Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 35th Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards will be held on 19 October. They will coincide with the 125th—and one week—anniversary of the chamber, one of the most important institutions in our region. I have the form guide for the evening in my hot little hands and I'm going to go through it and call out the finalists, who have done such a great job of contributing to our local community.

In the tourism section: Globetrotters Travel and Cruise, Magnifico Creative, Darling Downs Elvis—Speaker, you may think Elvis is dead, but Darling Downs Elvis is the best Elvis in the world right now; Reflections on Cooby; the Empire Theatre; and the Toowoomba Fashion Festival.

In the ag section we've got CoBright Ag Marketing; Feed Central; GF Oats Australia, who came down here to Canberra and, in the national showcase, were selling their goods in Parliament House; and The Farm Shop.

In the innovation and technology section, a great section for our region, we've got Feed Central, Feather & Lawry, Joe Wagner Group and Milton & King. If you want to see the best wallpaper you can get in Australia, and now around the world, jump onto the Milton & King website.

In the hospitality section—this is a good one—the Bone Idol Brewery is first up. Frente are playing there next Friday night. 'Accidently Kelly Street' and 'Bizarre Love Triangle' are sure to be on that playlist. We also have Gelatissimo Toowoomba, Fritz Pasta and Lily's Artisan—all fantastic places.

We then have the professional services section, 10 employees or less. This is one of the best ones here, as increasingly our economy is driven by the services sector. We've got All Star Brokers, CDI Pest Management, Finch Legal, Mosta Hair, Smith Diesel Fitting and SWQ Training, from Harristown.

In the professional services, 11 employees or more, category there are AimBig, CoBright Marketing, Feather & Lawry Design and Wilsonton State High School. Some of these businesses are getting multiple runs, Speaker, because they're such great contributors to our economy. My money's on Wilsonton State High School in that one.

In the retail section we've got Clever Bugs; Daimler Trucks, based in Toowoomba; Milton & King—again; and, just around the corner from my office, Ryley Jewellery Creations.

This is one of the categories that matters most to our community. This is the community and not-for-profit section. There is a great group of enterprises here. We've got BASE Services—Nat and Tiff, who always do such a good job. We've got Hope Horizons. Jo Capp has been magnificent in leading that organisation. We also have Momentum Mental Health and Tony's Community Kitchen. The member for Deakin came and joined me at Tony's just a little while ago to help me out at the food kitchen. It's great to see them get a run. There are the Toowoomba Hockey Association and the Toowoomba Community Organic Gardens Association, both of whom make a huge contribution to our community.

In the industry section we've got Gears Mining and Harness Energy Services. Talking about visits, Michaelia Cash joined me on a visit to see what they do in the oil and gas industry in our region. We have the Joe Wagner Group and, once again, Milton & King, doing a great job.

Under 'health and wellbeing' there are Clarity Consulting Co.; Complete Body; Identity Coaching; Momentum Mental Health—I'm going to give a shout-out here to Shirley-Anne Gardiner, who is doing a magnificent job, as she has always done, for the people of Toowoomba in that role; and Red Sand Sisters.

For property construction and development, a huge contributor to our local economy, we've got Alliance Building and Construction, Electrical Sensations, Feather & Lawry Design and McAdam & Turnbull Realty—and I give a big shout-out to Bronwyn Evans there.

In the export section—and exporting is something we've been very good at in our region—there are Gears Mining, Milton & King, and my favourite one, Salty Sharks, which has an extraordinary offering. It's a virtual and interactive aquarium experience so kids in rural areas can experience something they wouldn't otherwise.

In the arts and culture section we've got the Choral Society, Feather & Lawry Design, Shoebox Theatre Company and Stirling & Truffles—again, Speaker, a business that joined you and me down here at the national showcase to sell their goods in Parliament House.

For 'best regional business' we've got Feather & Lawry Design, Feed Central, Gears Mining and, again, Harness Energy Services. I put my money on Harness.

I'll move to the big ones now. For Businesswoman of the Year, there's Angela Brown, Petria Cumner, Shirley-Anne Gardiner, Annie Sendall and Tiff Spary; I can't pick a winner. For Future Leader of the Year, we've got: Josh Bamford—thank you for all your help on employment and training issues, Josh; Dominique Gillespie; Damon Harris-Brennan; and Caitlin McManus. For Sole Trader of the Year, we have: Clarity Consulting Co; Clever Bugs; Red Sand Sisters; and, in there again, Stirling and Truffles.

The big one is Micro Business of the Year, and there's All Star Brokers; MegaBuzz; Ryley Jewellery Creations; Smith Diesel Fitting; Karma Collective; and Vali Garage, who I might have to go to and get them to fix my Defender, because it no long works.

What a great list of contributors to our local economy.