Colliers International provides commercial property sale and commercial property lease services, property research industry data, investment property advice, property valuation and property management services to clients across Australia.

The site will hopefully provide news on Newcastle lawyers and publish the latest information on family law, property law, commercial law and contesting wills. 

Here’s the Herald’s announcement:

THE Hunter is set to go head-to-head with major growth regions like south-eastern Queensland to market itself as an economic powerhouse.

A new venture with private sector backing will be launched in Newcastle on Friday to send the message that the Hunter is open for business.

Called Hunter Advantage, the marketing project will combine a national advertising campaign with an internet site to build a strong case for business and industry to invest in or relocate to the Hunter and stimulate growth.

Among the backers are business heavyweights Jeff McCloy, Hilton Grugeon, Richard Owens, Bill Saddington, Mark Fitzgibbon and Phil Gardner and a host of Hunter corporations and business groups.

“This is about everyone working together to attract economic prosperity and jobs to our region,” developer Jeff McCloy said yesterday.

“We’ve got so much more to offer here in the Hunter and we’ve got to promote it as a great place to do business.”

The campaign follows Hunter Business Chamber warnings that the region is not immune to the deepening effects of global recession and that a growing number of local businesses will be forced to reduce staff in the next three months.

Figures the chamber released yesterday said 22 per cent of businesses surveyed expected to sack staff in that period.

But some of the region’s most influential business people say the Hunter could reap long-term prosperity, and jobs, by promoting its advantages.

An advertising campaign titled “A Sound Business Case”, will go national from Friday and an internet site will provide information on all aspects of the region, including education and lifestyle.

It will also contain case studies of businesses that have successfully relocated premises and staff to the Hunter.

Mr McCloy said the project, set up with seed-funding from the private sector, was working in conjunction with the State Government through the Hunter Development Corporation.

Advantages the Hunter had over other regions included availability of commercial land, a skilled workforce, affordable residential prices and a good lifestyle.

“Put that together with our educational facilities, airport, access to roads, rail, the port, water and power and I can’t see any restraints to locating business here,” Mr McCloy said.

Wests Group chief executive Philip Gardner said many businesses hit hard by the financial downturn and struggling with the high costs of larger metropolitan areas would look at the Hunter as an ideal place to re-locate.

Hunter development Corporation chairman Paul Broad said the project would help to streamline development activity.

Come join in the fun every Friday at Baristaba Cafe at The Boardwalk, Honeysuckle.

The Federal Government and private sector will invest up to $43 billion over eight years in a super-fast national broadband network, in the “single biggest infrastructure decision in Australia’s history”.

The significance of this announcement reaches far beyond the actual construction implications. The proposed National Broadband Network will affect how Australian’s do business, communicate, consume media and compete internationally.

There will also be an immediate effect, despite the projected 8 year roll-out, as companies begin positioning for what will be a very different future.

The fibre-to-the-premise network will run to 90% of homes and businesses offering speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. The remaining homes and businesses will be reached via wireless and satellite technologies offering speeds of 12 megabits per second.

Companies with strong online businesses should do well now as their future now seems so much brighter.

Superfast broadband will accelerate the move of content online and media companies with strong online strategies will be the best positioned in this exciting future.

Futurist and digital media commentator Mark Pesce wrote in SMH:

Very high-speed broadband of the kind the Government promises will completely change our expectations for the internet. It’s not simply that pages will load faster (and they may not, as that’s more to do with the computers serving those pages than the computer displaying them), it’s the new things that become possible…..

The next-generation broadband network (NBN) opens up possibilities we can’t even dream of today, because we don’t yet live in the world of super high-speed broadband….

Next-generation smartphones will tie into the network to become our points of presence within a “cloud” of information about ourselves, created by ourselves, and shared with those we love and trust.

Having just returned from two digital media conferences in the USA, and observing media consumption habits there, the National Broadband Network announcement seems very timely. Australia has been lagging behind much of the Western world with our slower Internet speeds, and our current network will clearly not cope with, or accept the demands of emerging media.

Whilst in the US I posted about how web technology is changing the face of television there. Privately, I was lamenting the fact that the existing Australian network probably wouldn’t foster such innovation. Suddenly, that is all about to change.

If traditional media in Australia wasn’t already worried (and they are), then they will be terrified now. Most haven’t positioned themselves well for a digital future. Radio has been avoiding the issue and delaying a digital launch. Television is reluctantly launching this year with half-hearted digital stations. Press has been seeing ad-sales drop rapidly as online eats into their readership and influence. Only Kerry Stokes and his Seven Network seem remotely prepared for change.

Australian businesses must begin taking their digital presence seriously. The game is about to change dramatically and those companies that are prepared will be in a position to make a quantum leap.

Social networks will explode. Web video will be fast and effective and ever-present. Advertising and marketing will change forever. New businesses will be launched at a rapid rate, betting on every aspect of a high speed digital future.

Nobody should under-estimate the implications of the National Broadband Network. We were already at a turning point in history, but it just received a kick-along.

Will you be ready or will you be left behind?

Companion have $20,000 available to be donated to the local community and are asking for members and the community for suggestions.

If you know of a not for profit club, group or charity, that could use a helping hand, why not nominate them to share in the grant scheme? Applications are open from 15 April to 15 May and nomination forms can be found here or you can pick one up at your local Companion branch.

This is Companion’s way of saying ‘Thank You’ to their members and the local communities serviced by their branches, and as a member you have a say in who gets the funds by getting involved.

So if you know of a sporting club, charitable organisation or community group that could use some extra funds, let Companion know.

Hunter-based home lender Companion Credit Union has led the way in passing on the Reserve Bank’s full interest rate cut.

Companion said yesterday it was slashing its home loans by the full reduction. Companion chief Ray O’Brien said the credit union’s interest rates were at a 30-year low.

He said the Hunter lender was one of the few to pass on the full 25 basis points.

“Our home loans now start from 4.97 per cent,” he said.

With multi-platinum  selling bands such as Silverchair and The Screaming Jets born and bred in the city it makes sense that that an organisation that prides itself on “giving back to the community that supports it” does so in the most appropriate manner.

Check 1 2 3 4  and enter stage left former Screaming Jets Drummer and local music identity Craig “Rosie” Rosevear  (and bonafide member of the Twitterati: @schoolofrock) with his performance based music school Rosie’s School of Rock. “We were pretty curious when we saw the School of Rock sign go up just across the road” says  King St.

McDonald’s restaurant manager Luke Dippel “so we invited the kids from the school to perform for McHappy Day and it was fantastic !!  We could see the potential in the School and what it could do for the kids of the region and we wanted to be part of something that was so positive and uplifting in their lives, it was like Food for the Soul !!”

So come Monday 23^rd March one lucky student from Rosie’s School of Rock will be awarded the “King St. McDonalds Rock On Scholarship” and will receive a full years tuition paid for by McDonalds. “The relationship we have with King St McDonalds is  a cool thing for both parties” says School of Rock Principal Craig “Rosie” Rosevear. The King St Restaurant provides a great venue for the kids of the School to perform at throughout the year and the kids get a great feeling when they not only get to Rock Out onstage but they know that other kids will benefit when proceeds from these events go to Ronald McDonald House. I think the kids helping kids thing is way cool !!”

The kid’s of Rosie’s School of Rock will team up with the staff of King St McDonalds and provide  “more food for the soul” when they  go to Ronald McDonald House Hunter Region on Tuesday 14^th April 6.30pm.

The kids from the School of Rock will perform for the young patients and their families who live at the house and the staff of the King St store will cook dinner for all. Rosevear, an avid twitter user (@schoolofrock) will give regular Twitter and Twitpic updates from the event as well as post Twiddeo: hashtag from this event will be *food for the soul*. “I think it’s such a great opportunity for the kids from Rosie’s School of Rock to connect personally with the kid’s living at Ronald McDonald house and maybe take their minds off things with a dose of Rock and Roll we can take this connection even further by using the social networking power of Twitter, Twitpic and Twiddeo. We’re going to use the positive vibes of the twitterati and broadcast this event from Newcastle to the World”

So don’t be surprised when one day you’ order your   McDonalds and you’re asked “Would you like a Tweet with that ? “

Q. What do a Neo Fauvist artist and a Rockstar have in common ?

A. The Archibald Prize

No, this is not some attempt at highbrow humour but the latest project for Hunter Valley based artist Peter Sesselmann. The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize and is  the most prominent of all arts prizes in Australia. The Archibald is unique in that the subject should be considered to be someone “distinguished in art, science or politics”. So what subject would be best to compliment an artist such as Peter who is known for his loud vivid  colourful  style ?

Well someone with a loud, vivid style of their own; enter local music identity Craig “Rosie” Rosevear. Best known as the driving beat behind the legendary Screaming Jets and now the Principal of the successful Rosie’s School of Rock the pair met when Peter and his wife Anita (talented musicians of their own right) enrolled his children Brie and Miles into Rosie’s music school. “I wanted to create a painting with volume and energy” says Peter, anyone who has met  Rosie knows that he is volume and energy on two legs”.

The painting process ,which took place in Sesselmann’s impressive Sawyers Gully studio / gallery (located in the Hunter Valley Vineyards) was also characterized by an appropriate soundtrack to such a loud and energetic painting. “Rosie brought in a CD of AC/DC Live in Paris to play while he sat and I painted, when we got through with that I put on one of my favourites “Santana” says Sesselmann.

“You can hear the “Rock” in the painting “says Rosevear. Besides capturing Rosevear’s energy on canvas, Sesselmann, who has previously placed in the prestigious Amnesty International “Freedom” Art Awards, cleverly combined Rosie’s past and present callings by combining his Rock and Roll  pastime with his passion for mentoring the next generation of Rock Musicians via Rosie’s School of Rock, in fact Peter claims that Rosie is the ultimate  “Rock and Role Model”.

This is a question I am asked quite frequently. The answer really rests with the person asking the question, but before they answer the question they should consider the following:-

• Have you considered a weekly budget for when you purchase your first home?
• What weekly loan repayments can you afford?
• How much can you borrow now? – A visit to your local financial institution will determine this.
• Have you saved a Deposit? – Did you know that the First Home Owners Grant can be used with your deposit? Ask your Financial Institution how.
• What is available by way of assistance from the Federal Government eg the First Home Owners Grant. The State Government may also have incentives for first home buyers?

Did you know that each State offers different incentives eg In NSW you may be eligible for concessions on your mortgage duty and Transfer Stamp Duty. Also in NSW they offer a Bonus of $3,000 if you are constructing a new home

The Federal Government at the moment offers a grant of $14,000 (normally $7,000) for the purchase of an existing home. If you are buying a new home (one that has not been lived in before) or constructing a new home, you may be eligible for a grant of $21,000 (normally $14,000) these additional amounts for the Grant have an expiry date of 30/6/09.

• How is the housing market at the moment? – You should visit Real Estate sites. I use the Sydney Morning Herald and their links to their Real Estate sites.
• What does it cost for a home loan? This is important as the lowest interest rate may not necessarily be the best loan for you. Again visit your local financial institution to find out about their loans.
• What if you haven’t got a 10% deposit? Again you can use the First Home Owners Grant to help you with the deposit. Some lenders will lend you more than 90% of the purchase price.
• If you haven’t got a 10% deposit you can still exchange contracts by using a Deposit Bond. This is a product which by paying a small fee and by supplying certain documentation to support the application will enable a guarantee to be issued which will ensure that you can exchange contracts.

As mentioned these are just some things that you need to think about before you buy. Finding a solicitor or conveyancer is also important as they will be acting on your behalf with the legal aspects of the purchase.

So by asking these questions and by making investigations, you may be surprised how quickly you will be able to get into your first home.