Tuesday, 15 October 2019

 Mr SOMYUREK (South Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Small Business) (12:49): I am pleased to update the house on a recent visit I made to the City of Monash with my good friend Mr Matt Fregon, a former small business owner himself and now the member for Mount Waverley, to celebrate the achievements of graduates of the City of Monash’s masterclass event series. The masterclass series takes small business owners and provides instruction in how to best manage and grow a successful small business. The lessons provided have been tailored to address the demands of local small businesses and have covered some vitally important topics, including how to best plan for growth and how to navigate the growing digital economy.

This initiative has proudly been supported by the Victorian government. Graduates of this class will now be able to take their learnings back to their businesses, which will help them go from strength to strength, providing greater employment opportunities for people living in their communities. This government is committed to small business, whether they be located in Monash or Melton, Brunswick or Ballarat. It is this commitment which has seen the small business sector in Victoria grow from strength to strength, with Victoria recording the highest growth in the small business sector in all of Australia, at 4.8 per cent. That translates to 27 000 more small businesses created in the state of Victoria last year.