b'KENNARDS HIRE Since 1948TAKING HIRE HIGHER | 26HIGHERanother thing they inherited from Sam Greenberg, whoA NATIONAL BODY OF HIRERSoften boasted that he paid cash for everything, thatIn 1973, the idea of creating a national association to his company held no debt and that hed never paid acomplement the state-based associations was raised. pennys interest in his life. The brothers also decided earlyOnce again, Nev was the driving force, and he organised not to give personal guarantees for loans. When asked,a national committee with two members from each the reply was, If the risk is too high for the bank, we willof the participating states: New South Wales, Victoria, take this as a warning ourselves and reduce the amountand Queensland. South Australia and Western Australia of borrowing. The banks never refused them a loan. joined later. Nev became the first president of the Hire and Rental Association, later renamed the Hire and SPREADING THE WORD Rental Industry Association (HRIA), a role he held for In 1971, with a steady growth in the number of compa- two years before Andy took up the mantle in 1976 and nies, tradies and handymen discovering equipmentheld it until 1979.hire as a way of reducing costs, the first Kennards Hire Equipment catalogue was released.The fifty-six-pageThe association was put to the test in 1976 when catalogue was filled with black and white photos, specsthe government of the day denied the hire industry and information of more than 300 pieces of equipment,the forty per cent investment allowance that other in alphabetical order. It was a hit with customers andindustries received. In what was dubbed a triumph of quickly became a major part of the companys advertis- organisation, hire operators from all over the country ing and growth strategy, considered in the industry as angathered in Canberra and parked their trucks outside equipment bible, packed with handy tips and tricks forParliament House as an act of peaceful (but noisy) tradies and DIY-ers. protest. Media coverage was sympathetic, claiming the industry had not been given a fair go and the Treasurer During this decade, Kennards Hire also hired Murraywas pressured to invite Neville and other representatives Trembath, a public relations consultant, to write articlesinto Parliament House to discuss the matter. Despite about the benefits of hiring over buying. With lesstheir efforts, the hire industry still did not receive the stringent editorial controls back then, the PR firm wasinvestment entitlement, but it did demonstrate that the able to get newspapers to run the articles as thoughindustry needed a strong representative body ready to they were real news. go to bat for its members.In 1971, with a steady growth in the number of companies, tradies and DIY-ers discovering equipment hire as a way of reducing costs, the first Kennards Hire Equipment catalogue was released.'