1. greetings
seasons
Est. 1961
Essential reading for those involved with
Collections, Investigations, Process Serving and Repossessions in Australia
AGENTDecember 2014/January 2015 | Volume 47 Issue 6
www.imal.com.au

2. 22| AGENT | Dec 2014/Jan 2015 | www.imal.com.au
James had been referred by long-time
member Peter Kay who encouraged
him to make contact, say hello and to let
members know what he has been involved
in since his last involvement with the
industry.
First joining the information industry
in 1989 James with his mother Margo
Fitzgibbon founded Easyfind Calendars,
gathering all fifty-two local newspapers of
the time with the aim of selling advertising
to tradesmen. This concept eventuated
into the establishment of two companies
- MOS Data and API (Adult Population
Index).
Over time, those companies became
Australia’s leaders in information
databases - processing electoral rolls,
phone directories, land titles data overlaid
with census data. The data was then sold
to and used by the credit industry, debt
collection agencies, financial institutions
and police nationwide.
Older members will realise the arrival of
API and specifically electoral rolls online
significantly changed our industry: before
access to electoral rolls was available
through API most debt recovery within
Australia was controlled by a handful of
bigger corporate companies whilst the
smaller companies tended to deal with
opportunities available from smaller
companies. Upon the arrival of API the
playing field was more level allowing
smaller agencies willing to work hard
and smart to obtain a share of the larger
collection contracts.
The database companies were sold in
2002 and unfortunately soon after, there
was a period of protracted irreconcilable
disputes between James and his wider
family. James became semi-retired
and whilst living on the family farm in
Bundanoon, NSW he raised his then
young daughter.
James established two businesses
during this time – Bundanoon Bulb
Farm and Tru Blue Tool Company (www.
trubluetwinblade.com.au). Many will
recognise James as the demonstrator in
the well-known national TV ad for his
“Tru Blue” product. The latter business
is now owned and managed by a friend.
James lives in Goulburn as a full-time
Mr Mum (as he likes to call it), with
his daughter his main focus. With his
daughter increasingly independent as a
young adult, James is ready to step back
into the business world and has already
been working on a few projects, one of
which is a patent named Wireless solar
&/or wind turbine - speed &/or CCTV
transmitting poles & towers (Patent #
AU2010219296).
Solar & wind turbine operated speed
cameras are potentially a global sellable
proposal. James explains currently the
systems work as follows:
A camera with flash system takes two
photos to determine if the driver went
through a red light or was speeding.
To recover the images in cities
cameras are often wired back to police
headquarters where computer systems
automatically use number plate & facial
recognition software to generate fines
which are then mailed to the offender;
alternatively for situations where the
camera is not wired to headquarters, a
police officer is required to attend every
red light or speed camera to pick up and
replace film.
The second scenario means installations
are mostly limited to city limits as the
expense to put in place and maintain
speed cameras more distant is viewed as
too costly.
James’ patent would facilitate setting up
and installing a pole with a solar & small
wind turbine operated speed camera with
batteries stored in the pole - a mobile
communication /computerised system
would allow data to be transmitted direct
to headquarters for a computer generated
speed ticket to be mailed out before the
speeding driver has got to his or her
destination.
With projected manufacturing costs
around $5000 compared to a likely price of
upwards to $50,000 per unit based upon
the revenue each State could generate
paves the way for this patent proving to be
viable.
A further use of the patent is the
possibility for installing in any area
free standing solar & wind turbine
operated CCTV cameras so as to assist
governments in extending their use of
facial recognition computer software for
their homeland security risks.
The current prohibitive costs of existing
systems concentrate such government
efforts to cities as data is hard wired
back to a central headquarters, where
computers do scans on every person
walking or in a car where systems cross
reference car number plates with people
then mobile phone and email links and so
on to keep a computerised file on everyone
without any human input.
Members interested in reading more
about James’ current business and the
opportunities he is pursuing can visit his
website www.jamesfitzgibbons.com or look
him up on LinkedIn – he would love to
hear from members. He sees his future
as bringing on partners for up to 59% of
his company and as the patent holder is
currently in the process of applying for
government grants. ■
FORUM
LATERAL thinker
Recently the AGENT heard from James Fitzgibbons
who was actively involved with the IMA as a sponsor,
advertiser and conference attendee in the early 90s.
allowing smaller agencies
willing to work hard and
smart to obtain a share
of the larger collection
contracts
James Fitzgibbons