Nrma Books In For Service

Newcastle Herald

Friday November 2, 2007

By MICHELLE HARRIS

NRMA Motoring and Services will set up a new car servicing centre at Kotara that will handle up to 40 cars a day, it announced at its annual general meeting in Newcastle yesterday.

The state-of-the-art MotorServe centre will have eight mechanics and will offer general and logbook servicing.

The NRMA has purchased a vacant building on the corner of Park Avenue and Searle Street, which will undergo a million-dollar refit before the centre opens in April.

The announcement was not the only good news for the 280 members who attended the meeting at Western Suburbs Leagues Club.

Chief executive Tony Stuart said that after a turbulent past, the NRMA was in a strong financial position as a result of its diversification.

That strategy had led it to invest in Travelodge and Thrifty Australia in recent years.

Net profit had grown 24 per cent to $58 million and revenue had risen by more than a third to $300 million, he said.

"We are no longer selling off the family silver to fund our losses," Mr Stuart said. "Our business is now the strongest it's been since demutualisation."

Members approved yesterday a $245,000 pay rise for the NRMA's board of directors, which includes ex-Olympic swimmer Dawn Fraser, former footballer Geoff Toovey and Hunter-based Kyle Loades.

It boosts the total base of remuneration for the nine directors to $665,000, their first pay increase in eight years.

Members also backed a stand-down period of five years for any director removed from the board by at least 75 per cent of votes cast by members.

Earlier, president Alan Evans applauded the efforts of NRMA patrol staff during the June long-weekend storms, who worked 16-hour shifts to help members.

? NRMA president Alan Evans pledged yesterday to make the F3 extension to Branxton a "major campaign issue" of the federal election.

He said NSW had the worst roads in the country and this was severely hindering economic growth in regional communities, such as those in the Hunter.

The Federal Government was not spending enough of the fuel excise levy on road improvements, he said.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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