Tuesday, 13 August 2019

Ivanhoe electorate shopping villages

Mr CARBINES (Ivanhoe) (19:05): (879) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Small Business in the other place. I ask the Minister for Small Business to visit the Ivanhoe electorate in particular to meet with small businesses in my electorate. Ivanhoe is a place that is made up of a number of villages—Rosanna shopping village, East Ivanhoe shopping village, the Heidelberg traders, McLeod village, the Ivanhoe centre, the Ivanhoe village and of course the mighty mall in West Heidelberg. While the Northland mecca in the northern suburbs, in the Preston electorate, is not far from my electorate, my electorate is definitely made up of a range of shopping strips and village shopping strips, as you would well know, Speaker, being from the neighbouring electorate of Bundoora. There are a lot of family businesses and a lot of people that work very hard in the community. It is quite an interesting dynamic, particularly along the train line in my electorate, which services the six train stations that are effectively those village hubs, outside of the mall, along the train line. I think it would be really important if—this is the action I seek of course—the Minister for Small Business visits my electorate, meets with those small business trader associations and understands their different dynamics.

As I am sure the government ensures for many of its commitments, in my electorate the eggs are not all in one basket. They are spread across six or seven different communities, particularly around the train stations—outside of the mall—where a lot of small businesses and families are making a go of it and employing local people. I see that every day when I visit them. It is people from the local schools who are working in those shops, and it is local families. I am really keen to make sure that the minister has an understanding of the work that they are doing and how we can support them.

I want to commend Banyule City Council for its economic development work in investing in those local trader associations and also for the work that it does to support those businesses. It is quite unique, I think, in a community and an electorate such as mine to have six or seven shopping and trader villages supported by local residents. As a Rosanna resident using the Rosanna village very regularly, I see along that train line and around those six stations a pretty good indication that they are the community hubs and that that is where life is all happening in my community. I want to make sure that the small business minister is doing all we can as a government to support them in their work and that the people who live locally that employ local people are supported by local constituents in my electorate. I welcome a visit from the Minister for Small Business on these matters.