fbpx Skip to main content
All Posts By

Ron Lesh

It’s simply SUPER THEFT. Don’t let Albanese and Chalmers STEAL your super!

By IndustryNo Comments

The announcements of the last week are insidious. Flying a kite on Monday and making a decision 7 days later is faster than any government can act. This change to super was all preplanned – and probably before the election. So much for consultation about the purpose of super!

And this is why Albanese and Chalmers cannot be trusted. They simply lied to get elected. They took a page from the Daniel Andrews book of lies and deceit. And yes, all politicians from all sides of politics do exactly the same thing.

But Labor is the party that loves to put its hands in your pocket. And your pocket well before theirs.

For you to get the same $400,000+ per annum government pension as Albanese, you would need a super balance of more than $6m. And his snout is nowhere near the biggest snout in the trough. Look at some of our public servants and judges who will get government pensions of almost $1m per annum. Who is paying for that?

This is one of the reasons the government needs more money. How much would be saved if all politicians and public servants had their pensions limited to what you can earn with the  $1.7m balance transfer cap?

But even more insidious is that Chalmers does not even want to index the $3m super cap and effectively this  taxes unrealised capital gains.. Today somewhere between 80,0000 and 120,000 hard-working Australians who have done the right thing and legally saved for their retirement are to be taxed. How many will this be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years? Nobody knows, but it won’t take too long for this NEW tax to apply to 1 million Australians – and you are likely one of them.

It has been said time and time again – you can’t trust Labor with your money and again the proof is in the pudding.

This NEW tax is simply unfair to all those Australians who legally saved for their retirement and today have accumulated balances through smart investing. And you did not need to be that smart. If you purchased A$5,000 of Apple shares 20 years ago, these alone would be worth more than A$3m today.

So mark my words

Today they are coming for your super.

Next, it will be your family home.

Then your negative gearing.

Next your franking credits.

Then look out for death taxes and inheritance taxes.

And last, with wall-to-wall Labor governments, an attack on what’s left of your wages through an increase in the GST rate to maybe 20% and the removal of exemptions on food, medical costs and education.

This is just the beginning

It was said before the election “Life will not be easy under Albanese”. Huge increases in interest rates, electricity prices , gas prices, food and services – all in less than 1 year. Where will Albanese leave us in 3 years? On his current form, broke as individuals and broke as a nation with daily blackouts like South Africa.

And divided by race through his racist Voice.

Please share this post with your family, friends and workmates. It is time for Australians to stand up and be counted.

Anyone but Daniel Andrews!

By UncategorisedOne Comment

I don’t like politicians. With most, you know when their mouths are moving they are simply lying and spinning. But Daniel Andrews is unique. He has his own cult.

But what we should really do is look at his record – and his record is crap.

So let me remind you

1. World record COVID lockdowns
2. Responsible for the deaths of 801 Victorians and forgot all about at the Coates inquiry
3. Used rubber bullets to control citizens protesting lockdowns
4. Arrested a pregnant woman in front of her children in her home for a Facebook post (and then dropped the charges 2 years later)
5. Locked children out of playgrounds
6. Locked children out of schools
7. Stopped Victorians returning home from interstate
8. Imposed ridiculous mask mandates – even wearing a mask when outside by yourself.
9. Largest state debt of any Australian states – bigger than NSW, Qld and Tas added together.
10. Highest taxes of all Australian states – payroll tax and land tax are just mind boggling
11. Subject of numerous IBAC inquires – how many ? Don’t know how many because it all secret
12. Destroyed the Victorian hospital system
13. Destroyed the 000 emergency call service
14. Destroyed the City of Melbourne
15, Provided a sweetheart deal for fire fighters destroying the CFA
16. Refused to build a road and cost Victoria $1,2b dollars
17. Employed 100 people at taxpayer cost to run his twitter account
18. Created a public service employed on woke not skills
19. Supported the second most incompetent inexperienced Chief Health Officer (only Queensland did better and they disposed of thier’s
20. Signed up to the Chinese Belt and Road Program directly against the advice of Australian security services
21. Banned gas exploration contributing substantially to high gas and electricity prices
22. Introduced employer manslaughter laws that his mats would not apply to him
23. Complicit in Labor red shirts scandal
24. Complicit in Labor party branch stacking
25. Removed 70+ level crossings – shame this was billions over budget and usually not in Liberal electorates.
26. Presided over the most corrupt government in the history of Victoria

Should you support a person with the character of Daniel Andrews ?

This is the question every Victorian must ask him or herself – is this the type of person you want to reward ?

Let me also remind you about Dan’s useful idiots who sold out the people of Victoria time and time again. Fiona Patten, Andy Meddick, Rod Barton and The Greens. Put these people last on your Upper House Voting Paper especially Rod Barton who sold out Victorian’s with the new pandemic bill. We need people with integrity in the Upper House – not these clowns.

So, I’m not saying vote Liberal. I have little time for the non Liberal woke Matthew Guy. But what I am saying is:

  • don’t vote Labor
  • don’t vote for useful idiots. and
  • don’t vote for Daniel Andrews

Scare, scare, scare…

By BGL UpdateNo Comments

I am really concerned.

Australia has become a hostile place where our governments and the media – especially the left wing media like the ABC  – are trying to divide us.

Be it stupid vaccine mandates, identity politics or even having a beer after you win a grand slam, people are out to get you. When did we become like this ?

During one of the lockdowns in Melbourne I as out walking with my wife and god forbid I was not wearing a mask. Some d**khead told me that by walking around without a mask, I was going to kill his children as they rode their bikes around outside his house. Yesterday I came down in a lift and a woman refused to get in. I should say she was wearing a cloth mask that provides little protection and I am of course double vaccinated and had to test negative to get into Queensland (thank god that stupidity is behind us). She was scared and paranoid – what have we done to people ? We are divided.

But it is the language of our so called leaders and the talking heads in the media that really concerns me. Their language is killing Australia. Theirr language is dividing Australia.

Even people who I thought were more sensible, like Neil Mitchell on 3AW, concern me. I listed to him on Tuesday morning and within the first hour he repeated the COVID numbers at least 3 times, seemed to bask in reports some schools had COVID cases and continued to talk like it was the end of the world. I was really disappointed. He is perpetuating the scare.

If it was not for COVID, the media seems to think it has nothing to talk about. How about one of these talking heads analyse where Albanese’s 600,000 climate policy jobs are going to come from ? I can’t see how going from Shorten’s 45% to Albanese’s 43% is going to create 6000,000 jobs. Maybe they can ? Maybe they can tell me ?

Yet the press was more interested in private texts between the ex NSW premier and an unnamed minister, who don’t like Morrison. Honestly, who cares. This from a lefty reported from Channel 10 who himself is the subject of a claim he “humiliated” a female colleague, in a claim filed against the network in the Federal Court. This is the level of in depth reporting by our media.

When is he media going to actually focus on the things that are important to Australian’s rather than the crap that is important to them ?

The scare, scare, scare is killing business. The lack of leadership from our politicians on both sides of all the house is breath-taking, When are our state premiers going to tell their public servants to go back in the office ? When are the hopeless woke CEO’s at our major companies going to do the same ?

I am also glad to see I not the only one who thinks the language of our so called leader is dreadful. It was great to hear Chris Lucus of Chin Chin fame say the same thing on 3AW last week – Grave fears held for Melbourne’s iconic hospitality scene https://www.3aw.com.au/grave-fears-held-for-melbournes-iconic-hospitality-scene/

Our leaders have spent 2 years scaring everyone about – a virus. Melbourne is depressed. If you don’t believe me come up to Queensland and feel the difference. While Brisbane is still slow, the attitude of people is just so different.
I remember being told last year – get vaccinated – when we get to 90%, life will go back to normal. Well when ? When are the bedwetters going to get out of our lives ?When are ALL the restrictions going to be lifted ? When do we start to live with COVID ? When do we get back control over our own lives and our own health ?

I know it is hard to get into the city in Melbourne now because of the ridiculous bike lines installed by Sally Crap – sorry Capp – and her human unfriendly council. Large numbers will not return to the city until this is fixed and the Council is living in fairyland if they think 750 electric scooters will fix the problem.

But, this scare, scare, scare has to stop. We need leaders that are NOT interested in daily COVID numbers – but are interested in rebuilding Melbourne and instilling confidence back into people,

At BGL, we encourage our team to come into the office. As we all know culture and mental health is just as important as physical health. You cannot teach culture over Zoom. I encourage all of you to get your people back in the office. They need it – and so do you!

Are SMSF software companies looking for a new way to charge clients ?

By BGL UpdateNo Comments

There have been a lot of changes in the SMSF software industry over the past couple of years.

With no new entrants to the market, some of the existing businesses think they are in a powerful pricing position. And we are seeing this already with 2 software providers charging for (or intending to charge for) API access and 1 adding a cut down external service in an upgrade and pay play. The upgrade, of course, leads to increased revenue to the software company through commissions. With the upgrade and recent charges introduced to API access (most of which will be passed on to clients), their price per fund will be almost $350 per fund per annum + GST.

But what I find more interesting is the suggestion SMSF software suppliers may start charging on the basis of funds under management.

Most of you would be aware, 1 SMSF software supplier has recently been purchased by a financial services platform. The other is already owned by a financial services institution. These businesses already earn much of their revenue from fees based on funds under management – so is this the future for their SMSF software businesses? I recently read an article in The Sentiment newsletter where an increase in clients and funds under management was being touted as a reason for the purchase of a SMSF software business. That financial software business already charges fees based on the funds under management  I do not think it is a bridge too far to suggest this business may ben considering charging SMSF software clients fees based on funds under management.

Those of us who have been in the SMSF software industry for a while know SMSF software providers have no control over the funds under management of their SMSF software clients.  One provider had to specifically exclude the distribution of their financial products through their SMSF software and through their SMSF administration network from their service agreements.

But maybe times are changing. So maybe in the future this will change,

BGL is not a financial services business and is not owned by a financial service business. While it would be great if we could charge subscription fees based on funds under management (our FUM is around $425b), we have no plans to do so. Nor do we think SMSF software providers should be changing for API access or providing products where forced upgrades are required.

Our pricing strategy is clear and simple. As we add new features and enhancements to our products and services providing our clients with greater efficiencies, we will look to increase our prices. We will never charge on the basis of funds under management – we operate on a subscription fee for service model.

Over time, as our costs increase, so will our product prices. When or how much is determined by us when the time is right.

But I am not so sure of the others.

Only time will tell!

I used to love living in Victoria – now it is officially a basket case

By UncategorisedOne Comment

I try not to listen to Daniel Andrews. His voice annoys me. I am sick of being lectured. I simply turn off the radio or switch channels on the TV. If he comes up in my socials feed, I quickly move to the next item.

I hate his dishonesty. I hate how corrupt Victoria has become. We have a government, politicians (especially the 3 useful idiots) and a public service that are completely out of touch.

But the thing I hate the most is the rhetoric of divide and conquer. This week, all Victorians who are protesting his draconian legislation in the streets are bad. Those who are not are good – so the 100,000+ who attended last weekend are all bad. Bad, bad, bad Victoria, because they do not want his draconian pandemic laws to be passed by parliament. I am not saying everything the protestors did was smart – some of it I thought was pretty dumb – but the 99,975+ people who attended were not doing or saying dumb things, they are not extremists – they are citizens of Victoria who wanted to be heard. But Andrews refused to listen. Karma eventually comes to everyone and in Victoria’s case, it came as Adem Somyurek. Andrews was so quick to throw Somyurek under the bus. Andrews seemed to forget he was knee-deep in the branch stacking and red shirts sagas. But what annoys me most is the dishonesty. At least in NSW, their ex-premier admitted she did the wrong thing and resigned. There are no similar admissions in Victoria. Kill 801 people – sorry don’t remember. Throw another minister or 2 under the bus – no problem. Protect your mates – No. 1 objective – as long as it suits you. Morals, values, decency, honesty, integrity etc are all missing. What happened to accountability? The rule of Law? Conventions under our system of government?

Andrews has spent the last 2 years dividing the Victorian community with its woke laws and woke public servants. Critical Race Theory and demonising any opposition are straight out of the China workbook. But in China, they put you in a re-education camp. In Victoria they name you and shame you – just look how differently they treated some members of the Jewish community (who did some dumb things through lockdown) from some members of other communities where the majority of the cases were (and who also did some dumb things through lockdown). One is named and shamed – the other doesn’t rate a mention. One splits its vote between Liberal and Labor, one predominantly votes Labor.

I am not going to talk about SlugGate. Nor am I going to talk about the incompetent decision making causing the death of 50 Victorians at St Basil’s. Our Chief Health Officer Sutton’s incompetency, lack of integrity and possible corruption are clear here for all to see. This will all play out in time, but how he can remain as Chief Health Officer is beyond me. How can the man who locked down Victoria for 245 days – a world record – claim there was no alternative possibly remain in his job?

Last, I would like to talk about the fiasco at WorkCover Victoria. I think the first question one must ask is why? Why, when 801 Victorians died, could WorkCover only find the Department of Health responsible? No people. No public servants. No politicians. If this was a private company and it was responsible for the deaths of 801 people, the jail cells for the directors would already be prepared. But when the Andrews government KILLS 801 people no one is responsible. The question must be asked: How corrupt is WorkCover Victoria? Who is paying whom or more likely who is doing whom favours? The decision by WorkCover not to charge individuals with Industrial Manslaughter is astounding. It makes a mockery of our laws. It tells us that the law does not apply to public servants or politicians. This farce is not over. I encourage you to support the Not above the Law campaign from Self Employed Australia. We need to tell WorkCover to do its job and prosecute the Guilty Party!

And this is the main purpose of this post. Please support Ken Phillips and Self Employed Australia to get justice for the 801 Victorians killed by our incompetent government. Someone needs to stand up for them because our government will not. Or for more info, check out the video.

Where we are at! From BGL’s Managing Director

By BGL Update2 Comments

There has been so much going on in the SMSF marketplace recently and it has probably been a little while since I have written clients, so I thought it was time for an update.

You will have seen a lot of M & A activity in the SMSF and corporate compliance market – first the purchase of a document provider by one of our competitors, followed by the purchase of the competitor itself and thirdly the purchase of an actuarial certificate provider. Wow! Not bad for a short couple of months.

As I am sure you can imagine, BGL also receives many advances for us to sell our business. But unlike others, we are not looking to cash in. We love what we do, and we love our clients. We see our role is to serve you, not sell you!

So, forget any rumours you have heard, BGL is NOT for sale and we have absolutely no plans to sell the BGL business.

Now, let me talk a little about the 2020/21 financial year.

BGL achieved record revenue in 2020/21 of $35.6m, up 13.44% from $31.4m in 2019/20. We also had good growth in client numbers to 8,315 up from 7,832. In what has been a pretty tough year, I am very proud of what our team has achieved. And I am very thankful to you, our clients, for sticking with us and helping us grow.

In the same period, we invested a record amount of $10.6m in Research and Development. We continue to invest heavily in our products with many software releases of CAS 360 including New Zealand and Singapore, Simple Fund 360 with workpapers and SmartDocs and the release in mid-June 2021 of Simple Invest 360. Our team has worked tirelessly through 2020/21 to produce sensational award winning software for you.

At the same time, we have invested in our account management, client success and support teams to ensure we are well resourced, so our clients receive and continue to receive remarkable service. This is the priority for us.

BGL is here to stay. We see huge potential for our business to continue to grow without acquisition. We expect 2021/22 to be a bumper year.

Before I finish, let me also thank our Ecosystem partners. You guys too are an essential part of our business and we love each and every one of you.

So, thank you again for your support. We know we would not be where we are today without you, our clients.

Victoria – The place no one wants to be – Part 2

By UncategorisedOne Comment

I have not written for a while about the depressing situation in Victoria. For those in the other states, believe me when I say “depressed” is an understatement of the way people in Victoria feel. Angry, frustrated, over it – I could go on and on.

The question I keep asking myself is how did it get to be this bad? How did Melbourne go from the world’s most livable city to the world’s most locked down city, and why or how did we let this happen?

Well, let’s look at the how first – how did this happen? Last night our Chief Health Officer (CHO) Brett Sutton told us he had no choice but to lock Melbourne down for 246 days. Really? No choice? Then why did the CHO’s in 1,170 cities (with populations of more than 500,000) not feel they had no choice but to lock down their cities? Why only Melbourne? I think the record lockdowns have more to do with your competency than anything else. YOU could not find other solutions. YOU only had one card in the pack – lockdown. lockdown, lockdown. You have destroyed Melbourne. All the things that were great – sporting events, theatre, restaurants, shopping – all gone – under YOUR watch. That will be your legacy as CHO

And then there is SlugGate. For those who are not aware of SlugGate, Sutton closed down a food business because a slug was found in their food kitchen. However the slug appears to have been planted by a council Inspector. The matter is before the courts but check out the link for more info. If these charges are proven, and it looks like they will be, Sutton will be remembered not only for being incompetent and totally out of his depth (obviously) but also corrupt.

But Sutton would not have been able to lock down Victoria for 246 days, without the complicity of our Dear Leader. Sutton and Andrews will both be remembered as the people who destroyed Melbourne and killed 802 Victorians through their bungled hotel quarantine. Everyone seems to forget that according to the Victorian Health Department Organisational Chart, Sutton was in charge of hotel quarantine. Why was he not sacked? Does he know too many dirty little secrets?

Why has Andrews not resigned? Gladys Berejiklian resigned when an inquiry was announced – that took guts. Andrews has no guts. He does not take any responsibility for anything, yet he is the man in charge. All this happened under his watch. 246 days of lockdown. 802 + deaths. The most cruel and debilitating restrictions in the world – restrictions that make no sense and some that even help spread COVID-19.

Let me name a few – golf, fishing, boating, tennis, lawn bowls, playgrounds, skate parks, outdoor exercise equipment – all shut down? Why? What’s the logic? Yet building workers can play on their sites throughout the whole pandemic (save 2 weeks)? Why? Because Andrews needs money from the building unions to get re-elected.  And why are we forced to wear masks outside when your risk of catching COVID-19 outside is so low? When governments enact stupid laws or regulations the people eventually say – enough is enough.  In Victoria this has taken far too long.

And then along came Victoria Police. When I grew up, I was taught to respect the police. I was taught the police were there to protect me. Boy how things have changed. The Victoria police have become bullies. They have lost the respect of the community. When police throw little old ladies to the ground and then spray them with pepper spray, brutally throw citizens talking to police to the ground, swarm and attack protestors with rubber bullets and tear gas, they lose the respect of the community. I know not all police are like this but there would appear to be a culture of brutality in the Victorian police that I have never seen before in my lifetime. When the police are being used as political enforcers’ by Andrews to enforce dumb laws enacted by an incompetent CHO, their ability to police disappears. And this has happened in Victoria. The people of Victoria no longer respect the police and this, I think, is a real problem for our future.

The incompetence and ineptitude of Andrews and Sutton was certainly the main cause of the Victorian devastation – but the other complicit organisations are the media. Where is the media scrutiny we expect in a democracy? Where is investigative journalism? Most of the media are just cheerleaders for the incompetents. They should be the ones out there questioning how thes 2 incompetents have handled COVID-19 in Victoria not sucking up to them to get the next exclusive. And why is the Andrews government the only government in Australia that does not provide transcripts of press conferences? Isn’t the reason obvious? This way he can’t be fact checked.

I mentioned earlier there were two things I think this inept state government did or didn’t do that actually contributed significantly to the spread of COVID-19 in Victoria. The first thing is the curfew. The curfew forces people to all go out at the same time meaning more people are compacted in more places to spread the virus. Look at the crowds in the parks (not a problem) and the supermarkets. And then there is the total inability of this hopeless government to implement a contact tracing system that works. Contact tracing in Victoria has not worked since day one. This is the No. 1 reason Victoria is in the mess it is in today. This is why the case numbers have gone up. Contact tracing is at least two weeks behind – so yes – it is absolutely useless.

The other thing that concerns me is the scare, scare, scare. Everything still seems to be about case numbers. Case numbers are irrelevant as 99%+ of people who get COVID-19 have no or mild symptoms. Less than 1% of cases end up in hospital or the ICU. (PS: Remember the 4,000 ICU beds Andrews promised in March 2020 – searching, searching, searching – can’t find them? Neither can I).

Apart from the lack of honesty, integrity and leadership from Andrews, the thing that annoys me the most is the lack of accountability. Everything is everyone else’s fault. It is like a child in the playground – he did it, he did it – not me, When the numbers go up it is because we had Grand Final parties (BTW: with contract tracing two weeks behind, there was NO evidence Grand Final parties spread the virus) or we didn’t follow his inane rules. Always everyone else’s fault. Real leaders take responsibility. All of you do in your businesses.

The lockdown policies in Victoria have been a complete failure. The incompetence of Andrews, Sutton and the government is breathtaking.

A quick comment about vaccinations. I am fully vaccinated but I strongly oppose mandatory vaccination. How dare these government officials tell me or you what to put in your bodies.

I am really scared for the future of my children. One son already lives in the UK and another is thinking of joining him. They don’t want to live in Victoria like the 43,000 other now ex-Victorians that have left between the start of the pandemic and 31 March 2021. Many more will leave once they can – and I will probably be one of them. Who wants to live in a place that is so depressing when you have a choice?

So where is the future? I do not think Victoria will recover until Andrews, Sutton and Sally Capp (Melbourne’s Lord Mayor) are all gone. No one has confidence in any of them. Capp has destroyed movement in and out of the city with crippling bike lanes, removal of 1,000’s of parking spaces and a proposed new access fee. This on top of the parking space tax. Andrews and Sutton have destroyed business in Melbourne. So many empty shops and restaurants and how many other businesses that will never return.

There will be no change unless YOU are prepared to make it happen. Most of the media are complicit. It is time for you to take a stand!

Victoria – the place no one wants to be!

By BGL Update8 Comments

I used to live in the once great state of Victoria, Australia.

But after 6 lockdowns, this once great state is a shadow of itself.

I am really angry about the scaremongering from the politicians and the media.

Every weekday, I listen to the 8.30 news and all I hear about are infection numbers – scare, scare, scare. They don’t tell me how many people are actually sick or how many are in hospital or how many are in ICU, but they definitely tell me when someone (unfortunately) dies, but not whether they died with COVID-19 or from COVID-19. Scare, scare, scare!

So, let’s first look at the facts.

There has been 37,013 people infected with COVID-19 in Australia from a population of 25,825,438. 30,462 have fully recovered. 5,538 (99%) have a mild condition. Just 70 (1%) are in a serious or critical condition. There has been a total of 943 deaths. My source, before you say he is making these figures up, is https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/australia/. By the way, I should say, more COVID-19 tests have been performed than the population of Australia, costing us some $1.7b. Wow!

So less than .0014% of the Australian population have been infected and on the scale of deaths per million of population (37) we are 168th in the world.

Some people might say this proves our politicians have done a great job – but have they really? You cannot measure performance on just one statistic – so let’s look at a few others….

Mental health of our children is at an all-time low. Kids Helpline data tells us attempted suicide rates among Victorian teenagers have skyrocketed by 184 per cent in the past six months. Teenagers aged 13-18 are the most at risk, accounting for 75 per cent of the total crisis interventions from 1 December 2020, to 31 May 2021. 44% of Victorian emergency interventions from 1 December 2020, to 31 May 2021, were responding to a young person’s immediate intent to suicide, while child abuse emergencies triggered 31 percent. More than 13,000 calls were made by suicidal children last year, including 1,150 with “immediate intentions’’ or a current attempt to kill themselves. Check out the story on news.com.au. So, while our politicians may have protected some people in our community, they have not protected our children…

What about adults? Business people who cannot put food on the table for their families? Business employees who have lost their jobs with businesses that will never return? Politicians seem to think you can turn off and on business like a water tap. Maybe if just ONE had actually worked in a business, they would know better.

Recent ABS data gives us some idea of the extent of the problem. In June 2021, one in five (20%) Australians experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last four weeks. Almost one in three (30%) younger Australians (aged 18 to 34 years) experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in June 2021. In June 2021, more people living in Victoria (27%) experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress compared with the rest of Australia (18%).

Before COVID-19, the cost of mental illness to the economy was $60b each year. What is it now?

Small businesses have been decimated. Our governments have introduced schemes to help our small businesses but in reality, most of these are just spin, spin, spin. The grants and loans are simply impossible for most small businesses to get. Again, let’s look at some statistics from the City of Melbourne. Economic output is down 22%. Job losses are up to 75,000 or 15%. Our Lord Mayor Sally Capp should be very proud of herself. Here, hopeless policies around parking and bike lanes, unsafe injecting rooms and her refusal to clean up the streets has turned the City of Melbourne into a ghost town. Check out the stats at www.melbourne.vic.gov.au.

And this is just the city. The cost of the lockdowns to debt ridden Victoria is $150m per day. And we certainly are not All in this together. Our politicians and public servants have had two pay rises since March 2020 whereas the cost of the lockdowns have been borne 100% by business, employees of businesses and the self-employed. 100%. Not 50%, or 75% but 100%. We are definitely NOT All in this together.

But probably the most disheartening thing for me is what this country has become. What has happened to our compassion? The Andrews government lockdowns are brutal and cruel and far worse than they have to be. When I hear of a woman with a baby and her child in a car at the Victorian / NSW border being turned away when she wanted to go less than 100 kms to a farm to isolate or a small business woman who calls the Victorian Government Business Help Line and is recommended a Stress Down program, one has to wonder: our politicians and public servants are simply out of their depth and have lost the plot. When you have clown premiers saying Queensland hospitals are for Queenslanders and a child who lives in Tweed Heads cannot cross the border for treatment and subsequently dies, I wonder what has happened to common sense. What has happened to our compassion?

So, what’s the solution? Well I wish someone were listening. Our politicians and public servants are blinkered. All they care about is 0 0 0. They don’t care about people. They don’t care about what the lockdowns are doing to people. They think they can buy their way out by promising money – that is never delivered. The emergency power legislation in Victoria calls for a proportionate response to a medical crisis. So where is the medical advice? Why has NOT ONE PIECE of medical advice been published? The response in Victoria has not been proportionate. It has been cruel and brutal. There is no compassion.

As one of the lucky few whose business has not been overly affected by this government-caused crisis, I am very thankful. But rolling lockdowns have sapped the confidence of what once was a vibrant city. The people of Victoria are fed up.

Our governments keep relying on models. Models that told us in March 2020 150,000 Australians would die from COVID-19. Models that have been wrong time after time after time not only with COVID-19. Models, models, models. And as all the model-creating experts keep saying, they do not know what effect any single restriction has on their models. So really, the models are rubbish. They don’t actually tell us anything. So, what should we do?

A couple of thoughts: If we only isolated people with COVID-19 (or people who are sick), how would this affect the models? Nobody knows.  If we locked down suburbs or communities, how would this affect the models? Nobody knows. And there must be 100 more ways to contain COVID-19 outbreaks. But nobody knows. Because we have not tried. Because lockdowns are easy and scared people seem to love being locked down.

A recent survey in Victoria revealed 38% think if they get COVID-19 they will die. That’s right – 38%! Not surprising considering there’s only scare, scare, scare it’s the 6.30 news! Maybe we should go the way of the UK and Singapore and stop the media reporting COVID-19 numbers? And maybe we need to set a Freedom Day?

Australia is in a mess. Our politicians are oblivious. They don’t know and most don’t care as long as they get their paycheck every month.  The only way they will change what they are doing to us is if 1,000,000 people protest in the streets – like the Vietnam protests many years ago. But of course, today standing still out in the open – is illegal!

APIs should be free!

By Homepage, In the MediaNo Comments

This is an opinion piece

I think charging for APIs that allow clients to access THEIR data is wrong.

It’s becoming a trend – a bit like buying disparate businesses – companies desperate for revenue decide to charge for access to their APIs. We are seeing more and more of this these days.

APIs for those who don’t know are gateways into your data. They are used by multiple software businesses to connect your apps together.

BGL made a decision on Day 1 of our cloud products that we would not charge for our API. We have reasonably simple rules around who can use the API – but the determining factor of whether the access is available is decided by authorisation from our clients. We authorise the connection – the client authorises access.

I find it interesting however some software companies think they are entitled to a share of revenue earned by the business accessing their API. How ridiculous! The data belongs to the client. The client is being charged a fee for the service provided. And now the client is being asked (and in the end the client will pay for this) to pay for the same data twice. What a racket. It’s almost an exhortation!

So if you are in our industry and your supplier decides to charge your connections (auditors, document providers, other services) for access to their API, please come and talk to us. We are happy to convert your data for FREE and even give you 6 months free to move to our solutions.

BGL achieves industry leading results for Customer Support!

By BGL Update, Culture, In the Media, TechnologyNo Comments

BGL is 14.7 hours faster at first support replies and 54 hours faster at providing a full resolution!

BGL introduced Zendesk as its technology solution for client support in mid-2018. Since that time, the BGL Team has worked to implement Zendesk in all areas of the BGL business, replacing old help databases, telephone support systems and, giving BGL the ability to add chat support.

Zendesk recently provided BGL with performance comparisons. The data showed BGL was 14.7 hours faster at first support replies and 54 hours faster at providing a full resolution to client problems than those in similar industries. 

“These results are amazing and were achieved through the skills and expertise of our Support, Client Success, Account Management and Data Services Teams” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “I am really proud of our teams and their commitment to providing clients with excellent customer service”.

“I am also really impressed with the work of our Documentation Team” added Lesh. “27.74% of our clients took a first look at our documentation to try to resolve their queries – this is 21.71% higher than the industry benchmark of just 6.03%”.

“This is one of the reasons BGL won the 2020 National Australian Achiever for Excellence in Customer Service” noted Lesh. “We understand it does not matter how good a software is if customer service is bad. At BGL, our focus has always been on providing the best software and remarkable client experiences.

Zendesk Support is integrated with BGL’s software platforms CAS 360, Simple Fund 360, and Simple Invest 360, giving users access to Live Chat with a member of our team and the ability to log a  telephone support call without leaving our applications helps to provide our clients with a seamless support experience.

Find out more about BGL’s omnichannel customer support: bglcorp.com/hub/support/