Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I love supporting small business in my community, and it has been a pleasure to spend a lot of time with the traders in Macleod recently, such as people like Frank and Helen Ciccone, who have operated their well-known hair salon for 25 years now. My mum and I were long-time regulars there. Two years ago, they made the move across the train line to McNamara Street and have helped to build a new strip of shops, which they call 'the runway on McNamara'. Thanks to all the businesses at the runway who welcomed me for a visit last week: Frank, Helen, Georgia, Claudia and the crew at Hair Ciccone; Enaksha, Carmen, Karla, Jess and Megan from the speech pathology centre; Maria from Divine Bridal; and Chris and Simon from Hey Sunshine Cafe.

I visited Macleod again on Friday for my latest 'Coffee with Kate', a chance for locals to meet with me and talk about their priorities. Our government's tax cuts were certainly top of mind in the conversations I had, as well as supporting our local environment, our local access to health care and a number other issues. Thanks to Ned and the team at Mr Macleod for the great coffees for that event.

Finally, a shout-out to Nuri, Claire and the team at General Chicken Co., who are a great help, particularly recently with their delicious food for a picnic I held for local supporters. It is wonderful to have so many wonderful local businesses in Jagajaga. I will keep supporting them, and I know our community values everything that they do.