Melbourne overtakes Gold Coast as No.1 Holiday destination Australians would like to visit According to the latest Roy Morgan Single Source data Melbourne has replaced the Gold Coast as the No.1 destination at which Australians would like to take an overnight holiday in the next two years. In the year ended September 2009, 20.1% of Australians would like to take a holiday in Melbourne, up from 19.0% in the year ended March 2001. Gold Coast comes in second at 19.5%, down from 22.3% in March 2001. Sunshine Coast is third at 13.5%, down from 15.8%; and Sydney is fourth at 10.3%, down from 16.0%. Jane Ianniello, Roy Morgan Research International Director of Tourism, Travel & Leisure, says: “Melbourne has built a strong brand as a holiday destination. It is renowned for its shopping experiences, world-class restaurants, and thriving café society. In addition it offers quality theatre and major sporting and cultural events. Other domestic destinations such as Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Sydney have not been able to compete with Melbourne’s popularity.” Click here for Full Details For further information contact: Gary Morgan Executive Chairman Gary.Morgan@roymorgan.com ph: +61 3 9224 5213

In this video, JDE gives a brief outline of what's happening on the site this week.

This is our ongoing weekly News Wrap featuring a variety of items including; Sport, the Environment and Money (3 things close to everyone's heart). We'd appreciate any comments on the subject matter or what you think should be added to the mix. Click here to view NEWS WRAP - w/e 11/10/09

Tune in to Channel 31 at 8:30pm every Monday night to watch Big Jack's Sports Wrap on Melbourne's Channel31. JDE and his special guests, Jimmy Buckley and Mick McGuane, bring you all the highlights of the weekend's sporting events including football, racing and major events throughout the world. Click here to view any episodes you may have missed

What's going on around Melbourne and regional in the Victoria Arts, Community and Special Events - No Footy! SPECIAL EVENTS Melbourne Fringe Festival Melbourne Stencil Festival Malaysia Week Melbourne International Festival of Brass Tesselaar Tulip Festival Royal Melbourne Show Melbourne Leather Pride Ballarat Foto Biennale FILM FESTIVALS Digital Fringe Italian Film Festival EXHIBITIONS Salsa Sirens Undressed Shelter: On Kindness The Fall The Lure of Echo Flirt Tiny Tunes for Wee Australians Diction Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award Mont De Lancey Art Show Visions of Dreams & Life Losing the Unique SUB12 PERFORMANCE Genius: The Gospel of Ray Charles Svetlana in Slingbacks Crook'Ed Voices: The Carrical Project Medea...with Puppets The Cat's Paw Attract/Repel God of Carnage Jersey Boys List courtesy of onlymelbourne.com.au/newsletter Click here to read more

By Tom Elliott As consumer spending has waned under the onslaught of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), many upmarket brands – of clothes, cars, holiday destinations, and so on - are becoming increasingly worried that their once flashy customers may be departing forever. This concern is not just because most people's wallets are feeling considerably lighter than was once the case, but rather because conspicuous consumption appears to have become distinctly unfashionable. One of capitalism's great triumphs is that it provides, at relatively low cost, most of life's necessities for those fortunate enough to live in economically enlightened countries. In the case of Australia, for example, very few citizens lack sufficient food, access to clean water, a roof over their heads and warm clothing to wear, goals that until the mid 20th century even the most advanced economies struggled to achieve (although it must be said that the plight of severely disadvantaged groups like some Aborigines and the homeless in our capital cities is still a blight on this country's otherwise proud record a fair go for all). Because most of our basic needs are satisfied, the great proportion of consumer spending occurs to satisfy 'wants', ie buying stuff that gives us a ...

I'm very pleased to introduce you to my new website - The John Elliott Report.  Click here to watch my introductory video.

This video is part of our ongoing series covering the Great Wineries of the prestigious Coonawarra Region. This week JDE reviews the multi-award winning Majella Wines About Majella The Lynn family have been residents of the Penola - Coonawarra district for over four generations, starting out as Store-Keepers and then graduating into grazing. The property on which Majella now stands was originally owned by Frank Lynn, and bought by his nephew, George, in 1960. George and Pat Lynn kept Merino's for wool production on their farm about ten miles away, and had always wanted some good Coonawarra country for their up-and-coming prime lamb enterprise. Viticulture, however, was not on their agenda until 1968. Click here for more information

Watch Master Chef Niko prepare one of Italy’s most famous and exquisite dishes: nowadays rarely found even in Italy. Or click here to watch on YouTube Niko’s Porchetta Ingredients: 7.5kg whole suckling pig 2 kg minced pork shoulder 2 chopped onions 8 garlic cloves 3 handful fresh sage 3 handful fresh bay leaves 4 sprigs fresh rosemary 1 handful fennel seeds 500 gms fresh chestnuts 1 litre white wine 1 litre water Method: Get your butcher to completely debone the pig leaving head intact and on • Preheat oven to 180.C in order to roast chestnuts • Slit chestnuts on one side and place in hot oven for 20-25 mins • Wrap cooked chestnuts in newspaper to allow to sweat • After 15 mins whilst still warm peel chestnuts removing both the shell and skin • Chop roughly and set aside • Place onions, garlic, sage, rosemary and fennel seeds in a food processor • Blend to a paste and add along with the chestnuts to the pork mince • Season with salt and pepper and amalgamate all ingredients by hand • Lay pig flat and line deboned body with the bay leaves • Form the mince into the shape of a sausage and place on top of pig • Gently bring up both sides ...

At present the global and Australian economies have slowed to a crawl (and gone backwards in some cases), unemployment is on the rise and governments are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to maintain consumption. Yet in the face of all this, house prices across the nation appear to be on the rise. Is this a repeat of the post sharemarket crash property boom of 1987-89 (which itself ultimately crashed), or a sign of better times to come? On the negative front, the housing market's naysayers have plenty of evidence on their side. Property prices in the US and UK have fallen solid double digit percentages over the past 12 months as people's faith in their economic future has collapsed. Stories abound of whole suburbs being abandoned by 'jingle mail' former owners, so named because of the practice of mailing keys to empty houses back to the unfortunate banks that financed them in the first place. One tale from a subdivision (new suburb) in California suggests rather apocryphally that the mosquito borne disease malaria has reappeared due to untended pools of stagnant water gathering in areas now devoid of residents. Of course, not all areas of the American and British property markets are ...

Late last year the Federal Government gave Treasury Head Ken Henry the job of reviewing our creaky, antiquated and over-complicated tax system. Given, however, that tax and welfare really represent two sides of the same coin, I think someone else should be assessing what changes could be made to our entrenched system of government handouts. One of the biggest problems all modern welfare systems have is the need to assist those who have fallen on hard times (through unemployment, poor health, advancing age, or whatever) with the need to preserve the incentive to find work. The progressive withdrawal of various welfare benefits as employment is regained, for example, often causes people to avoid earning extra money – this disincentive is known as a welfare or poverty trap. Australia has lots of such welfare traps because the overall system that governs handouts is absurdly complicated. We have old age pensions, unemployment benefits, family tax benefits (Parts A and B), baby bonuses, temporary stimulus payments, first homebuyers' grants, carers' benefits, and so on ad infinitum. To make this plethora of payments even more mind boggling, some are means tested at varying levels while others are not. Some, such as Aboriginal specific welfare, is also ...

Given the unprecedented level of government intervention in the Australian economy, financial reality dictates that soon we’re going to have to scale down public support for favoured industries. Billions of our dollars have and will continue to be spent propping up the banking, agricultural and automotive sectors – and I think it’s time this was stopped. The Big Four Banks are coming under renewed criticism after the Commonwealth (or CBA) increased its variable homeloan rate by ten basis points last week without a corresponding move from the RBA. A recent study from our central bank suggests that interest rate margins for the larger commercial lenders have returned to pre financial crisis levels, a conclusion that suggests the CBA may be profiteering from its improved market influence. Currently the Federal Government guarantees the borrowings of the Big Four Banks at a cost of just 70 basis points, while smaller banks and other lenders pay up to 150 basis points. It’s time the subsidy to the large banks was ended, as otherwise their market power will almost certainly expand to damaging levels. Turning to that perennial recipient of government aid, the agricultural industry, and the picture that emerges is somewhat different. Support for farmers doesn’t ...

While I don’t think very much of Gordon Ramsay’s idea of directness, in fact it’s appalling, matters have got out of hand with the latest ‘polite’ word for describing that room of the building where we undertake the daily disposal of our bodily wastes. I want to know what was wrong with lavatory, toilet and our very own ‘dunny’? Why is it now being called a ‘bathroom’ when in most cases (offices, restaurants, footy grounds) it does not contain nor need to contain a bath for the purpose for which it is to be used? The most extreme mis-usage I have heard of was by a woman who used it as a verb to describe the process by which her dog defecates on the nature strip. In a similar vein, can we please find a better word or description than ‘partner’ for an unmarried person in permanent relationship with another? When someone is introduced to me thus: “And this is my partner Claire”, I am tempted to ask, “Business or conjugal?” but my manners thankfully get the better of me. If you hear any other new mealy –mouthed words or expressions to describe every day matters creeping into ...

By Tom Elliott Last week Japanese beverage company Kirin announced its intention to make a takeover offer for the 53% of local brewer Lion Nathan (producer of brands like Tooheys and Fourex) it doesn't already own. As Kirin has been a long term investor in the Australian ready-to-drink market, it will almost certainly be successful in its latest bid. But the removal from the ASX of yet another large Australian company raises the following issue: Is there a limit to the level of foreign ownership of local businesses we should allow? As I remarked in last week's piece on interest rates, since its formation Australia has always relied on capital from overseas to bolster local investment levels. Countries from which funds have traditionally been sourced include Britain, the US, Japan and, most recently, China. Indeed, in the resources sector Chinese buyers have been extremely active, with substantial investment proposals currently on the table for RIO Tinto, Oz minerals and Fortescue Metals. And returning to brewing for a moment, it's worth noting that Australia's other great beer maker, Fosters, has on its register a 5.3% shareholder by the name of Molson-Coors – a giant of the North American market, and one whose intentions ...

The recent and sudden rise of the A$ vs the US$ and, to a lesser extent, the Yen and the Pound has been greeted with adulation by many commentators. Newspapers refer to our currency as the 'Aussie Battler' as though, like Lleyton Hewitt perhaps, it was engaged in a grueling tennis match with a more fancied and foreign opponent. In reality, however, a surging A$ is the last thing this country needs. During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, for example, our currency fell below 50 US cents after being sold off as a proxy for the economies to our immediate North. Yet in this selling lay Australia's salvation, for the weak A$ kept our exports ultra competitive while at the same time restricting the growth of imports. This kept local manufacturing healthy, and with it unemployment down. Unfortunately, far too many of us forget about export performance and focus solely on the cost of potential overseas holidays when we pass judgement on the relative value of our dollar. Right now it is indeed true that a trip to the US, UK or mainland Europe is probably as chap as it's been in decades thanks to the weakness of those countries' currencies. ...

Early this week both the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) delivered some sobering news for prospective homebuyers. Despite the depredations of the Global Financial Crisis, house prices in Melbourne have jumped sharply in 2009 with the median across metropolitan areas gaining a staggering 11%. While this is undoubtedly good news who've already taken the plunge into the property market, it's most dispiriting for those growing tired of spending their weekends at open-for-inspections and auctions. Is there a solution to the housing affordability crisis? I suspect there is, but it requires close analysis of why home prices have continued to rise. At its most basic level, the housing market is like any other, ie it's governed by the laws of supply and demand. Demand Factors 1. Bank lending – thanks to some prodding by the Federal Government, Australia's banks have continued to lend funds for house purchases. In the absence of this credit, the market would undoubtedly collapse as few people can afford to buy a house with savings alone. 2. Increased Immigration – Australia is bringing in approximately 250,000 people a year, almost 100,000 of which are settling in Melbourne. As many of these immigrants ...

Over the past fortnight much has been written about the startling (to some) revelation that Australia's population is set to almost double (to 40m people) over the next 20-30 years. In addition, inhabitants of Melbourne, Sydney and Greater Brisbane (which will eventually incorporate the Gold Coast) may soon be forced to rub shoulders with, respectively, 6.5m-7m fellow residents. As per my article last week, the current birthrate of 1.9 children per female implies that all of the forecast population growth mentioned above must come via net immigration – a factor over which Australian Federal Governments have substantial control. Given that this control exists, any debate over immigration levels, and by inference over population levels, requires an assessment of the pros and cons of 'creating' many more Australians. Here then is my two cents' worth: Pros of a higher population 1. Our economy is more likely to grow, although this by itself is no guarantee that average living standards per head will improve. 2. Australian companies have more local customers and therefore enjoy improved profitability – perhaps, although with a greater number customers also comes increased competition. A good example of this is the ferociously competitive American car market, which has not been ...

At the time of writing this article, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggests that Australia's population will have passed the 22 million mark. As a ten year old in 1977, I recall completing a school project on our country which marvelled at its then total of 14 million people – a number which now appears absurdly low. What is missing with most of the media commentary on this milestone is a debate about how big Australia's population should be, as opposed to simply how large it might become if current immigration and birth trends continue. Business leaders often argue that our economy can but improve if we keep increasing the number of local citizens, as such growth will lift both sales and profits and allow domestic markets to expand. Environmentalists, on the other hand, suggest that natural resources such as arable land, fresh water and unpolluted air will soon be depleted if people keep multiplying at the current rate. Rarely, however, is the opinion of the average Australian voter sought on this issue. Are we ever asked by political leaders how large we'd like our various cities to become? Do people who enjoy the still available solitude of the bush get ...

It was pleasing to see two of Foster’s top selling beer brands, VB and Carlton Draught, were 2 of the top 10 Australian TV commercials as judged by the credible marketing website Anthill Magazine. The VB ad launched in the mid-70’s with the theme “matter of fact I’ve got it now” was used to position VB as a working man’s beer. The Carlton Draught ad was a block-buster one launched in 2005 which had mass exposure on Australian television and also the internet. This received strong reaction from consumers and the advertising industry. No doubt the success of this format was behind Foster’s recent use of the big ad concept for Victoria Bitter where they have used high profile actors and sportsmen to produce a very entertaining commercial. Once again positioning VB as a beer for the masses. Although the Qantas advertisement of “still call Australia home” missed out on the top 10 ranking there is a growing momentum that this 10 year old successful theme could be used by the Australian Tourism department to replace the disastrous TV commercial program which greatly offended the English. I have many memories of Qantas which was frequently used by ...

Based on the recent Australasian annual event held by the Australasian Property Auctioneers to select the best auctioneer I was astonished to see that New Zealanders have won the last three year’s top prize. It is about time the Australian auctioneers reinstated their position as the self confident, quick witted, with a strong gravely voice which was the envy of auctioneers world-wide. Perhaps its time they went back to public speaking classes to improve their articulation and communication to restore Australia to the top position and forget about the gavel.. One suggestion to prevent the New Zealanders continuing to win this top prize is for the Australasian Association to change the rules where every auctioneer has to start their auction demonstration by introducing an opening vendors bid of $666,666.66. This should cause a stutter or two. The New Zealanders place their auctioneers in high esteem. In the 1980’s they awarded one of their self-made stock and station agents a knighthood to Sir Roderick Weir who was Chairman of Crown Corporation Limited, a public listed New Zealand company.

Sept 3, 2009 THERE’S A TIME AND A PLACE… AND THIS ISN’T ONE OF THEM INTERNATIONAL ETIQUETTE EXPERT IN AUSTRALIA TO FANCY US UP Astounding statistics from the ‘McDonald’s Mealtime Manners’ survey have revealed that Aussies love to burp at the dinner table and even lick their plate. Surprised by the results, McDonald’s Australia is flying in etiquette guru Gill Harbord to give the whole country a lesson in good old-fashioned manners! McDonald’s has teamed up with the terrifying teacher to launch its new Angus Beef range and prepare Australia for a fancy dining experience they will never forget - the new Angus Beef range is just a little more fancy than your usual burger and Gill Harbord is on hand to ensure that Australians are up to scratch with their mealtime etiquette. “There is nothing wrong with having a more casual attitude to mealtimes when dining with close friends or at home. However when we are asked to step up to a more fine dining experience, there are certain things we should be aware of, and burping or licking knives is simply not appropriate or acceptable,” said Gill Harbord, known as the headmistress of Eggleston Hall on the popular TV series ...

Listed below are what I believe are the greatest wines in Australia. I have not tried to designate particular years rather the best in each variety over time. Chardonnay 1. Giacconda from Beechworth in Victoria - Clearly the best Chardonnay 2. Leeuwin Estate Art Series from Margaret River - WA The rest of the wines listed below I cannot rank in order but they are all great wines: - Cullen from Margaret River WA - Bindi Quartz from Lower Macedon Vic - Sauaterre from Beechworth Vic - Yattarna – Penfolds from Barossa Valley SA - Petaluma Tiers from Clare SA - Pierro from Margaret River WA Cabernet Sauvignon 1. Rockford Basket Press from Barossa Valley SA 2. Cullen from Margaret River WA 3. Tally from Balnaves from Coonawarra SA 4. Majella from Coonawarra SA 5. Penfolds 707 from Barossa Valley SA 6. Parker Estate First Grade Terra Rossa – Coonawarra SA 7. Moss Wood – Margaret River WA 8. Punters Corner – Coonawarra SA Shiraz 1. Grange Hermitage Adelaide Hills SA – clearly Australia’s greatest wine. Must be kept at least 10 years before drinking. It is stand alone. 2. Henscke Hill of Grace from SA 3. Jasper Hill from Heathcote Victoria 4. Grant Burge ...