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

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) November was Shop Small month;

(b) Shop Small is an annual event designed to encourage people to explore their local small businesses;

(c) small business is a major driver of both employment and production; and

(d) shopping locally helps to ensure a vibrant local community and a stronger local economy;

(2) acknowledges the many people who went out to support local business during Shop Small month; and

(3) encourages people to shop locally this Christmas.

I have very weird taste in music. All my life, I have liked music that no-one else likes. I have quite often bought CDs, and the total sales of that CD for that particular band or that particular group would be maybe 200. So I learnt really early in my life that, if I wanted those bands to make a second CD, I needed to buy the first one. I was one of a very small number of people that they depended on. I know in my community too that, if we want our local butcher to survive the onslaught of a major retail chain, the one thing we have to do is shop there. That is the one thing that causes them to survive.

There are reasons why Shop Small month, in November, was a very good idea. It was not just because 95 per cent of the two million actively trading businesses in Australia are small and not just because there are 116,000—nearly 117,000—small businesses in Western Sydney but because, when you shop small and shop locally, the money you spend circulates through your local economy more than it does if you shop in a large chain. In fact, if you spend a dollar at a small local business, 45c of that will be reinvested locally, compared to only 15c if you shop in a large retailer.

We all know that, no matter where you go in this country, you find small businesses that have great products to sell, whether it is a cider maker in Bendigo that found a better use for the apples that are grown locally or it is Cinnabar, in Wagga, which makes fantastic clothing out of the local merino wool. In my area, it might be the local Spar Supermarket, in North Parramatta, a small supermarket that sells local produce on a regular basis, a fantastic place to shop. There are great local businesses that need our support.

With Christmas coming up, we all have another opportunity to support our local businesses, because they very much make us who we are. Innovation in product and innovation in style come from these small businesses. In my community of Parramatta, it is our small business that is very much responsible for the diversity and range and the innovation in product, whether it is Desi Kasai butchers, who have introduced camel, the really fine cuts of goat and skin-on goat into Harris Park; the Green Wheat bakery, in Merrylands, which uses wholemeal flour to make Afghani bread; or Patel Brothers, which has a small supermarket chain which sells brown basmati rice by the 20-kilo bag—you would not go anywhere else for rice than the Patel Brothers in Harris Park.

There is Shri Ganesh foods, in Quakers Hill, slightly out of my electorate, which makes all the batters for idlis and dosas, an incredibly successful local food manufacturer; as is Real Turkish Delight, also just on the other side of my electorate, in Auburn. It makes fantastic chocolate and Turkish delight. If you want the really modern pork cuts, you cannot go past the Thai and Chinese butchers in my region, like the New Hup Fatt butchery in Merrylands. I call them the 'Fatt butchery' because it is part of their name. They have a fantastic range of pork.

And then, as I said, we have Spar, which has opened up in North Parramatta. I can drop in there on the way home. There you find stocks from incredibly good local suppliers such as The One That Got Away, which packages fish in Bondi and sells it through the small supermarkets. Again, I know when I go there that, if I want to be able to get that particular product and I want Spar to keep stocking it, I have to buy it. So I use my purchasing power in order to ensure that my community provides me with the service that it needs.

And then of course we have the Chinese herbalist; the new meditation schools; and the music and dance teachers in a range of dance forms from across the world, including Carnatic music and dance. We have specialists in renewable energy that have moved into that space of helping households and business keep their prices down. We have businesses that are very good at helping other businesses move online and a range of new disrupted technology organisations such as the local one that provides human resources services online. These are the people who run these businesses who are building links in our community and introducing the diversity of range which makes our community strong. We also have small businesses building business links with their country, with the country of their parents, in Kenya, Lebanon, Nepal, Indonesia, India and China, and, through those business relationships, dragging our economy forward to a place where it can prosper.

Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker—and I would have been happy to second this motion. For the knowledge of the House, Shop Small started in the US some five years ago. It started as Small Business Saturday—a one-day event to encourage shoppers to support small businesses around the time of the GFC. Small Business Saturday still runs in the US, having taken place the weekend before last. What began as a one-day event in the United States five years ago is now a movement that has expanded across the world, including the UK, Canada and Hong Kong, and here in Australia we just saw a month of the Shop Small movement take place.

Shop Small is a national movement which was launched by the Prime Minister last year. I acknowledge the member for Parramatta and the member for Oxley, who joined with me as the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Small Business, where we launched the program this year. During the month of November shoppers were encouraged to buy from local small businesses and to generally recognise the vital role that mum-and-dad business owners play in the life of their communities and in serving their communities.

Within my electorate of Wright there are over 10,000 local small businesses—that is an enormous number—creating over $1 billion, making them the largest contributing sector to the gross regional product of my electorate. I would like to pay tribute to Amex for sponsoring the small business program in Australia and in particular to Rachel Stocks, the Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, along with the spearheading team, Luisa Megale, the Vice President Asia, and Jane Drew, the Senior Manager Public Affairs and Communications.

From a local perspective, our chambers of commerce are doing a great job in enhancing and mentoring small businesses in our community. The Boonah Chamber of Commerce will soon be holding its annual street festival parade, which encourages businesses to decorate their shopfronts as we come into the festive season. The community are invited to attend the festival in the main street so that the energies and efforts of businesses are there for all to be seen. Recently the Lockyer Valley Regional Council held its annual business awards, which showcased most of the small businesses and apprentices. It is always amazing to see the diversity of businesses in the Lockyer Valley, given that it is a rich and fertile agricultural precinct, predominantly known for being the best vegetable-growing region in Queensland, and all the allied businesses associated with that sector.

On Friday night the Scenic Rim Regional Council held their annual business awards, again showcasing small business within the larger Scenic Rim area. This is an enormous evening, presided over by the Scenic Rim mayor, John Brent. He is extremely proud of the small businesses in this area, given the constant pressures on small business within farming regions struggling with drought.

Since 2010, however, over 25 per cent of small businesses have left the market because things have been too tough. Recent data from Amex shows that 41 per cent of small businesses surveyed in November said that they do not think they will be around in five years time. As a government, we are trying to recreate the parameters. If you are selling cattle, we have reintroduced the live cattle export markets, which have become such a stimulus for the economy. In the agricultural sector, in particular in my area, we have generated three free trade agreements with Japan, Korea and China, opening up new markets so that we are not subservient to the duopolies that exist with our current retailers. In the manufacturing and industrial sector, over $800 billion worth of approvals have been made through Greg Hunt's office that will ultimately end up in the small business sector. We have cut $2 billion worth of red tape, one of the bugbears of small business, who continually tell me that they are laboured and burdened by red tape.

We are doing our best to get the budget back in control by making the grown-up decisions to stop the boats. We have gotten rid of the carbon tax, which will free up the purse strings of mums and dads in my electorate so that they can invest those savings into small business. We have also gotten rid of the mining tax. This government is doing all it can to support small business.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Parramatta for bringing this motion before the House. The member not only has been a strong voice for Shop Small over the past month but also has had a strong visual presence in the chamber. I have noticed the vibrant wardrobe the member has donned, and the many creative local designers from her electorate that have been showcased here in parliament—so congratulations.

I have previously supported motions in this parliament acknowledging the great steps this government is taking to support and grow our small businesses, and I am pleased to be supporting this motion. Shop small is a month-long recognition of the important role small business plays in driving the Australian economy. The campaign calls for us to think big, shop small, because small businesses do big things for us in our community.

During November we highlighted the essential pillar that small business occupies in our national economy. In the month of November Australians were urged to support local small businesses. In Dobell this is happening all year round from florists, butchers and bakeries, to mechanics, plumbers and electricians. These are just some of the small businesses that drive local employment and provide services that keep our community running. As I have stated many times, you cannot have a strong and healthy society without a strong economy to sustain it, and you do not have a strong economy without profitable businesses.

Small business is a major driver of both employment and productivity in Dobell. We have 8,491 businesses that employ fewer than 20 people. Six-hundred and nine of these businesses are in the retail trade sector; 367 are in the manufacturing sector; and 310 are in the accommodation and food services sector. These are just some of the diverse businesses that fuel our economy and provide employment to approximately 40,000 locals.

I recently met with small-business operators in the town of Kulnura, which is on the western boundary of the Dobell electorate. Kulnura is a rich, diverse agricultural location just a stone's throw away from the bustling town centres of Wyong and Gosford. The area is home to chicken farmers, environmentally sustainable vegetable growers, fruit farms and a first-class, award-winning orchid plantation. For those not familiar with the New South Wales Central Coast, it may come as a surprise that our small business community is so diverse. This is one of the unique qualities of my electorate that I am so proud of. Many of our local businesses are family operated and are looking for opportunities to grow and generate further employment. They are looking for the opportunity to give a young person their first job, to welcome back a new mother into the workforce, or provide active and meaningful employment for senior Australians.

Today's motion rightfully highlights that shopping locally helps to ensure a vibrant local community and a stronger local economy. As the member for Dobell, I have enjoyed many opportunities to promote the outstanding contribution of local small businesses and the role they play in building a vibrant community. In the window of my Parliament House office hangs the photography of Jim Picot—a photographer and owner of the Toowoon Bay pie shop. Jim's photos are award-winning and capture the natural beauty of the Central Coast—and his pies are pretty good too. Roses 2 Go is a pioneering and award-winning small business located at Woongarrah. Last month owners Nicky and Wade Mann made history, becoming the first husband and wife team to have both been awarded the prestigious Nuffield Farming Scholarship, which promotes innovative farming practices. Luka Chocolates is yet another great example of an innovative small business that has brought something unique to Dobell. Husband and wife Anton and Kate have created a wonderful place for people to experience chocolate making and to taste the handiwork of the chocolatiers. These are just three examples of the mums and dads who invest so much into the success of their small business.

I would like to thank and acknowledge the many people who have enthusiastically embraced Shop Small. Now our task is the ongoing promotion and support of our local businesses. The Australian reported earlier this month that $18 billion is expected to be spent on gifts, food and vacations this Christmas. This is a tremendous opportunity to support your local economy through supporting small business. This Christmas, before you go online to order your gifts, why not take some time to explore your local shops, find the deal you are looking for and support your local small businesses. By supporting small business, you are investing at a local level, supporting your neighbour and helping to create more local job opportunities.

In concluding, I would like to again than the member for Parramatta for moving this motion and also thank and congratulate the small businesses that operate in Dobell. Without their commitment and determination to succeed we would not have the rich and diverse community I am so proud to represent. All members of this parliament want to see small business flourish. While we may from time to time disagree on the path to take, it is abundantly clear that we understand and recognise the important role that small business plays in supporting this great country, and I commend this motion to the House.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:36 to 16:05