Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This month, November, is Shop Small month, a month that encourages us all to find small local businesses and to support them in whatever way we can. It is something I do a great deal but, last weekend, I was particularly pleased to attend an expo of young fashion designers in Parramatta called the Multi-Ethnicity Hair and Beauty Expo. It featured the work of some of our newer Australians, who draw on their own culture to design in the Australian context. I was lucky enough to buy the jacket I am wearing. I do not usually ask people to pay attention to my clothes, but they can today! It was made by a young woman, Wanika. I will not tell you her brand name, but it will probably be on my Facebook page later. She runs a fledgling company. She has been in business for about a year. I have seen a range of her work, which attracts particularly the young. It is a little funky for me, as I am well into my 50s. But they are fine pieces of work. She is, along with a whole stack of other young women, making great strides in establishing real identities for themselves in my electorate of Parramatta and around the country.

I would encourage all members of parliament to do their bit for Shop Small and to find fledgling businesses in their own electorate and to give them all the support they can.