Damian Passlow - Tropical Nites

Background

I've been running Tropical Nites for about 18 months now. We came up here in April 2011 from South-East Victoria.

It was the price of real estate which bought us to Port Douglas.

Motivation for joining the Port Douglas Chamber of Commerce committee

I like to get involved. Doug Calvert (former Chamber committee member and business owner) was a good friend of mine. I saw the work he put in through the Chamber, especially with the MBS considering his personal circumstances, he did a hell of a lot of good work. It was a shame he couldn't hold on.

He was pretty inspirational as far as the things he did and I'd hate to see all of the effort he put in go to waste.

Vision

What I'd like to see is more positive action - things actually happening and moving forwards.

There has been a hell of a lot of good ideas that have come out of the MBS, and other people have got them, but it tends to get bogged down the way the whole system works.

We've got some great ideas now. Let's get them moving.

On membership

I think we should get more members...You get people saying 'I don't like the Chamber, I don't like the way it runs therefore I'm not becoming a member,' but what you've got to remember is the 
Chamber is steered by its members.

If you don't like the direction the Chamber is taking, then join the Chamber and steer it.

I think we need as much diversity in the Chamber as possible...the more members we get the stronger we'll be.

On the Melbourne Business School report

I think there has been too much inaction. Maybe it isn't the greatest report but it's something. Let's just get moving down that road and see where it takes us.

We've got a blueprint, we've got some kind of a path to get us moving so let's start with that.

It's an important document. Maybe some people haven't taken it seriously or maybe they're a bit sensitive about what was contained in it, but I think it's a path forward and if we need to tweak it along the way so be it.



Sam Leo  - Port Putt Putt

Background

I've been general manager of hotels, food and beverage manager for hotels, Australian hotels, international hotels, managed my own business for many years as well.

On membership

(83) is a good starting point and it's the highest it has been in many years so they've had some good results to get that number, but I don't see why we're not at the 120, 140, 150 mark.

Whether it's for financial reasons, or the stability or instability of the committee (I don't know).

On the committee

Not being paid shouldn't be used as an excuse (for inaction) at all. You come with the same passion and drive...If you put up your hand to say you want to be part of it, you've got to be part of it.

Motivation

I ask questions people want to hear the answers to but nobody asks the question. I always challenge the status quo. I just don't know if that's been done (in the past) or if it has been pushed.

For my own understanding I want to see where it (the committee) has been and be part of the theme moving forward where it's going to go to.

Chamber's relationship with Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree

(It is essential) we work together...To me they should be meeting on a much more regular basis and they should be a lot more transparent. The local community want to see what's going on between the two entities.

Personally I'd like to see them share an office. If Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree and Chamber of Commerce could share an office there are a lot of advantages to it.

On the Melbourne Business School report

I'd love to get the MBS back in 18 months or two years' time and see what's changed and see if we've initiated their recommendations.

There are some great recommendations, some good ideas in there. Some of them won't always work for our town but that crazy idea from left field may turn into that good idea.

For bigger businesses and the leaders in our area they need to sit up and take notice of that report, it's very important.



Katie Smith  - ScubaDave

Background

I'm from Cornwall in the UK and first came out to Australia in 2009. I came to Port Douglas on holiday and met my partner on Poseidon, he was my dive guide for the day - a little bit clichéd.

We've had this business open since April and it's going really well...Back in Cornwall I did a journalism degree and a bit of marketing.

Motivation

We're just really keen to get involved with the local community and branch out and meet new people...We just want to get involved in everything.

We want to do our best to "reverse the spiral" and put Port back up there as a premium destination.

Vision

We want to work better together with the local businesses. We'd like to see a higher class of businesses than what the town is doing and fill the empty shops.

I am excited to become an ambassador for the business community, to work even more closely with our local businesses and I'm very keen to learn from the existing committee members.