Miriam Steffens September 19, 2012 The Age Australia’s small businesses have increased sales by 3.2 per cent over the winter months, with retailers seeing some timid signs of improving consumer spending in August, according to a report released by ANZ Bank today. Small businesses in Western Australia experienced the biggest growth nationally, seeing sales rise some 6.5 per cent in the three months to August as demand was boosted by resources investments in the state. Small-business turnover in NSW was up 3.6 per cent from the winter of 2011, twice the pace of Victoria, according to the bank’s latest Small Business Sales Trends, which are compiled using data from credit, debit and eftpos transactions processed through its systems. The bank defines small businesses as companies with less than $5 million in annual turnover. Retailers selling clothing and homewares/furniture saw sales tick up 2.7 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively,…

Wendy Hargreaves Herald Sun September 20, 2012 WHAT makes a perfect meat pie? For Australia’s freshly crowned king of pie makers, the secret is right in the heart of Mooroopna, in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. “It’s all about keeping it local,” Mooroopna Bakery’s Bart Honig said yesterday after beating thousands of bakers in the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition. “We get our meat from local farmers in the Goulburn Valley and our flour comes from Bridgewater, over near Bendigo. And then we make everything from scratch,” Mr Honig said. Sixteen judges spent three days judging pies at the Fine Food Australia event at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. The competition has run for 23 years, and drew a record number of entries this year. Chief judge Mike French said they were testing 20 criteria in the pies, including aroma, golden pastry, a generous filling without a gap at the top, a perfect…

Rania Spooner September 20, 2012 The Age While the big supermarkets are caught in their own price wars, a group of independent grocery stores in Western Australia’s Midwest region claim to have shaved about $40,000 – or 10 per cent off their – annual energy costs with basic incentives. The first of the changes cost them nothing to implement and has dramatically reduced their carbon footprint overnight, driving overhead savings they’ve been able to pass on to their customers, according to Queens SUPA IGA manager Stuart Bain. With the introduction of a price on carbon looming about a year ago, Mr Bain and the managers of Rigters SUPA IGA and Wonthella SUPA IGA, got together with their semi-retired owner and set themselves a challenge. “We were just talking because the power bills kept going up and up and we wanted to see what we could focus on,” Mr Bain said.…

Nicole Cox September 20, 2012 PerthNow EIGHTEEN Pilbara towns, including the mining meccas of Karratha and Port Hedland, will be hit by tough new take-away booze restrictions. Director of Liquor Licensing Barry Sargeant has ruled to limit the sale of certain alcoholic beverages and the hours that liquor stores can open. Under the new rules, which will come into effect on October 8, liquor stores will have restricted sale times from 11am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and will be closed on Sundays. However, alcohol will still be sold over-the-counter at hotels, taverns and clubs and adjoining bottle shops on Sundays. While drink restrictions vary slightly from town to town, most are banned from selling beer in glass bottles of 750ml or more and limits apply to the sale of wine in containers greater than two litres or fortified wines in vessels greater than one litre. Today, the Department of…