SMALL BUSINESS

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (15:19): The member for Schubert spoke earlier in the week of a significant day in his life—his wedding anniversary. Today, I would like to share with the house that this is my significant day. Today is my 21^st wedding anniversary, and I would like to acknowledge my lovely wife, Michelle, in the gallery. Thank you for putting up with me; happy anniversary.

I rise today to acknowledge some of the quiet achievers of our electorates—those who own, run and work in small businesses across our great state. Often staffed by family members or locals, our small businesses help to make our communities tick through their hard work in the provision of essential goods and services. From our butchers and bakers to our hairdressers, florists, newsagents, pubs, real estate agents, restaurants, chemists, cleaners, cafes and car yards, small businesses account for 96 per cent of all private sector businesses in South Australia.

As defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, small businesses are those with fewer than 20 employees. There are approximately 1.93 million active small businesses in Australia, which as of June 2009, provide employment for almost 4.8 million people, or about 48 per cent of the private sector employment.

Tomorrow, Friday 1 October, marks the start of Small Business Month. The launch tomorrow, at the Adelaide Central Market—one of the greatest gatherings of small businesses in our city—will kickstart four weeks of events to celebrate and support SA's small-business sector. I believe my colleague, minister Koutsantonis, will be speaking at the launch in his role as the state government's Minister for Small Business.

The workshops, seminars and networking functions of Small Business Month, will be designed to enable small business operators to learn more about the sector and better equip themselves, including sharing information with others. According to their website, Small Business Month:

promotes local products and services that may help business operators;

encourages networking and collaboration that benefits the businesses and their employees;

fosters growth to support the state economy;

helps South Australia's small business owners improve their knowledge, share experiences and develop the skills necessary for success; and

acknowledges the contributions of small businesses to the state and our communities.

As I said earlier, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of small business owners, particularly in my electorate of Mitchell. While I thank them all today, I will highlight just five: Gallerie Mode, a fashion boutique in Reynella; craft haven Charlotte's Web Stamping & Papercrafts at Marion; arts and cultural centre Casa de Flamenco, Seaview Downs; and auto dealers Reynella Mazda and Southgate Holden, both of Reynella.

Apart from being small businesses, the one thing these five have in common is that they were finalists in the most recent Messenger Community News Local Business Awards for the southern region. While they did not go on to win the awards (which are in their 18^th year) the owners, operators and staff of these five businesses, along with many, many others, deserve our thanks and patronage for what they bring to our society.

Messenger has been promoting small business awards since 1993, with its stated aim being to recognise and reward small businesses across Adelaide, to acknowledge and celebrate their success and to encourage economic growth and development in our communities. Messenger Community News also deserves our congratulations for the role it plays.

While these businesses may be small in numbers, they often provide such a big service to our community. So, from us, I would like to thank them for their contribution to, certainly South Australia, and my electorate of Mitchell. I would also like to thank the major sponsors of that particular event, which were the Flinders University and also SafeWork SA. I would also like to thank Messenger Newspapers, for their efforts in that—thank you.