While an informed electorate is essential to the democratic process, there appears to be huge over-sending of junk mail for political purposes – and no clear way on how to stop this. What’s worse, the content of most of the political flyers is simply mudslinging about their opponents with little to no intellectual substance. Is anyone else reminded of children in the playground?

How can you help stop this frivolous waste of paper? Imagine the strain on our environment and the large volume of greenhouse gases generated from all the trees cut down, printing, electricity and transport of the materials. Grab a cup of tea or your water bottle and let’s get down to it.

We know in Australia that material deemed to be political, educational, religious and charitable is exempt from “No Junk Mail” signed letterboxes according to standards conducted by the Australian Catalogue Association. So there is no way to stop it being dumped in your letterbox along with the other junk mail catalogues enticing you to buy all sorts of things you don’t really need. It is likely the same in other countries.

Step 1. Incorrectly addressed political mail
A lot of of your mail may be addressed to former occupants of the house. You need to “return this to sender” with the note “no longer at this address”.

Step 2. Contact every political party or politician that is mailing you
There is no central database so you will need to call the office of each individual sender and ask to be removed from their mailing list. Remember to be polite! You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

Step 3. National Standard to stop political junk mail
Write a letter to the Electoral Commission asking them to implement a National Standard to limit the volume of pieces each political party is allowed to put in each household’s letterbox.

Step 4. Polling day
Don’t forget to recycle any materials you are given on the day – often the Greens Party has a box at the booths for such materials on polling day!

Written by Tracey Bailey, Director of Biome Eco Stores in Brisbane, specialists in water bottles and eco friendly, reusable choices for your home, body and lifestyle.

We have already talked about sponsored parties including sporting groups and their databases of consumers and business prospects. You may not be able to gain direct access to these databases but you may be able to provide copy to the sponsored party so that you can reach them.

Your business should prioritise the building of a prospect database and it should be continually worked on to improve your chances of success at below-the-line activities. You can dust this database off with each new campaign that you intend to run. The database can be a valuable source of reference when you have new products to launch or you need to target a specific audience for the launch of a new product or an invitation to your latest workshop or seminar.

Staying in contact with existing customers is important because these can be a valuable source of referrals and leads and they may wish to use your services again in the future.

One of the pitfalls of direct marketing can be in maintaining the database itself. People and businesses tend to be on the move and before you know it, a portion of your database of contacts can become out of date. You may also find the need to remove duplicated entries or avoid contacting people under the age of 18 if they are not an appropriate market

Once you have your database, it is simply a matter of doing a mail merge to run off a series of direct mail letters. This can be done in either Microsoft Word or Excel and is a relatively easy task to complete.

If you’re using Google to build a prospect database, then you should probably talk to the leading seo perth business. Search Tempo will help you get better Google rankings to start the process. Contact the perth seo leaders today. Search Tempo does not charge nasty ongoing monthly fees.

The difficulty in explaining this area of law and the many types of securities that are affected, mean many Australian businesses are not aware of the impact of the legislation. In particular, businesses that have for many years employed a tried and tested way of securing interests in specific personal property could find their system no longer provides proper protection of their interests.

Previously your business may have relied on what were called romalpa clauses or Retention of Title Clauses. If that is so you are certainly likely to be affected by the new Act, and must ensure you understand how the new Personal Property Securities Register works, so as to protect your interests.

Businesses that may be impacted include those:

- Involved in selling goods on credit and who have priorly relied on “Retention of Title” clauses
- Financiers seeking clarification of the true assets, security and debt position of a client
- Businesses that lease plant and equipment, vehicles or virtually any other assets
- Companies that provide goods on consignment
- Business owners that are seeking to refinance and need to provide certainty of title in assets

Why do we need it?
While many businesses and advisors were accustomed to the existing system, it was recognised that the previous mix of inconsistent and old-fashioned state-by-state securities arrangements combined with the Corporations Act rules for companies and other Federal rules were inefficient and would work much more effectively for all parties if they were brought under a single unified approach. The result is a detailed, and hopefully all-encompassing, code which draws on the systems that are in place in countries such as New Zealand and Canada.

PPSA and its operational Register will cover both individuals and companies. It’s based on the idea that it is in the best interests of anyone dealing with a company or an individual, who may extend credit to that individual or company, to be able to gain an accurate picture of whether apparent assets are in fact owned by that individual or company or only have a registered interest over them.

What should I do?
There are a large number of legal and non-legal items available on the web which can help you gain a better idea of whether your business is likely to be affected by the new arrangements. Businesses located in North Queensland, particularly Mackay, should seek advice from a trusted local legal expert who has experience in commercial and business property matters.

This article is not legal advice and must not be relied on relation to any specific legal situation you may have. You should ALWAYS seek the advice of a qualified lawyer before taking any action in relation to your personal or business legal situation.

Looking for mackay solicitors, lawyers mackay or solicitors mackay ? Need advice about PPSA? Kelly Legal has built a formidable and experienced team of Mackay and Brisbane based lawyers who now offer a range of legal services throughout Queensland in all areas of law.