Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I love visiting small businesses for everything they represent: effort, enterprise, jobs and local opportunities. I recently met with a small business owner Debra Taylor, who owns and operators a shop called Spirit of Life Boutique in Clayfield. A speech that involves a male politician explaining his presence in a bra shop could go a number of ways, but Spirit of Life Boutique is no ordinary store. They specialise in fashion for women who've undergone a mastectomy. Debra runs a small business on the one hand but, in my mind, it is just as much a community service.

Every year, thanks to the Cancer Council of Queensland providing her with referrals and facilities, Debra hits the road and travels to regional Queensland with her products to reach women who can't afford to travel into Brisbane. I'm no expert on these things, but my impression is that their range isn't drab, functional or hospital-grade. This is true fashion that will give a confidence boost, dignity and style; it goes a long way to replacing some of those things that cancer takes away from some women.

I helped Debra resolve an issue she had with a government agency in terms of the time it was taking to have her invoices paid. Cash flow is vitally important to every small business out there, and I note in passing this government's recent reforms to ensure that government agencies do pay their bills to small business on time. We need to do everything that we can to support small businesses. They're the backbone of our economy.