Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday night I attended the business awards in Dubbo, aptly named the Rhino Awards as a tribute to the stars at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo. What was particularly exciting about that night was the level of optimism and success of local businesses. Through a couple of pretty difficult years they have not only survived but thrived. The Gold Rhino went to online ticketing company 123 Tix, who showed great innovation to evolve their company to keep it relevant and grow their company during the pandemic.

Dubbo is just one town in my electorate. During the break I spoke to a businessperson in Moree who employs 20 people. They were saying what a great help JobKeeper was to keep their business afloat during the early days of the pandemic and how subsequent government policies, like the instant asset write-off, have enabled their business to invest in equipment and ultimately tool up and hire staff to enable them to take part in the enormous opportunities across regional Australia at the moment. This is a very positive time for regional Australia.

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