Sometimes it feels like I am paid to swan around.
Let me explain. There are times when I undertake tours of world class manufacturing facilities and lunch with innovative thinkers while at other times I am sweating on a deadline churning out 2,000 words an hour wishing I had chosen any profession but this one.
This week I am visiting a new training centre at Emerson Climate Technologies in Sydney but first I fly to Adelaide to tour manufacturing operations at Seeley International.
That’s the interesting side of the job, learning about an industry that is constantly improving whether its the adoption of new technology or greater energy efficiency, there is always change. But a closer look at my diary reveals two types of change.
There is the good kind. That is, seeing developments that demonstrate the industry’s technical ingenuity and engineering prowess. Then there is the other kind which reminds me that this industry is subject to constant change that is seriously uninvited.
I am talking about the government kind of change that stifles forward planning and innovation. A glimpse at my 2013 diary and I see that the Destruction Incentives Program for synthetic gases was introduced all of six months ago.
By Christmas the federal government had issued a statement confirming its abolition by June 30, 2014.
But my most comical notation refers to national licensing. I had written a reminder about a Treasury meeting in November 2013 to approve the introduction of the National Occupational Licensing System (NOLS) in 2014.
Obviously November is long gone and there are no plans for NOLS in 2014, just as there are no concrete details about the removal of the carbon tax in the first half of this year.
This disruption is costing industry. I know the government is keen to remove the carbon tax but the reality is that business has no other option but to wait for the new senate to sit in July.
I could list more examples but it isn’t really the time for bleak observations.
It’s the beginning of a new year, the season for optimism and renewal, a theme that is captured perfectly in CCN’s annual wholesalers feature which begins on page 16.
Hopefully in 2014 I will spend less time anguishing over my diary and more time swanning around. Welcome to the year of the swan.