Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise today to pay tribute to the fantastic businesswomen in my community. On Friday I attended the Cairns Business Women's Club business woman of the year awards. These awards are now in their 31st year and truly showcase the amazing and inspirational women we have in our community. This year's winners included: Hannah Lane, Leanne Todd, Brianah Coates, Julie McNeil, Rylee Venables, Tiarnie Mueller and Dianne Austrai-Ombiga. Each have inspirational and unique stories and they're all very worthy winners. What makes these awards extra special is they give other businesswomen in our community role models to look up.

The Cairns Businesswomen's Club was born in the 1980s from a vision to improve the profile of women in business in Cairns. In 1985, the founder, Margaret Gill, owner and manager of a motel in Cairns, placed an advertisement in the local paper to put the idea out there that business networking lunches weren't just for men. When it was first launched, there were 57 women in the Cairns Businesswomen's Club. Over the next 30-odd years it has grown to become one of the leading organisations in my community. It continues to offer support, inspiration, networking and professional development assistance to its members. Under the stewardship of the current president, Jukes Steer's, everyone involved in this marvellous organisation should be extremely proud of what they achieve on a daily basis— (Time expired)