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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-18 Daily Xml
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CHEESE AND WINE TRAILS

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:47): I often come into this place and talk proudly of some of the great wine and tourism products which are available in McLaren Vale and which have been developed and extended into other wine regions throughout South Australia and, indeed, to wine regions across the border, into New South Wales and Victoria.

I have seen one such product grow from an idea of Dr Mark Potter, whom many people in here would know if they have been to his former café, the Blessed Cheese, in the main street of McLaren Vale, or to his current café, the Three Monkeys, in the main street of Willunga.

Dr Mark Potter started up the cheese and wine trails about four or five years ago, and the idea was that you went along to his cheese shop and café and got a pass and a selection of cheeses to take along to the wineries you were going to and, depending on the winery you visited and the wine you would drink, he assembled the cheese platter accordingly.

It was a very successful business venture, and he extended it to the Barossa Valley and to other wine regions here and in New South Wales. By the end of 2007, the McLaren Vale cheese and wine trail alone had engaged more than 3,500 patrons and generated more than 15,000 cellar-door visits and wine sales in excess of $120,000.

In July 2007, Dr Potter was approached by the directors of the business Smartvisit Solutions, Mr Nick Carter and Mr Ryan Rievely, who ran a competing wine tourism product called the Cellar Door Pass. They offered to purchase the network for shares in their company and the contracted commitment to employ Dr Potter as their product development officer for a period of three years.

However, immediately after integrating the cheese trail product into their portfolio, in May last year SVS directors terminated Dr Potter's employment without cause. Dr Potter rightly sought to enforce the contract, as it was implicit to the sale of the business. After failing to find resolution, he initiated court proceedings against SVS directors in March this year.

On the eve of the hearing, SVS directors revealed that they had sold all their assets to another business, Smartvisit Holdings, and placed their business, SVS, into receivership. This action left SVS, with no assets, owing more than $500,000 to a range of creditors, including more than $130,000 to the Australian Tax Office and more than $250,000 to the company that provided them with their technology. This action also reduced the value of more than $1 million in SVS issued as payment to business partners such as Dr Potter to zero.

An ASIC search reveals that this new company, Smartvisit Holdings, is owned and directed by Mr Nick Carter and Mr Ryan Rievely. Mr Rievely and Mr Carter continue to trade seamlessly, having shrugged off more than one and a half million dollars in financial commitments, including those to Dr Potter, as if nothing has happened.

As they also own the business Smartvisit Solutions Australia, as distinct from Smartvisit Solutions Pty Ltd, they have continued to trade under the name Smartvisit Solutions and so have not had to reveal their actions to the business community. It is my belief that the directors, Mr Ryan Rievely and Mr Nick Carter, have contravened a number of statutes of the Trade Practices and Corporations Act and I understand that requests have been made of the ACCC and ASIC to review their actions.

This is a company which has engaged with several wine and tourism operators throughout this state and other states, and I would like to send out a warning to any tourism operator to be aware of who they are getting into business with, if this is the group that they want to engage in with business. I put a warning out there that these people are shonks. I wrote to them last month and I gave them a fair amount of time to get back to me with a response to my letter, putting these accusations. They have failed to meet that deadline of 22 May.

So the warning is now out there. I will be passing this on to our tourism minister and the federal tourism minister, to be aware to stay away from Smartvisit Solutions now trading as Smartvisit Holdings, because unless you want to do your dough you want to stay a long way away from this company that has taken a very good, sound business, developed by a constituent of the electorate of Mawson, and not only left him out of pocket but has stripped away from him his pride and joy, the little baby of an idea that he had built up into a thriving business. I would like to make sure that what has happened to Dr Potter does not happen to anyone else in this country.

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