Pitt Family shops local at Christmas

Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt and Minister for Small Business Bruce Billson are preparing for the holiday season by shopping local.

Mr Pitt is encouraging Hinkler residents to do the same in the lead up to Christmas.

“Small businesses and family enterprise are the economic life blood of regional communities like ours, and the Coalition wants to see them prosper,” Mr Pitt said.

“Small business employs more than four million people across the country and one of the ways we can keep our communities strong is to support them at the till.

“Shopping local helps drive competition in the market, which is good for consumers and good for the economy.

“We need to encourage and nurture small businesses to grow – they are the ones who provide employment opportunities to locals.”

Mr Pitt urged Hinkler residents to visit local shopping precincts when buying gifts and preparing for Christmas.

“Without giving away what’s on my family’s Christmas wish list, we’ll be shopping at local stores like Avenell Bros, Queensland Computers and Vo Vo Modelle.

“My wife, Allison has also found some great gifts at the recent Handmade Expo, Mumma’s Nest Markets and the Bundaberg Arts Precinct on Walker Street.   

“The gift hampers we prepare using local produce and food products are always very popular, and we buy a lot of our Christmas groceries from Foodworks on Walker Street and the IGA at Woodgate.”      

We have

• Appointed a Small Business Minister in Cabinet

• Abolished Labor’s Carbon Tax

• Cut over $2 billion in red and green tape costs.

• Undertaken an independent ‘root and branch’ review of the competition framework

• Reformed the national Franchising Code

• Signed Free Trade Agreements with China, Japan and Korea

• Established the $484.2 million Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme, providing practical support for businesses including advice from people with relevant private sector experience; small co-contributions for re-engineering or growth opportunities for business; and connection and collaboration opportunities

• Provided an additional $304.1 million over four years from 2014‑15 to boost the wage subsidy for mature age job seekers, through a Restart Program

• Protected the privacy of home-based businesses

• Implemented a dedicated small business support line within Fair Work which has received 100,000 calls in eight months

• Developed a ‘Your First’ employee guide to help time-poor small businesses understand what to do when they hire their first employee

• Moved to make it easier for small businesses to supply their products and services to Government with a new Commonwealth Contract Suite

We are

• Extending unfair contract protections for small business

• Deferring by two years the increase in compulsory employer-funded superannuation

• Protecting the rights of independent contractors and the self-employed

• Improving small business access to government contracts

• Working with the financial sector to improve access to small business finance

• Creating a Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman

• Ensuring Government pays their Small Businesses accounts on time

• And in July 2015 we will reduce the company tax rate by 1.5 per cent to a new rate of 28.5 per cent.

Media contact: Larine Statham 0427 653 814