The 2012 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) ranks the U.S.A. no 1 and Australia no 3.

The 2012 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) ranks the U.S.A. no 1 and Australia no 3. The GEDI report stated that Australia has "become a strong performer over the years, avoiding the financial crisis, housing bubble, and the great recession."

This is positive and, combined with yesterday's news that Richard Florida's Global Creativity Index ranks USA at no 1, Australia no 5, should remind investors and citizens alike that the future is bright and these two countries provide a great environment for new business.

Is this important? Read more and watch at the Land of Opportunity Blog.

More Good News: Richard Florida's Global Creativity Index has USA at no 1, Australia no 5 & New Zealand no 6

More good news on our great lands of opportunity: Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, Richard Florida and his team have developed the Global Creativity Index.

Writing in the Atlantic today, Richard states: "The Global Creativity Index evaluates and ranks 82 nations on Technology, Talent, and Tolerance, the three critical “Ts” of economic development. The GCI is a broad composite measure based on key measures of technology (R&D investment, researchers, and patents per capita), talent (educational attainment and the creative class) and tolerance (from Gallup surveys of the treatment of immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and gays and lesbians). ..predictions of imminent American decline seem to be premature. The United States takes second place, behind only Sweden. Finland takes third, followed by Denmark in fourth, Australia in fifth, and New Zealand in sixth place.

Asked to elaborate by Victor Perton, Professor Florida said, "With more than 45 percent of its workforce comprised of the Creative Class and growing, Australia is among the top 5 countries in the world for creativity and innovation. In the new creative age, the driving force behind any effective economic development strategy is talented people, and Australia sets the model for how to tap into the creativity of its entire workforce."

Updated 6 February

Pharma Opportunities in Australia: GSK Expands in Melbourne

Amidst all the newspaper bleak reporting on manufacturing in Australia, another ray of sunshine: GlaxoSmithKline Pty Ltd (GSK) is investing A$60 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Boronia a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. GSK received support from the Victorian State Government to proceed with this expansion.

See Land of Opportunity Blog

1 million Australians Expected to Visit the U.S.A. in 2012

The Herald Sun and Visit USA claim 1 million Australians will visit the USA in 2012 on the back of the rising Australian Dollar and increased competition in air fares. Pretty remarkable numbers given the entire Australian population is 22 million and the flight to L.A is around 14 hours: over 900,000 Aussies visited last year.

Shop assistants in big retailers in San Francisco and New York often comment on the number of Aussies they are seeing. An American friend who went to buy a winter fur said that the furrier commented on the number of Australians buying expensive fur coats. Shopping and theatre trips to New York are increasing in popularity.

I am in Hawaii at present. Today's news is headed "Aussies lead surge in visitor numbers to Hawaii". Hawaiian travel groups report a 32% increase in Australian tourist numbers year on year. The article goes on to say, "A large upsurge in visitor numbers from Australia helped Hawaii achieve a year-on-year 3.8 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in 2011. With the Australian dollar still soaring, and with the number of direct flights and airlift from Down Under on the rise, Aussie visitor numbers to Hawaii surged 32.1 per cent in 2011."

As a Melbourne couple honeymooning on Maui said to me, "With the dollar the way it is, it's cheaper than home and what a perfect place for a honeymoon."

With CNBC's Daryl Guppy predicting an exchange rate of US$1.18 to the Australian$, the numbers could go through the roof.

With most Australians travelling to California and New York, other states are looking to tap into the market. Illinois Tourism Office's Director Warren Ribley and Deputy Director Jan Kostner have talked to me about this over the last year. Responding to the latest numbers, Jan Kostner said "The Australian tourist is a high value traveller to the U.S. The U.S. Department of Commerce is predicting travellers to the U.S. from Australia to grow by 94%, Chicago and Illinois are looking for creative ways to capture this market... We would like Australians to know that Chicago and Illinois offers the real American experience. From the city's world class offerings to the state's authentic road trips, you don't need to go anywhere else."

The rise in the dollar has had its challenges too. While the cost of marketing in the USA has fallen in real dramatically for Australian exporters, the laws of supply and demand have reduced volumes and margins for Australian exporters. Taking wine as an example, low cost Australian wines have continued to thrive but every other category has suffered under an onslaught of low-cost producers from South America and the falling price of European wines. Bloomberg reported that Australia "the world's largest wine exporter by volume outside of Europe, saw the value of exports decline to their lowest level in a decade in 2011, falling 10 percent from a year earlier to A$1.89 billion."

Let's put this in context. The U.S.A. is still the world's biggest market for wine and for Melbourne-based Treasury Wine Estates, owner of the Lindemans and Penfolds brands, the U.S.A. is its largest market with $803 million of wine sold last year. Americans still love Australian wine and there is still a high level of activity by Australians in the marketplace: A good promotion recently held in New York was the Taste of Victoria promotion led by chef Guy Grossi.

The A$ is very likely to remain high. Yesterday, the Australian Prime Minister speaking at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne said, "what is certain from all this is our dollar is likely to remain relatively high for years to come."

Record High Victorian Agricultural Exports last year

Last year at a meeting with Deloittes, I was told the best brand food brand name in the world is "Australia." Within that brand name, the premium product comes from Victoria.

Victorian agriculture and food export earnings grew 19 per cent last financial year to $8.1 billion. Dairy was the largest food export from Victorian ports with $1.95 billion worth of powdered milk and cheese dispatched. It is thought that the growing middle class in China, India and other Asian nations had resulted in the major growth in demand for dairy products.

Victoria is incredibly productive: it is the second smallest Australian state with 3% of the landmass but delivers 28 per cent of national agricultural and food exports.

Congratulations to Thomas Klein of Fairmont Hotels & to the Australian American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco

Last night the Australian American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco held its 2012 Chevron
Australia Day Ball compered by the excellent Melburnian/Victorian actor-singer-director Cameron Daddo.
Cameron was the perfect compere engaging the full house with his humour and music. I commend him to
anyone looking for a compere for events in the U.S.A. I thank him for his support in my role as Commissioner.

The Chamber awarded its Ambassador Bill Lane Spirit of Australia Award to Thomas Klein, regional
vice president, California for Fairmont Hotels. Thomas has been a tower of strength to the Australian
community in California and is a leader in the San Francisco community helping with many philanthropic
causes. He has been a great help to our team and is inspiring with his ideas on collaboration and leadership in
our expatriate Australian community.

As always, Nigel Warren, the Australian Consul General, gave a fine speech for the occasion. Congratulations and thanks too to Dawn Lillington, the Director of the Chamber for another successful event. There were many interesting Australian expats at the event including the author Sally James, business folk Andy McKeon of Apple, Gower and Robyn Smith, Larry Marshall and many many others. Chevron's team was there in strength.

The Australia Day Ball was held in Thomas's San Francisco Fairmont. The Fairmont is a great historic hotel having been the scene for many international negotiations including the United Nations Charter. It has a place in the local heart similar to that of the Windsor in Melbourne. Every American President since Taft staying there when in San Francisco.

For Australians working in San Francisco, the Chamber is a fine organisation to meet other Australians and American friends of Australia for business and family fun. Established in 1981, the "Australian American Chamber of Commerce exists to embody, promote and advance the Uniquely Australian Way to Work and Play. This means taking a quintessentially Australian approach to both business and pleasure, allowing for seriousness and fun, success and relaxation."

Last Thank You before I leave the Post of Commissioner to the Americas: Louise Asher

Today and tomorrow are the last working days before I pass on the baton of Commissioner to the Americas to Michael Kapel who should do a splendid job. He is eager to build on the structures you have helped me build and I hope you welcome him with the same enthusiasm.

I have received many lovely letters, cards and emails from folk wishing me the best. While I have asked them to wait to the end of my statutory role, you can imagine I've also been happy to hear that folk want to employ my services in the future.

One delightful letter I want to share comes from my friend of 35 years, Louise Asher, the Victorian Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business. Along with very nice greetings and good wishes, Louise wrote:

"Your commitment, hard work and enthusiasm in promoting and representing Victoria has been greatly valued and appreciated by the Government. The bilateral government, business and people links you have developed and strengthened in the region have also been of great value to the Department of Business and Innovation and the many Victorian organisations working in-market...."

I share this because of Louise's wise reference to people links. Throughout my time in the job, I have been very conscious that there are already millions of people links between Victoria, Australia and the Americas. My job was to build on those links, strengthen them and make new ones. I have been delighted to see introductions blossom into great business, NGO, government and personal collaborations.

I am proud of my team's efforts in building the Victorians Abroad and then Victorian Connections on-line presence. This has been adopted as a global platform by the Victorian Government. There were very few places in the Americas where we could not find a Victorian and Victorian Connections events delight Australians living in the Americas and our American friends. The platform has enabled self-organizing groups to get together around the world.

We have found linkedin to be very helpful as was facebook. More important still was our collaboration with DFAT, Austrade, the American Australian Association, the Chambers of Commerce, Advance, VECCI, AIG, Committee for Melbourne and I could go on and on. Ambassador Beazley in the U.S.A. has been a great support as have his fellow Ambassadors in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia. My friend, the former Commissioner for Queensland Peter Beatty, was a great collaborator as we agreed it was a big market where we could do best by working. Thousands of people and hundreds of organisations have contributed to my work and thus helped contribute to the prosperity of Victoria & Australia and all the nations of the Americas we have worked in. You know who you are. Thanks to all of you!




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Location:Clay St,San Francisco,United States