Bass electorate small business support
Jordan CRUGNALE (Bass) (20:35): (1273) My adjournment matter is for the Treasurer, and the action I seek is for her to visit the Bass electorate to meet with our small businesses and community leaders. Bass is a region of remarkable diversity, from Pearcedale to Clyde, up to Lang Lang and over to the waterline and down to Inverloch. Our small business owners and their teams work hard. They are determined to garner every opportunity available. They are creative and want to provide quality services, programs and goods to our community, whether they are a family run cafe, a longstanding tradie, a tourism operator welcoming visitors and showcasing our extraordinary natural environment, a young entrepreneur bringing fresh ideas to market, publicans putting on live music gigs, production companies, big festivals or wineries and distilleries delighting us with all things local. Small businesses across Bass embody the very best of our state’s ingenuity and resilience, and I note we have the Minister for Small Business and Employment at the table. These businesses are places of employment and places of connection. They sponsor local sporting clubs and teams, local theatre groups, festivals and events; they donate to school raffles and fundraise for equipment for our health services. They are active and positively enmeshed in all things community, and many also volunteer for our emergency service brigades and units and lifesaving clubs.
When small businesses succeed, our entire community prospers. Over recent months I have spoken with many who have shown optimism about the future but who also want to get a deeper understanding, have clarity and have confidence in the state’s fiscal status, economic development program and programs and supports as they navigate challenges such as rising costs, workforce pressures, working from home and the need to adapt to new technologies. A visit from the Treasurer would be invaluable and informative in a two-way exchange, providing our small business community with the opportunity to share their stories, raise ideas and provide feedback. Equally it would give the Treasurer a chance to hear what is happening on the ground in my electorate and to see firsthand the energy, innovation and community spirit that defines the Bass community. I extend the invitation also to our small business minister to join the Treasurer and me in Bass.