Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise today to address this place on a subject that is very close to my heart: small business. I do so with particular reference to a very vibrant and constructive group in my local electorate of Perth, the Maylands Business Association. The Maylands Business Association is a terrific network of small business owners who are organising themselves to make sure that they have networking events on a regular basis so they can keep up to date with important things that matter to them as they grow their own entities. The most recent one was on 2 November, a Wednesday night, held at Henry On Eighth. For those who are not aware, Henry On Eighth is a wonderful little cafe/bar that has just sprung up on Eighth Avenue in Maylands. The night was incredibly well attended. The theme of the night was client service delivery. Businesses from all over the district came together to exchange ideas as to how to grow and prosper.

The reason I think it is so important that we do everything we can to help promote small business is not only is it a key gateway to ensuring that we have the promotion of jobs as well as cottage industries to support local produce but also it is part of my history and my fabric growing up. My father, when he finished working in a hotel and driving a bread truck, decided the only way to try and put the family on the best and most prosperous path it could take was to start a small business. On that basis, he put himself through TAFE to get his real estate ticket and then ran his own real estate agency for about 15 years until he died about 10 years ago. We grew up in that environment of small business first hand and saw just how tough it can be to make ends meet and, at the same time, provide an environment for other people to gain employment.

In my former life before coming to this place, I was a barrister. It is not frequently known, but, effectively, you run your own practice as a small business. So I also felt the demands placed upon my practice as to what needs to occur just to make ends meet. That is why I was also very proud to be part of a federal Labor team which is putting its shoulder to the grindstone in order to assist small business. It is a team putting together a taxation relief package to reduce company tax, to make sure we cut red tape and to make sure we promote start-ups get finance to get on their way so to assist the 83 per cent of businesses in this country—over 2 million businesses—to just get a little bit further ahead. I was very proud to be part of the Maylands Business Association network. Well done to Councillor Catherine Ehrhardt as well as Michiel de Ruyter. Make sure you keep the good work going, and I cannot wait to see the next event.