Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I would like to praise the remarkable contribution that local businesses make to my electorate. Each and every day, the hard work of local business owners and their staff play a vital role in generating employment opportunities for Macarthur residents and driving our community's economy. I recently attended a presentation of the Campbelltown local business awards and was honoured to have the opportunity to recognise and support such an impressive array of innovative and hard-working local businesses in the Macarthur community. The local business awards program is a prestigious one that is held each year. It highlights businesses across the Campbelltown district that offer outstanding customer service, products and innovative approaches to business challenges. It has become a major competition in the community and is conducted over an 11-week period.

I believe the Campbelltown Local Business Awards are essential to the Macarthur community because they offer residents a meaningful way to show their support and appreciation of businesses that offer exceptional services and products to the local community. Local businesses are the backbone of our local economy. They generate employment for thousands of Macarthur residents, provide services to our local area and drive the local economy as well as the country's broader economic development.

The close link between local businesses and the community is also important to the education of young people in my electorate. Many local businesses in Macarthur actively contribute directly through financial support and indirectly through social support to local schools. Partnerships between local businesses and schools provide resources to enrich student learning and improve education through upgrading facilities and equipment. For high school students, local businesses provide opportunities for students to explore different career paths, make contact with future career opportunities, develop workplace skills and integrate into the labour market. Helping to deliver educational services to schools substantially enriches student development and learning. In so doing, local businesses are supporting the future of Australia because, after all, young people are our future leaders.

Local businesses also provide vital support for grassroots sporting clubs in the community. Sport is a central part of the Macarthur community. The commitment of local businesses in assisting sporting and recreational clubs plays a vital role in improving the health and wellbeing of Macarthur residents and in offering a number of social and personal benefits. Businesses assist clubs and organisations to maintain and improve facilities and sponsor a wide variety of amateur and professional sports men and women across a broad range of clubs and associations. A number of netball, soccer, rugby and hockey clubs in Macarthur could not exist without the support of local businesses. For example, when the Macarthur BMX club first began, they had no facilities, no track and no funds. However, with support from a range of local businesses they were able to open a track in the local community.

For those reasons, I take great pleasure in commending all Campbelltown Local Business Award finalists. To be nominated and acknowledged for offering excellent services and products is a great achievement, both personally and professionally. I would like to especially congratulate Minto's Fruit Orchard for taking out the prestigious Business of the Year Award in 2013 and Susanne Taylor from Southwest Automotive who was awarded Business Person of the Year.

The following local businesses stood out to Macarthur residents and judges as having offered an outstanding service and approach in 2013 in their respective categories. The local business winner of the antiques, art, crafts and gifts category was awarded to Sentiments Cards & Gifts. The winner of the automotive services category went to Macarthur Ford Service. The winner of the bakery/cake shop category went to Waminda Bakery. The winner of the beauty services category went to Oceana Day Spa. The winner of the bedding store category went to Sleep Doctor Holy Sheet! The winner of the butcher category went to Blue Ribbon Quality Meats. The winner of the cafe category went to Dahlia's Cafe. The winner of the childcare services category went to UWS Unique Kids Early Learning. The winner of the education service category went to the Australian Institute of Childcare Training. The winner of the electrical appliance store category went to Factory Seconds Warehouse. The winner of the fashion shop category went to Katies Campbelltown Mall. The winner of the fast food/takeaway category went to Kings Charcoal Chickens Campbelltown. The winner of the fitness services category went to Fit H.Q. Campbelltown. The winner of the florist category went to Petals and Blooms Ambarvale. The winner of the general bulky goods category went to Bunnings Campbelltown. The winner of the hairdresser category went to Strands of Colour. The winner of the home furniture store category went to Room Decor. The winner of the jewellery store category went to Michael Hill Jeweller Campbelltown. The winner of the new business category went to Campbelltown Country Fresh. The winner of the pet care category went to Macarthur Veterinary Group. The winner of the pharmacy category went to Chemist Warehouse Campbelltown. The winner of the professional services category went to Donna Fuchs Conveyancing. The winner of the real estate agency category went to Dunsheas United Realty. The winner of the restaurant category went to George's On Queen. The winner of the service and trade category went to Aussie Farmers Direct North West Campbelltown. The winner of the specialised business category went to Red Dragon Alternative Medicine. The winner of the specialised retail business category went to Minto's Fruit Orchard. The winner of the long-serving business category went to De Hall Dance Studio. The winner of the Youth Award went to Aldi Macquarie Fields.

I would also like to congratulate the competition organisers and sponsors. They do a terrific job year in and year out in promoting and celebrating the much-deserved achievements of local businesses in the Macarthur community. The publicity generated from the competition provides local businesses with wonderful exposure in the community. This includes editorials in local newspapers, which keep readers and voters up to date with their products and services. This type of support for local business is more important than ever, considering that data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics census on population and housing showed that, in 2011, almost 50 per cent of Macarthur residents travelled outside the electorate for work.

I want to see local business industry in Macarthur supported by the federal government so that they can become large employment centres that attract a local workforce. This will not only strengthen Macarthur's local economy but also decrease the time residents spend travelling to and from work so that they can spend more quality time with their families. However, local businesses continue to get overlooked and overtaxed and are over-regulated. Under the existing Labor government, the number of employed in small business has declined by 243,000 across the nation and the rate of small business formation has halved.

Unlike the Labor government, the coalition recognises that it is tough running a small business and it has been made even tougher because of Labor's carbon tax and red tape. These are the two main issues raised in my regular meetings with business owners across Macarthur. Local businesses across the nation have to carry the full weight of the carbon tax without the compensation or the carve-outs afforded to others. At the same time, local businesses have been disadvantaged by more red tape and compliance costs than ever before. Labor has introduced more than 20,000 regulations and only repealed 104, despite promising a one in, one out approach to regulation in 2007—another one of Labor's broken promises.

I recognise that café owners, fruit and vegetable shops, butchers, tradies and retailers are the backbone of the Macarthur community. Yet the Labor government is doing nothing to offer them the support they need and deserve. Businesses in Macarthur should be concerned about the revolving door of Labor's federal small business ministers—with the appointment of the sixth person to the role in six years. This is not a portfolio that Labor has ever taken seriously. Local and small businesses in Macarthur deserve better than a divided and dysfunctional Gillard government that is more interested in itself than the country. In comparison, a coalition small business minister will be included in the cabinet to ensure that small business interests and concerns are represented during decision making at the highest level.

I want to be able to see more and more local businesses in Campbelltown and the Macarthur region participating in the annual local business awards and, more importantly, achieve personal and professional success in sustaining and growing their businesses. However, local small businesses need a strong, stable and reliable government to give the community confidence in the economy—and a coalition government plans to do just that. Last year I held a small business forum with our shadow minister for small business, Bruce Billson, to give our small business people the opportunity to have their voices held. Shadow minister Billson and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, have been talking with small business across Australia to understand what you want a coalition government to do to better support you. The coalition has real solutions for reversing the Labor government's gross negligence of small and local businesses. A coalition government is determined to double the rate of small business formation by cutting the carbon tax to boost consumer and business confidence and by cutting $1 billion worth of red tape out of the economy.

The government should be doing everything it can to help our local businesses stay competitive, because they are the backbone of our successful local economies. They employ more than seven million Australians, which is over 60 per cent of our workforce. They are significant investors in the education of young Australians and the sporting life of our communities. Therefore, it is about time the Labor government starting making the prosperity of local business a priority.

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