have lost or inactive super accounts with less than $2000 in them, your money will be transferred to the ATO by the end of May. 
• There is no formal opt-out. To be excluded you need to contact each of your super funds.
• You could be classified as lost if your previous employer gave a super fund your wrong address.
• Getting your money back from the tax office requires a lot of time and effort.
• You will lose any insurance arrangements you have with your fund.
• You will only be entitled to interest on the money the ATO holds on your behalf from July 1, and it's only at the rate of CPI, so you'll be disadvantaged if your superannuation fund's returns are above CPI.

Source: Sunsuper

So now more than ever it is crucial that you look into consolidating your superannuation benefits - apart from saving on duplicate fees and being able to make a proactive informed decision on your retirement money.

Please feel free to speak to our Financial Planning team here at Allan Hall Business Advisers via email enquiries@ahfp.com.au or phone 02 89783770 if you require some help locating and consolidating your superannuation accounts, and also taking a personalised direct approach in investing your superannuation.

New rules have come into effect today, March 18 2013, which limit retailer surcharging when customers pay with a Visa credit card, both in-store and online. The rules were developed in response to a Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) review, aimed at better protecting consumers from excessive surcharging.

Retailers are now required to limit surcharges to the "reasonable cost of card acceptance" for a Visa transaction, and will need to be able to justify any surcharges they pass on to consumers. The justifiable surcharge can be made up by the Merchant service Fee (MSF), terminal line cost, credit card terminal rental, annual acceptance fee and employee training to operate the terminal - particularly in a business with a high volume of employee turnover.  

It is important to note that retailers cannot take the MSF of the highest cost scheme and apply that charge across Visa. For instance, if the MSF for AMEX is 2.5%  and the MSF for Visa is 1%, you must charge a different surcharge for the two transaction types.

Visa will be working with retailers and their banks to help them comply with the new rules and the guidelines issued by the RBA to limit surcharges to the "reasonable cost of card acceptance". Check out the retailer fact sheet for more information.

At this stage AMEX MasterCard, Diners and JCB have not made any decision to participate in the surcharging limiting. The ARA will keep members updated on the implementation of this surcharging limit by other card schemes.  

Here's an interesting article from the Border Mail showing how companies such as Cabcharge and airlines flaunt the new laws.

Dr Les Walkling is an artist, educator and consultant. His work is in many public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and The National Gallery of Victoria.

Les is the former Program Director of Media Arts at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and Senior Research Fellow and Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant recipient in the School of Art. He also conducts regular digital imaging courses through the Centre for Contemporary Photography, and presents his research at industry conferences, seminars and festivals as an artist and digital imaging and colour management consultant.

Don't miss out on expert tuition from Dr Les Walkling. Register now - there are still vacancies! 

Dates and venues for Les Walkling's seminars + workshops are as follows: 

COSTINGS: 

Evening Seminar          $69.00  

Register online at www.pmaaustralia.com.au or click here  to register for Les Walkling's March Info'tography Seminars + Workshops in Melbourne or Perth.

To download the course content, click here