Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks back, I was privileged to go and visit the Goulburn Regional Hockey Complex with Jo van der Plaat, the Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, as well as the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. Jo knows the importance of hockey to Goulburn. It's a very popular sport there, and it's also a regional hub for competitions for younger teams, children's teams and adult teams as well. Jo has been campaigning for an upgrade to the second hockey pitch at the Goulburn Regional Hockey Complex. While we were there, the Leader of the Opposition announced that the Liberal government would invest $1.5 million to upgrade that pitch and redo the surface.

When I spent some time with Jo in small businesses in Goulburn, we also heard a common message about how small businesses there are struggling. Obviously, we've seen record insolvencies across the small business sector in Australia over this past 12 months, which is especially pronounced in the construction sector and hospitality and retail sectors. We heard from small-business owners who are struggling with record input costs, whether that's the cost of electricity, raw materials, food, if they're a hospitality business, labour, inflexible industrial relations changes, which have made it harder to hire casual workers, or insurance. There's no doubt that the small-business sector is doing it tough, and the community of Goulburn—indeed the whole seat of Eden-Monaro—needs someone who will fight for them and fight to get Australia back on track.

Jo is exactly that sort of person. She is born and bred local, went to school in Cooma, still lives in Cooma, has a legal practice in Cooma, was the President of the Law Society of NSW for some time. She's very well credentialled, and I'm so pleased that she has put her name forward to serve her community, fight for an upgraded hockey centre in Goulburn and fight for small businesses across that electorate, who are doing it so tough right now.