Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday evening I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Beyond Bank Business Victor Harbor Outstanding Business Awards for this year. I had the opportunity to meet with so many of my community's exceptional small businesses. I would like to pay special tribute to all of the finalists for their hard work and for their role in our community.

I give thanks to the McCracken convention centre for hosting the event. One highlight of the night was the professional and outstanding job of the Investigator College catering students, who provided and served canapes and pre-dinner drinks on the night. Well done to those students; it was delicious. Thank you to the McCracken convention centre for opening your venue to the students of our district. This is an example of the type of business-community collaboration these awards seek to recognise and reward.

I turn now to the finalists. There were nine winners across eight categories. The Bridgestone Service Centre in Victor Harbor was, by popular community vote, the winner of the Best Customer Service award.

Alexandrina Cheese Company was the winner of the Best Agribusiness award. They are an outstanding regional brand who use products from their own dairy and have a strong focus on quality, as I know firsthand from our local farmers markets.

The winner of Best Retail Business went to SportsPower Victor Harbor, a family business whose impressive growth belies their strong service to local sporting groups and clubs with sporting clothing and equipment.

The Best Service award went to Harcourts South Coast, which provides premium services and has attracted upmarket business interests from the eastern states with their top-quality professionalism. I had great pleasure in presenting the award to Mark and Sam Forde, a husband and wife business team who manage to live together at night and work together collaboratively during the day.

The Big Duck Boat Tours took out the Best Tourism Experience award. They show visitors our beautiful region and the local delights of our area from Granite Island to the Murray Mouth. The Veenstra family has a long history of networking and promoting tourism along the River Murray and on the Fleurieu Peninsula, which includes a commitment to promoting other businesses in the area.

Nino's of Victor Harbor were the winners of the Best Tourism Hospitality award, with a reputation for extremely well-trained, professional staff and their longstanding and generous support to the community. Over 180,000 customers—a good mix of locals, tourists and regulars, including myself—grace their business each year, which only goes to prove they are earning their reputation well.

UltraTune Victor Harbor won the award for Best Trades and Industry Business, with a reputation for positive and professional thinking in managing their customers—not only their repeat customers but those who are tourists. Their online promotion work is especially worthy of admiration.

Such was the class and the field that two businesses tied and won the 2017 award for the Most Outstanding Business of the Year: UltraTune Victor Harbor and The Big Duck Boat Tours.

What I was most taken with is how all of these businesses, and the best businesses in particular, put back so strongly into the community, which helps to make them so successful. They are not just profit driven but community driven, with a focus on training their employees, who are always locals, and promoting all that is good about the community in which they operate. I've got to say, when sporting clubs look for donations, they go to our small businesses; they don't go to the large multinationals. To paraphrase Mr Graeme Jameson from Business Victor Harbor, it's not just about making money; whether they are large or small, it's irrelevant.

I want to extend a warm thanks to the Victor Harbor business community for being such wonderful hosts. I for one, along with my husband, had an absolutely terrific evening and I hope I will be fortunate enough to have the honour to be invited to next year's event. I wish all the businesses that attended and those elsewhere across the community all the best for Christmas and the year ahead. It's a busy, difficult season for small businesses, but I know you'll do well. There are approximately 10,900 businesses in Mayo, 99 per cent of which are small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of our community and the backbone of our economy. I will do all in my power as the member for Mayo to support those small businesses.