Week to celebrate region’s business

SMALL Business Week last week was a good opportunity to celebrate all that is great about the Toowoomba business community.

With a number of small business activities on around the city during the week, it was great to catch up with so many different local small and medium enterprises who are adding their own personal touches to their product or service and achieving something special.

Discussions kept coming back to the importance of small business not only for our economy but also for our entire community.

The diversity and strength of the small business community makes Toowoomba the interesting, charismatic, caring and strong community that it is.

Strong communities need strong businesses. Small and medium enterprises are so engrained in the broader community that it is almost impossible to separate the two.

Small Business Week did not exactly end on a high though, with two announcements made on Friday which will directly impact on small businesses here in Toowoomba.

On Friday the Queensland Government announced the price signal for their Commercial Waste Levy as part of a broader strategy for waste disposal in Queensland.

Reportedly, the levy will cost $70 per tonne, increasing $5 per year for the next four years. It is clear that the Queensland Government plans to push on with the levy despite opposition from the business community, particularly in regional Queensland. This levy, which has been sprung on small business, will mean further costs for small business adding upward pressure to already tight profit margins.

The other announcement was the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the national minimum wage and modern award rates by 3.5%, making this the largest increase handed down in eight years. Whilst both matters invoke a range of views and perspectives, the outcome is clear – increased costs and reduced margins for small business.

If we want more jobs and a strong community, we need a strong small business community. Let’s get behind our small business community – shop local, maximise local supply chain opportunities and understand the close connectivity between a strong community and our small and medium enterprises.