Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago I was delighted to welcome to Dunkley the Minister for Small Business, the Hon. Michael McCormack. My electorate has over 16,000 individual small businesses—in fact, they are 97 per cent of the businesses in Dunkley. The minister's visit was an opportunity to listen to and engage with people whose livelihoods are directly affected by the work that we do here. When I spoke in the House to fight for a reduction in the taxation rate for small businesses to 27.5 per cent, I was fighting for them. When I and my colleagues spoke in support of simplifying legislation and removing crippling red tape, we fought for them. And when Minister McCormack came to Dunkley to speak directly to our local businesspeople, it was clear that the Turnbull coalition government fights for small business.

The minister and I visited the main street market in Mornington, as well as Young Street in Frankston, speaking to local craftspeople, shop owners and locals, including, for example, those in Empire Mall benefiting from our $600,000 federal government upgrade. We engaged in open and frank conversation with small business owners as well in a forum that, in particular, attracted much interest. The Dunkley Small Business Roadshow brought representatives from the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, as well as representatives from the department and the minister's office to listen and help representatives from local manufacturers and businesses, such as Pacific Urethanes; finance company, GCS Credit; local produce manufacturer, Blue Bay Cheese; rent4keeps; and many other small businesses. The roadshow was a fantastic opportunity to gain insight to the thoughts and concerns of such an important part of our community, including the traders affected by the troubled Young Street works in Frankston who have experienced significant delays across the board and, because of that, have experienced downturns in business, forcing many to lay off staff or to close due to the state government's delayed Young Street works. I was glad that, to reinforce my continued support and advocacy for their businesses, Minister McCormack and I were able to show them that the coalition government cares about their welfare, even if our state counterparts don't. I would like to sincerely thank the minister for his time in coming down to Dunkley to speak with our local traders and entrepreneurs, and commend his continual efforts to remove red tape and to let Dunkley small businesses flourish.