John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday night, my wife, Anita, and I sat as guests at the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce's Heritage Bank Business Excellence Awards—obviously in Toowoomba. What a magnificent night it was to celebrate business excellence in our community. The eight division finalists included, for tourism, Peters Coaches; for hospitality, The Finch cafe, one of my regulars, in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba; for industry, Toowoomba Bearings & Hydraulics; for retail and wholesale, Tentworld; for professional and business services, Focus HR; and for community and not-for-profit, Sunrise Way, a magnificent drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility led by very good friends of mine: the CEO, Wendy Agar, and chairman, Shane Charles. In the innovation category we had Story Fresh, a tremendous business based at Cambooya, just south of Toowoomba—a regional success story, of which I will speak in more detail in a few moments. Lastly, the category of best regional business in the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce's Heritage Bank Business Excellence Awards was Story Fresh.

Each year the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce celebrates a Hall of Fame inductee in these awards. Over the years they have included many notable businesses and organisations in our community, including Wagners, for example, who have developed our new Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport, an internationally capable airport; other construction firms; printers, such as Cracker Print and Paper; and other firms who have meant so much to our community over the decades.

This year, I was very proud to observe this award going to Hutchison Builders, led by Rob Weymouth—again, a good friend of mine. He leads what is a recognised and very well-renowned construction firm that is focused not only on their business but also on community support and significant philanthropy throughout our community, such as a Vanguard Laundry, various Indigenous youth activities; and, of course, they support tennis as a significant sport in our community. Rob Weymouth is a friend to many people in our community. He is an absolute champion, a real gentleman, a quiet achiever and one who would be best described as a real leader within our community. So it was tremendous to see him quite humbly accept that award on behalf of Hutchison Builders.

The Business of the Year in these awards this year was none other than Story Fresh, who, as I have just mentioned, also cornered the categories of innovation and of best regional business. This business, led by Geoff and Anne Story, who between them have many years of experience in the horticultural sector on the Darling Downs and in the Lockyer Valley to our east, is recognised as one that is setting the pace in innovation, not only in horticultural production but also in packing. They are a grower-packer organisation—a lettuce specialist. It has been most enlightening to visit their business on a number of occasions over the years and see not only the professionalism on farm but the professionalism in their packing activities and their willingness to invest in significant capital upgrades to ensure they are providing not only a quality product but one that is efficient as well in terms of costs of production. We see them now on the world stage as significant suppliers to the Subway chain of fast food restaurants here in Australia, amongst others. So, if you are having a Subway sandwich, more than likely you are eating lettuce produced by Story Fresh on the Darling Downs. They also have significant interest in the export market, which I was thrilled to hear Geoff talk about quite passionately on Saturday night. Their exports are based around their access, their proximity, to the Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport, developed by the Wagner family. This was a true celebration of business excellence in our community. I particularly recognise the efforts of Joy Mingay, the president, and Jo Sheppard, the CEO of the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce, also good friends of mine, and the fact that everyone who received an award recognised their staff was most magnificent.