Page 53 - Tropic Magazine Issue 15

TROPIC • OPINION

and fret about the emails piling up, text a message, return a at a bright box that damages our eyes and hammer away on
missed call - no one leaves a message anymore do they? Sort that a clattering plastic board and all to get a numerical read out
bunion and have an operation, go fishing, clean the boat, go to a that we work like madmen for 50+ years to hopefully increase
wedding (your own? Prep for that), a funeral, church, pause for a in number each day and decade to then carry around a piece
moment and be grateful for your life as there is always someone of dead cow that holds rectangles of plastic to show to others
worse off than you, meetings with reps and suppliers, social club to get things we don’t need delivered to us to fill our domicile
outings with your work, work emails (you can do as little as 20 with more and more and it goes on... eventually the plastic ends
or as many as 200 daily), read a book, help others wherever you up in the sea and we eat the fish that eat the plastic... what is
can, try something new in your life, write down some positive happening to us?
affirmations, visit a friend, hug a tree or a total stranger, make For me, the image keeps popping into my head of the old slow
someone’s day incredible, practice a random act of kindness, love moving “Italian” Marlon Brando tending to his tomato bushes
someone and love yourself - that little treat or reward whether in The Godfather (there is a lot to be said for growing your own
it be a massage or a new mountain bike and then there is social tomatoes and tending to them). Do you know what the smell of
media… How much time do you spend on it? Hours? Be honest… a tomato leaf is on your skin? For me it’s “calm” like hugging your
are you addicted? partner, son or daughter and your dog or cat. Ever hugged a tree
How often do you catch yourself saying: what day is it? Where for 30 seconds, closed your eyes and breathed deeply? I did this
did your day, week, month and year go? with my wife Belinda on a hiking trip to Tasmania last year - it’s
Holy crap. How do you do it all and stay sane? Humans the real deal - try it. Don’t laugh.
are strange creatures. Imagine viewing us from an alien’s So, be well, be calm and always smile. Life is what you make of
perspective? We get up, eat, dress, drive a mechanical beast solo it and ultimately be kind to all as we still have time to save our
(that exhausts fumes into the atmosphere that poison our air) beautiful world in which we all live, one step at a time.
to go to a structure that we stay in for upwards of 10 hours a
day sometimes 6 or more days a week to sit in a chair and look MORE: statusplus.com.au

Shaun
Donaldson
Director
Halpin Partners

Is Cairns booming or struggling?
I recently read an article in The Australian by Adam Creighton that they paint a dire picture of the economy. So which is it, are we
made me challenge some assumptions I have about the Australian booming or struggling?
and international economy. It is a widely held view that: Based on feedback from many of my clients, I believe the local
1. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will drastically economy is starting to take off. Whilst some sectors remain
impact labour markets leading to mass redundancies; difficult (particularly hospitality and retail), I am seeing plenty of
2. Younger generations change jobs regularly and don’t stay with positive signs.
the one employer full time. A great barometer of economic health is employment. Clients
Confirming this thinking in his article, Adam writes that in a variety of industries have been telling me for some time
“in 2013, Oxford economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne they are struggling to find qualified staff. The Cairns Watch
predicted that 47% of jobs in the US would disappear during the report by Herron Todd White has consistently reported
next 20 years”. unemployment between 6 and 6.5% since late 2016. During this
So, five years later, what’s happened? In that five years, the US time, job ads have remained steady at around 800. To me all this
has added over 10 million jobs and has the lowest unemployment points to Cairns being close to full employment, indicating a
rate in 47 years at 3.7%. When it comes to Australia, Adam strengthening economy.
reports that: In 2018, bad news sells and politicians want to lower our
1. Jobs growth in Australia last year was the fastest since the collective expectation. In this environment it is not surprising
early 2000s; that negative sentiment can prevail. However, just like the
2. Jobs lost through redundancies is half the rate it was 20 years ago; predictions about the negative impact of automation and AI, I
3. Average hours worked per person were 14% higher now than believe the facts paint a different picture.
they were in the early 1980s; If you haven’t yet, head down to the new Riley hotel for a drink
4. The share of workers in their job for more than 10 years has and to soak up the atmosphere. Imagine Cairns in two years’
increased from less than 20% in 1982 to about 27%. time with two more new hotels, a completed CPAC, Convention
This certainly challenges many perceptions held about the Centre upgrade, upgraded port and major infrastructure
economy and labour market. projects completed or underway. I visited Riley for the first
time just before writing this column, and when I consider this
What about Cairns? upcoming investment coupled with the solid base we have today,
Friends and colleagues who visit Cairns assume we are flying. it’s hard not to be excited about the future.
Smashed avo’s, full flights, new hotels, and accommodation
shortages (during peak season). Yet talk to many locals and MORE: halpinpartners.com.au

53 • tropicnow.com.au