Sydney, June 21, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Twenty eight Australian businesses have proven their ability to compete on a global level, winning keenly sought-after awards at the 19th Annual Australian Business Excellence Awards, held tonight in Sydney. The awards recognise and reward excellence in business improvement in all entities, from local councils, not for profit groups, small businesses to large listed companies.

Ross Wraight, CEO of SAI Global, which holds the annual awards, said: "These are Australian businesses which are setting benchmarks - and proving their capabilities against world standards. They are showcasing their abilities and how they have been able to achieve and sustain success."

Major winners of this Year's Australian Business Excellence Awards include:
- Bronze Award: City of Marion (SA)

- Bronze Award: Catholic Education Office

- People Award: Fremantle Ports (WA)

- Leadership: Tasmanian Alkaloids

- Gold Award: Tasmanian Alkaloids

- Excellence Medal: Fremantle Ports

In addition to the major Business Excellence Awards, this year's awards included seven new System Excellence awards to recognise excellence in business systems within organisations. These encompassed: Customer Service; Quality, Occupational Health & Safety, Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; and Environmental. Winners and highly commended organisations include:

- Beaumont Transport (QLD)

- New Zealand Aluminium Smelters

- Nurses Board of Western Australia

- Fasco Australia

- Datacom Connect

- Catholic Schools Office

- ANZ

- St. Andrews Hospital (SA)

- Australian Taxation Office

- Country Energy (regional NSW)

- Hunter Integrated Care (NSW)

- BridgeClimb (Sydney)

- RTA Transport Management Centre (NSW)

- Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

- Temple Breuer Wines (SA)

- Lane Cove River Tourist Park (NSW)

- DB RREEF

- City of Belmont (WA)

- Main Roads WA

- TTR Rawlinsons (QLD)

- Westpac

- TressCox Lawyers

- Sky News

"The Australian Business Excellence Awards are similar to an elite cycling race," Mr Wraight said. "Getting ahead of the pack is a risky business should you become unstable and fall. But with a carefully calculated move you can get ahead of everyone else - just like Lance Armstrong has shown throughout his career.

"The Australian Business Excellence Framework provides the necessary tools to make those calculated moves, get into top gear - and sprint past the field. The awards are for organisations which are serious about continuous business improvement and growth. As past winners have shown, going through the awards program can help enhance and, indeed, transform a business, both internally and on an external basis.

"By applying the internationally-recognised Framework, applicants are essentially benchmarking their business against thousands of other businesses around the globe. And it's giving organisations essential tools to continuously improve and maintain their businesses."

Launched in 1988, the Australian Business Excellence Awards are part of the Global Excellence Model family which includes the European quality awards, Malcolm Baldridge quality awards in the US, and the Singapore quality awards. The awards night is the highlight of the Better Business Conference, which every year offers organisations an opportunity to hear from some of Australia's leading businesses including Resmed, Credit Suisse, Alcoa, Fremantle Ports, Shell, Transgrid, AMP, Citigroup, Mercer Consulting and MBF ClearView.

For more information about this year's winners in the 19th Australian Business Excellence Awards or the range of business improvement programs, courses and publications SAI offers, visit www.saiglobal.com.

About SAI Global & Business Excellence (www.saiglobal.com)
SAI Global (ASX:SAI) applies information worldwide to help organisations manage risk, achieve compliance and drive business improvement. It provides access to more than 1 million standards and specifications together with regulatory newsfeeds, compliance solutions, business improvement training and independent verification and certification services.

Developed in 1987 by some of Australia's leading business people, the Australian Business Excellence Framework helps organisations to improve management and leadership practices, assess the performance of their leadership and management systems, build those results into strategic planning processes, and benchmark where their organisation stands in terms of the marketplace and competitors.