n e ws
Opportunities Down Under
from austria to australia
- the search for new markets and business partners .
01
edith paarhammer
Marketing & Business Development
Paarhammer Pty Ltd
A
21-strong government and media
delegation group from Austria visited
successful companies with Austrian
ties in New South Wales and Victoria.
After a morning tour of Parliament in
Melbourne and meetings with politicians,
the delegation spent an afternoon at
Paarhammer Windows.
“I would not want to be a famous person,”
said Tony Paarhammer after he had 15
plus recording devices placed under his
nose less than two minutes after the group
disembarked from the bus. The questions
came thick and fast from representatives
from Austrian newspapers, magazines, radio
and television stations.
After the group enjoyed an Australian lunch,
Tony and Edith gave a presentation on
their business, its history, Austrian imports
and opportunities for the future. They also
invited a representative from the Victorian
Department of Economic Development,
Jobs, Transport and Resources (Ballarat
Office) who explained why Victoria is the
ideal state when it comes to doing business.
02
34 Australian Window Association
He underpinned his talk with statistics
including; Victoria has the lowest business
tax rate in Australia and Port Melbourne is
Australia’s largest and busiest container port.
Melbourne is also the ‘world’s most liveable
city’ (five years in a row) and features the
most attractive business location costs for
R&D operations in the Asia-Pacific.
Australia as a whole is very interesting for
overseas business as it is the 12th largest
economy in the world. With a population of
23.7 million people on 7,687,000 km2 of land,
we have a GDP of $1.56 trillion. Victoria is
Australia’s second largest economy with 22
per cent of Australia’s GDP and 25 per cent
of Australia’s population, with a projected
increase to 10-12 million people in 2060.
Melbourne will be Australia’s largest city by
2030. With low risk, being transparent and
international, Melbourne features a strong
economy and world-class infrastructure.
Strengthened by all these figures, the
Austrian delegation took a tour through the
Paarhammer manufacturing facilities with
commentary in Austrian. The tour included a
talk about the waste management of sawdust
and shavings from the manufacturing
process, where they are made into
briquettes and used to heat the factory.
While this is a common practise in Austria,
it is fairly new to Australia. A tour of the
state-of-the-art automated spray painting
facility excited the camera crew as they
were introduced to Paarhammer’s newest
recruit, the robot Francesco, and saw a
demonstration of his work.
Individual interviews were held by radio
and ORF, the equivalent of the ABC, for a
documentary on this fact-finding mission (to
be aired on Austrian TV).
Opportunities in the building industry, as
Paarhammer sees it, could be in quality
pre-fabricated housing and timber buildings,
especially since regulations have recently
changed to allow for timber constructions to
be built up to a height of 25 metres. Heating
systems are also on top of the opportunities
list as comfort seems to have become a
more important issue to home owners who
demand a constant temperature in their
home. This can already be seen through
the high uptake of insulation and energy
efficient and draft proof windows and doors.
Furnaces for hydronic heating systems and
geothermal solutions could also be growth
areas.
Afternoon tea, consisting of the familiar
Schwarzwaelderkirsch Torte and coffee,
gave the group sustenance to complete their
visit. The delegation left with hundreds of
pictures, lots of media footage and many
ideas for business opportunities Down
Under!
01 Tony Paarhammer (centre) leading a tour
through the Paarhammer factory for
representatives of the Upper Austrian
Economic Chamber and ORF Austrian
National TV.
02 Tony Paarhammer interviewed by ORF
Austrian National TV.