Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to address the issue of small businesses and the challenges they face. They are doing it tough, and we all hear that from the small businesses we speak to. As we go around our electorates, the hospitality trade, the retailers and the family businesses are all struggling with higher costs and their lack of confidence in the economy. It is an issue we need to address.

The coalition has come up with a number of initiatives on a number of fronts, and we need to give due credit to the path we are taking. Those initiatives range from removing the carbon tax and so reducing input costs for electricity—hopefully those on the other side of the House will help us do that—to deregulation. The Minister for Small Business, Bruce Billson, has been supported by our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, in driving the Shop Small initiative, which I think is a great campaign for us to get behind. On the deregulation front, Josh Frydenberg is leading the charge. In addition to $1 billion a year in costs being reduced for businesses, we have two repeal days—every minister will be asked to set up an advisory committee to help them in the area of deregulation. There will be changes in the department that will help us as well. I got behind the Shop Small campaign recently when I returned to an old place of work during my university days—HMS Buffalo at Glenelg, a great icon in the Glenelg area. It is a family restaurant that is finding things challenging, as many in the hospitality area are.

In saying that, many businesses are using their capacity and using the strengths of family businesses to thrive. It is the balance we try to achieve, and we see it in small businesses like Caruso's at Glenelg, Estia at Henley Square, Manuele Engineers and Rossiters boots—they are succeeding in their own little way but they are finding conditions very tough and we need to give them all the support we can. The coalition's policy of removing taxes, lowering input costs and promoting campaigns like Shop Small should be encouraged in whatever way they can be. Some businesses are taking it upon themselves to encourage us to buy local. Drake Supermarkets, for example, is one of those businesses that are encouraging shoppers to buy Australian products. When consumers shop they need to look for South Australian products, in my state, and for Australian products.

We have a growing opportunity in Asia and we need to continue to look for opportunities to increase our food distribution and support our food companies. There is the opportunity to shop small but also think large in Asia. I encourage everyone, as consumers, to support the initiative of Mr Billson and the coalition. He came out a number of times in Hindmarsh; we had some great forums on small business. He was at two, and we had another small business campaign as well. Hindmarsh is a small business electorate, as many electorates are in the Australian economy, and we need to continue to support small businesses. The coalition is providing that support.

Werriwa Electorate: Education

Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The electorate of Werriwa has a significant number of important government school institutions such as Campbell House which, with a very high teacher to student ratio, cares for students who have difficulties going into conventional schools, and Hurlstone Agricultural High School, one of Sydney's prestige government schools, where a former member for Werriwa, Mark Latham, is the president of the parents and citizens group. Another school is the coeducational Macquarie Fields High School, which is another selective high school.

On 15 November I felt very privileged to attend an event there with my state parliamentary colleague Dr Andrew McDonald and Murat Dizdar, the Executive Director of Public Schools NSW. This was for the continuation of a future teachers club. The event commenced with a very impressive address by the school principal Jan Dolstra. She told of her own life trip from Blacktown Girls High School. She was the first person from her family to go to university, having had the benefit of the then existing teachers scholarships. She had an experience that many of us do not have these days. We go to university with many people from the same high school, but she was amongst a very small group from her school to go to university. I think the figure she gave was 37 out of 120 of the first-year students actually completed high school. It is that kind of attitude and thankfulness for public education that drives her agenda.

This group, led by Perry Celestino, an American teacher who has been here for 40 years since the year of the Opera House opening, was created for future teachers. He is another person who is the first from his family in the United States to go to university. From recollection, he is the son of a plumber. What happens there is that students who are interested in going into the profession of teaching undertake class instruction. It was interesting to notice that Yanco Agricultural College from the Riverina came on the day to see what is occurring. Students teach a class, have the experience of teaching, get to know some of the problems, see the interaction of students and teachers, gain a knowledge of subjects and, at the end of the day, look at what they failed and what they would improve on.

It was accompanied by a video where the main star was Dylan Scarborough. I fondly recall when I met him at another students event a few years ago—probably with the member for Macarthur—I asked, as I do of many students, what he wanted to do in life. He said, 'Sit in a big chair in an office like yours in the near future.' So my colleague the member for Macquarie Fields described him as the future local MP for the area. That video showed students actually teaching and practising. But, most importantly, it showed them responding to what had occurred, seeing some of the challenges, understanding how they could improve lessons, and being queried by Dylan about what they thought was wrong with their performance.

Mr Celestino, on the day, received an award for 40 years of teaching, and Gai Lees and Judy Butler received awards for 30 years. The responses of various students were interesting. Sherridan Lown from year 10 said that the process gave her an insight into education to see what it is like as a teacher. Ishan Gupta enjoyed the opportunity to explore teaching as a future profession. Lisa Hannah undertook a maths class, and Katherine Livanis taught a year 9 history. We had the performances on screen and it was indeed impressive. The state executive director of education, Murat Dizdar, is, once again, a person who has had an interesting trip towards education. After studying law he became a teacher. For him, teaching is an occupation that provides an opportunity for everyone to have a fair go in life. He quoted the words of Malala Yousafzai, the young girl shot in Pakistan for her love of education, that education is not just a right but an obligation. I reiterate the impression that this created. This program should not only be in the Werriwa region. It should be a state model to encourage people to go into education and not—as some people have said—to see it as the last option after you do not get into other courses but to see it as a first choice because of the real commitment that it can make to the betterment of society.

Banks Electorate: Community Organisations

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I take this opportunity to formally congratulate you on your election to the speakership. I rise today to raise with the House the success of a couple of important community organisations in my electorate of Banks. Banks is very rich in community spirit, with a very diverse range of community organisations working from Carlton in the east right across to Revesby in the west. I wanted to highlight the work of a couple of those organisations this evening. One is the Pole Depot Community Centre based in Penshurst. The Pole Depot provides a very diverse range of social support services to more than 500 people every single week in the St George district. Its vision is for a healthy, supported, active and involved community, and it has many different programs that help to fulfil that vision. The Pole Depot runs programs for carers, kids, members of the local Chinese-Australian community, people with disabilities, seniors and young people as well. It also has a popular community cafe. It truly is a one stop shop for community services in Banks.

Last week I was fortunate to be able to visit the Hurstville YouthZone, which is operated by the Pole Depot, and to meet with Edgee Ribeiro and his team. Edgee has been managing the youth centre there for more than 10 years, which is a real testament to his dedication and to the ongoing success of the YouthZone centre. Importantly, the centre really focuses on encouraging young people and teenagers to play a constructive and active role in the community, to not stay at home and watch video games, but to get out there and really contribute to the community. There is an anti-graffiti program which they run, which has been very successful, and a number of different preventative workshops designed to teach study skills, job-hunting skills and to give people broader experiences so that they are able to move confidently into the world of work. It is a really tremendous organisation, and I was very pleased during the election campaign to have the member for Wentworth visit the Pole Depot with me and commit $500,000 towards much needed capital upgrades at the centre. With so many activities it is bursting at the seams somewhat, and I am very pleased that we will be delivering the financial support to allow that important financial expenditure to occur next year.

Also this evening I congratulate the Autism Community Network, which is based in Riverwood. This is a parent-run organisation which is quite young—it was only founded in late 2011 by Steve Drakoulis and other members of his team—and it exists basically to assist families of kids who have an autism spectrum disorder. It provides one-on-one counselling; support services; and a range of other activities such as a drama club, an arts club, a cooking club and a fitness club. It is important to note that this organisation sprung up from the grassroots—from the hard work of just a small number of people with very little external support—and what they have achieved is certainly very impressive.

The Autism Community Network provides a significant number of its services online. For example, there is an online support platform where parents and families can go in and talk about issues they are facing with their child with an autism spectrum disorder. As you can imagine, that provides a lot of much-needed support to families who have a child with an autism spectrum disorder.

Such activities have been so successful that families from as far afield as right up in the Hornsby region and right down to Wollongong have been looking to get involved with the activities of the network—which, as I said, was only set up a year ago in the St George district. I extend to Steve Drakoulis and all his team my very hearty congratulations on their success.