Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to send a shout out to the staff and students of the Holy Family Primary School who are joining us in the schools gallery today. They have travelled from Newcastle.

Last Friday, I hosted the shadow Assistant Treasurer in Newcastle to showcase some of the exciting innovations in our community. We visited Camplify, a tech start-up engaged in the sharing economy. Less than a year old, Camplify got its start through the Jumpstart accelerator program, run by Slingshot in conjunction with the NRMA. The peer-to-peer caravan-sharing service is looking to connect Australia's 500,000 caravan, motorhome and campervan owners with holiday-makers, who could rent and utilise these vehicles in the 46 weeks a year that they generally sit idle in backyards across the country.

Last week, the Camplify team moved into their new office and launched the next phase of their website. Soon they hope to be facilitating hundreds of rentals a week and if that goes well, they look to take their vision globally. Regardless of how successful their organisation is and how big the team gets, Camplify are determined to keep their base in Newcastle, because they value the innovative tech and start-up community and the range of skills and ideas that are generated by Novocastrians.

This visit and engagement was part of Labor's considered approach to the sharing economy. We believe that the sharing economy offers the promise of improving our lives, but we are not uncritical cheerleaders. That is why we have been consulting with service providers, consumers and unions to get their ideas on the rules that should govern this new sector.