Tuesday, 30 August 2022

 Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (11:56): It is my great pleasure to update the house on how our government is backing small businesses to keep their books in the black with new grants for financial and legal advice. The $5 million small business specialist advice pathways program provides grants of up to $2000 for expert mentoring from accredited providers covering topics such as legal contracts, financial agreements and trading costs. Such support is often costly for small businesses, and these grants will help small businesses to manage expenses, including rent, mortgage payments and utilities, without compromising the bottom line. To be eligible for a grant under the small business specialist advice pathways program a business must meet the following requirements: it must be a legally structured business registered in Victoria that has held an ABN for at least two years, it must be registered with WorkSafe Victoria and it must employ one to 19 full-time equivalent staff.

It was my great delight yesterday to visit Seddon with the wonderful member for Footscray, Katie Hall, to launch the program. We were hosted by the founder of creative studio Inka Creative, Sara Borowiak. Sara opened her Seddon-based small business in 2014 with a vision to build an agency that helps other businesses to create and market their own brands.

Members interjecting.

Ms PULFORD: I would not mind all the interjections and heckling about this lovely woman running a really impressive small business to just shush a bit. After seven years Sara has six staff helping businesses of all sizes to create, cultivate and build connections with their customers. Throughout this journey Sara has experienced firsthand as both a provider and a recipient the importance of outsourcing specialist services to ensure business success. Grants for the specialist advice pathways program are now open for applications and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis until Friday, 30 September 2022, or when funds are exhausted.