I am pleased to start this column by thanking the more than 2100 members who responded to our Member Survey.

Welcome to yet another New Year. I can't believe it's already a year since I penned my first column as CEO. The past year has been challenging thanks to the global economic conditions but it's also been extremely rewarding and interesting. Together with my team, I now look forward to the challenges and successes of 2010.

There’s no doubt this has been a more difficult economic year for most – and ECU Australia is not iimmune. However, I am very pleased to report that our results for the last financial year were better than expected and that 09-10 is already looking far more positive.

Another financial year is now upon us – without doubt one of the more difficult in recent times, considering the global economic conditions.