The 3rd Annual Midge Point Business Lunch was celebrated yesterday as part of the community ministries Dr Mark and Delma Tronson have developed over the past six years while establishing the missionary Laguna Quays Respite cottage.
In 2011 Mark and Delma Tronson initiated the missionary Laguna Quays Respite cottage on Repulse Bay, Whitsundays and it's been wonderfully occupied by a host of missions. Next week WEC missionaries visit for two weeks, followed by Wycliffe missionaries for 14 days, and so on .....
During these years Mark and Delma Tronson have visited four times each year for maintenance and spring cleans and while doing so have developed a number of community ministries in the Midge Point and Bloomsbury areas (20 min south of Proserpine).
The Midge Point $2000 Art Prize was first with Mr Basil Sellers AM supporting it, now in its fourth year. A community online weekly news was next when the hard copy closed and - with the same people - involved. Third was the annual business luncheon and the fourth a high tea for the ladies.
3rd business luncheon
Yesterday was the third annual business luncheon held at The Point Tavern in Midge Point with the speaker being Maree Reardon the ANZ Proserpine bank manager.
Taken directly from Maree Reardon's presentation:
"The Whitsunday Region comprises the coastal beaches including the gateway to the 74 island wonders and the Great Barrier Reef whilst the mainlnd contains agriculturally and mining rich areas, including direct access to the northern tip of the coal-rich Bowen Basin.
The average age of the almost 18,000 residents is 36.7 years with the main industries being accommodation and food services in coast areas, and Proserpine being retail, trade and manufacturing (sugar), grazing (interestingly mining does not feature).
In 2013 there were 235,300 people who passed through Proserpine Airport, another 355,900 through Hamilton Island airport and that has increased dramatically with direct flights to Proserpine from Sydney and Melbourne. 321,383 passengers going through the airport in 2015., up nearly 100,000 passengers from two years previous.
In that same year 30 cruise ships docked at Airlie Beach per year, carrying 1,800 to 2,400 passengers. An estimated 650,000 visitors (including day trips) to the region for the financial year 2011-12, only 16% were international visitors. The Whitsundays has recently surpassed Cairns in Cruise Ship Numbers with 855,486 passengers disembarking to visit the reef and our shores in the financial year ending 2015.
Visitors to the reef have also recently surpassed Cairns with just over 800,000 visitors.
All round economy
"The visitors to the area are increasing and, although there is no significant boom in the tourist industry this industry is currently the back bone in our economy (although our agricultural industries are holding their own as well). The proposed introduction on international flights to the area will only strengthen this. The breakdown of unemployment numbers shows that the Airlie / Cannonvale area is the lowest in the region at only 8%.
The Proserpine Chamber of Commerce is actively working on several projects including the RV Park (Recreational Vehicles) for the ever increasing "Gray-haired Nomads". Historical Walking Trail, Sugar Mill and Wetland Tours and upgrading of facilities at the Proserpine Dam are to encourage the driving visitors.
Real estate prices have dropped with one older home in Proserpine I am aware of selling for $200K. There seems to be good sales in the lower end of the market and strong sales in the higher end of the market with the middle price ranged homes being the slowest to sell.
The Whitsundays is the 5th largest sugar producing region in Qld. As part of the greater Mackay region, the Whitsundays contributes to the production of ¼ of the total refined sugar in Australia. To support the industry endeavours to expand production to 2 million tonne pa of cane Wilmar increased investment in the mill spending $23M on maintenance and upgrades with further investment scheduled over the coming years. At present there are 23 harvesting contractors each employing at least 3 haul-out operators to harvest the cane.
Emerging industries in the agriculture area are Wildflowers, Game Meats, Essential Oils, Asian Foods, Native Foods and Organic Farming. Of these emerging industries we are seeing some small business evolve in these areas in our region. The purchase of Laguna Quays Resort in 2013 by Fullshare Holding Group (Chinese) added some positivity to the Midge Point area but proposed First Stage Development that was scheduled for the beginning of this year is still to commence. Hopefully the delay is only short term for the businesses in the Midge Point area.
Small Businesses? It's tough out there. It's very tough and in the short term I don't think there will be much change. But, it will change. I tell my Small Business customers that if they are surviving in this economy they are doing extremely well."
Great response
Those local business people who gathered for this 3rd annual business luncheon asked many questions and discussed with Maree Reardon many of the issues raised.
Most knew Maree as she grew up in this area from Italian heritage having grown up on the family cane farm. Married with three daughters who all now reside in Townsville, as that is where they went for their tertiary studies, and they have 5 grandchildren. In the finance industry for 22 years, Maree said she did first home loan 20 years ago this coming August. Doubtless to say Maree noted, she has seen some changes over that time.
This business luncheon is a ministry into a local rural community. Next is the 30 July Basil Sellers $2000 Midge Point Art Prize and the Online News http://www.mpbnews.org/ will feature the business luncheon this coming week.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html