Monash Business Awards
Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:54): I want to give tribute to the Monash Business Awards and their gala dinner the other night, where they honoured local businesses in my electorate for their achievements through the year and the work they do. It was a great opportunity for businesspeople to get together and exchange ideas and network et cetera – a rare occasion when you are busy burrowing away in your own business. I particularly want to give a shout-out to category winners of the awards, amongst them STEMBirds, who do education in schools for STEM; Flagworld, who supply something like 80 per cent of all flags in Australia; and The Green Collar, a really fascinating business that helps those leaving the prison system to reintegrate into the wider community. I also want to give a particular shout-out to the Business of the Year, OC Connections, whose innovative products in plastics prove that we can be both a world leader and an innovator and conduct a social enterprise simultaneously – great work by them.