Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak of recent small business success stories from my electorate of Brisbane. As an electorate that includes the CBD and the inner-city rim, Brisbane is home to some 30,000 small businesses. As the daughter of small business owners and from my own experience working in business, I know the value and importance of small businesses to our local community and, more broadly, to our nation.

Small business is the biggest employer in the country and the bedrock to our economy, and this is why this government is committed to seeing the smallest business achieve the biggest outcomes. But a commitment cannot come without funding, so I am delighted that five small businesses in my electorate have recently taken advantage of the grant funding available to them and are using this to innovate, grow and ultimately to improve our community.

The list includes Alpha Finance, a local business in Fortitude Valley area in my electorate that provides professional services in car finance, car hire and airport parking. They recently secured a $45,000 grant under the Australian government's Industry Skills Fund that they will use to invest in their staff so they can take advantage of new market opportunities opening in their sector.

Another recipient of the Government's Industry Skills Fund is Corpdevel Technologies, who received more than $4,000. They will use this vital funding to upskill their electricians to grow their business across the state. It is the willingness to invest themselves that will produce the success these businesses are striving for.

Another great little performer was Vald Performance Pty Ltd. They received just over $493,000 under the Australian government's Accelerating Commercialisation program to commercialise the NorBord system. This system is absolutely incredible. It enables elite sporting teams to assess hamstring strength and provides valuable insights into the most commonly injured muscle group for running based sports. As Brisbane is a keen sporting community and home to a number of elite sports men and women and internationally-recognised sporting grounds and teams, this funding will play a vital role in the continued growth and development of Brisbane's sport services industry.

Two other local businesses I would like to talk about tonight were also recipients in the latest round of the Australian government's Accelerating Commercialisation program. Cloud Manager and Scio Technologies received just under $1 million in funding between them to help accelerate their businesses to a commercialisation phase. The funding will now allow the likes of Cloud Manager to put their cloud brokerage services onto the world stage, showcasing it to some of the biggest investment firms in the United States. To put into perspective the size of the growing industry that is cloud brokerage: IBM paid $2 billion for a similar company just last week. This shows that local businesses like Cloud Manager are tapping into the most lucrative and exciting industries emerging thanks to this new digital age.

By putting in place the policies like these grants to drive growth and job creation, we will be placing Brisbane and Australia in a position to prosper in a very difficult global environment. Through these policies the constituents in my electorate can see firsthand that this government is working hard to ensure Australia remains a strong economic power. As an open market economy in a much larger competitive world, we must be more productive, more innovative and more competitive. A growing economy is the best and only real way to guarantee jobs for the future and ensure people and families do not get left behind.

We as a government will continue to deliver practical, common-sense policy that will improve economic security and general wellbeing. We will back the abilities and efforts of Australians to build opportunities for their future. I want to congratulate each of these five businesses for their uniqueness and innovation and wish them all the very best for their futures, as they are the generators of growth and jobs in our economy.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being 9:30 pm, the debate is interrupted.

House adjourned at 21 : 30