Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this place today on behalf of the many small businesses in my electorate. The fact is that the cost of electricity in my electorate of Herbert is rising and becoming more unaffordable every day. Small businesses are already struggling, and the single most frustrating issue is the cost of energy. It appears that we have a federal government that has no plan to address energy costs now or into the future.

Since I was elected I have been visiting a locally-owned business in my community each week. The main purpose of my visits is to promote the 'buy local' message and to touch base with business owners to listen to their successes and talk through their challenges. One business owner told me that he cannot afford to keep his air-conditioning running throughout the day and that he and his wife have developed some creative ways to cool his premises without using the air-conditioning. That is a challenging feat when you live in the very hot and humid tropics of North Queensland.

Since 16 January North Queensland has experienced an unprecedented level of investment in renewable energy, with over 780 megawatts of large-scale projects either commencing construction or securing financial support. These projects will deliver over $1.6 billion to the infrastructure spend in North Queensland and will create over 1,400 jobs during construction. Private industry is recognising and investing in the renewable energy opportunities in Townsville. For our community to thrive we need the federal government to deliver a national energy plan immediately to help small business reduce their operating costs.

I visit a diverse range of small businesses, and recently I met with a very talented local artist and fabric designer, Pip from Pipsilk. Pip is a nurse who is focusing on her passion and talent for screen printing and fashion design. Pip operates from the Textile Collective by Emerging Designers store in one of our local shopping centres. Her amazing images are on fashion garments, cushions, scarves and greeting cards. Pip and some of her designer colleagues who market their fashion at the textile collective store presented outstanding wearable art and fashion garments at the recently held Townsville Fashion Festival, which was a roaring success.

The Townsville Fashion Festival is an annual event in Townsville's must-do-and-see calendar. The Townsville Fashion Festival provides an opportunity for local fashion designers to showcase their original and creative designs. This year the festival highlighted an amazing array of wearable art, body painting and unique fashion garments. This is something quite uniquely different for Townsville. Pip, along with many other emerging designers, put on incredibly innovative shows, and I commend them and their committee for all of their hard work and dedication.

Small businesses in our community are struggling. The cost of wholesale electricity prices have doubled under the Abbott-Turnbull government, yet, in the 2017-18 budget, it delivered absolutely nothing for Townsville's water security and energy infrastructure. (Time expired)