John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, employing millions of people across the country and producing more than $330 billion for our nation's economy. But they are more important than that. Small businesses are at the heart of our local community, creating spaces and villages that we cluster around and associate ourselves with. Small businesses are our community's soul, and I am immensely proud of the efforts this government has made to support them and help them to grow.

My electorate of Bennelong has over 14,500 small businesses spread across it between roughly 20 shopping villages. This accounts for 44 per cent of local employment. To help them out, I have started my own shop local campaign called Bennelong Village Businesses, which promotes them in their local communities and reminds local shoppers of the immense benefits there are to shopping locally. Chain stores and shopping malls may offer size but they fall short on almost every other front. Small businesses, on the other hand, (1) keep the dollars in the local economy; (2) deliver product diversity relevant to their local community; (3) are usually walking distance from your house; (4) support local jobs; (5) increase the value of your home; (6) maintain a local character and identity; (7) promote stronger communities; (8) drive efficiency and innovation for customers; (9) provide a safe and secure local environment; and (10) provide a responsive and accountable face for business.

This final point is certainly not as quantifiable as revenue or employment figures, but within it lies the strongest benefit to shopping locally. Unlike big multinational companies, small business has a heart, a face, and remembers your coffee order. No-one visits their 'friendly chain supermarket' but you do know your friendly local butchers, your neighbourhood grocers and your mate, the newsagent—who is still promising me a winning Lotto ticket!

Local shopping villages are the heart of our communities. The Bennelong Village Business campaign works by highlighting a shopping village each month and celebrating it in the local media. Additionally, I visit each local shop in the village strip and collect marketing materials which I then distribute to the local area. This gives every shop free advertisements to 2,000 homes in the area, with the aim to increase footfall and have more people recognise the huge benefits there are in shopping locally. Shortly I will be expanding this campaign to get businesses to talk to each other and to work together. The idea is to improve their buying power and use their unique features to fight against the power of the larger stores. If small businesses can add competitive prices to the list of benefits I have already named, they will be unstoppable.

Small businesses have already had a huge helping hand from this year's well-received budget, from the $20,000 tax deduction to the 1.5 per cent cut in the company tax rate. These benefits amount to a $5.5 billion small business package, which is already having an enormous effect on hundreds of local businesses across Bennelong. These reforms make a difference to individuals—individuals like Tony Fedele of Fedele's Pizza in East Ryde. In a forthright discussion with me the other day he agreed that, while the economy is doing it tough and there is always more to be done, this government is looking in the right areas and fixing the bits that are broken. The small business measures are a case in point. Tony used the deductible $20,000 to upgrade and streamline his payment system—something he has wanted to do for a while, but was able to do so with the help of this money. While his pizzas remain as delicious as ever—and he tells me they are non-fattening—his business is running smoother and will continue to serve his local community, to the benefit of everyone involved.

Small business does not mean small intentions, though. One local company, OmniPos, started from humble beginnings in West Ryde and are now looking to take on the world. They have developed their own product, an innovative new payment and stock management system, grown it with the help of the small business package and are now looking to sell it internationally with the help of the slew of recent free trade agreements negotiated for this very purpose by this government. This is the potential that can be unlocked in our small businesses. The future is very exciting. From little things, big things grow. (Time expired)

See this speech in context