Editor's Message (2/2)

IN this election month, Premier Anna Bligh is in a race to prove to Queenslanders that their jobs are safe — if she can keep hers.

But as the mining industry and financial sectors face tough challenges, there are many businesses in Brisbane that are showing they have the alternatives to pick up some of the slack.

HLB Mann Judd CEO David Jackson, says those businesses need to avoid relying too much on a few clients for a large amount of cash inflow.

He says now is the time to diversify and assess our options.

As banks around Australia and the world continue to squeeze credit, our cover story features a shining light in the banking sector.

Rob Nicholls from Credit Union Australia tells Brisbane Business News how the mutual society has managed to have virtually no debt, with a conservative business model that has been resilient to the economic turmoil.

With a loan book that lending institutions would ‘die for’, Nicholls is optimistic that Brisbane is in a good position to work its way out of a recession.

Also in this issue, UQ business commentator Professor Tim Brailsford, sees a ‘political hot potato’ in the state’s credit downgrading but anticipates similar rating falls ahead for other states.

Meanwhile, the opinion column is from St Lucia’s sandstone institution, with Dr James Laurenceson giving us his take on what Chinese takeovers in the mining sector really mean in the long term.

He says if we want our resources to be developed and to maintain jobs, foreign investment is a necessity, not an option.

But despite significant job losses in February, there is employment potential around the corner in some sectors following joint developments between competing gas industries and new development projects such as Mirvac’s Waterfront mini-suburb at Newstead.

For many, a downturn is a time for opportunity and there are many emerging businesses and technologies that are powering ahead, both locally and internationally.

Nanotechnology, biotechnology and ‘green’ building development come to the fore.

We also interview young entrepreneur Wayne Denning, whose company Carbon Media strives for positive social change through a TV program aiming to educate Indigenous children.

And we catch up with Intouch Direct CEO Carmen Riley, who is setting an example for International Women’s Day and tells aspiring entrepreneurs the key to success is a healthy lifestyle and self assurance.

Innovator and Alchemia CEO Peter Smith talks up his company’s anti-thrombosis drug that is set for high sales in the US once it is passed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the meantime the company will focus on bowel cancer research that could pave the way for longer periods that patients have before relapses.

And finally we travel to Dubai and trek outside the metropolis of the desert city and into the vast sandy expanse on an Arabian adventure.

Camilla Westerlund