Ms LEY (3:32 PM) —My question is addressed the Minister for Small Business and Tourism. Would the minister advise the House of the successful small businesses in the 2003 Telstra-Australian government small business awards?

Mr HOCKEY (Minister for Small Business and Tourism) —I thank the member for Farrer for her advocacy for small businesses in her electorate and for representing one of the award winners from the Telstra and Australian government small business awards, which were held in Melbourne last week. The winner from the member for Farrer's electorate was Descend Underwater Training Centre, which is a great small business. It won the microbusiness award for a business with fewer than five full-time employees. This business trains scuba divers working in irrigation, water supply, hydro power generation and offshore oil industries. It is a great story because this little business is based in Albury, which of course is a regional centre, yet it undertakes work throughout the country. One of the sadder tasks the award winner talked about was how they work closely with the police in searching for bodies in dams and a range of other places. It is a reminder of how important these small businesses are to help many communities through fairly difficult circumstances.

One of the other award winners was Rural Directions from South Australia, which is an agribusiness that offers consulting, grain marketing, and research and development services. The winner of the Panasonic Australian business award was Microforte from the ACT, which has been engaged by Bill Gates to work on a new game for Xbox. This is a great step forward for the ACT, which has become one of the leading centres for IT in Australia. From Tasmania—and this will probably please the member for Lyons—Telstra Country Wide's regional incentive award went to Tas-Saff, which is a commercial saffron grower.

Most significantly, the national award winner this year was Footwear Industries from Western Australia. They stood up on the stage—this great bunch of hardworking Australians—and said, `Some people said that the textile, clothing and footwear industry was dead, but let us tell you that it has never been more alive.' This business, established in 1995, designs and manufactures industrial safety footwear under the premium brand `Steel Blue' and the budget brand `Howler'. Footwear Industries thanked the federal government for its support and noted that it now sells more than 350,000 pairs of safety boots in Australia and around the world. This is a clear indication not only of how small business is important to the Australian economy and to regional economies but, significantly, that it is a growing exporter.

All of the measures that we put in place—such as lowering company tax from 36 per cent to 30 per cent, abolishing FID, reducing fuel excise, abolishing wholesale sales tax, abolishing provisional tax and removing capital gains for those people who are retiring on the proceeds of the sale of their small business—are about helping small business to grow. Everything we are doing is about helping small businesses, particularly in regional Australia, to go on to win national awards such as these. The Australian government is proud to support national awards because they recognise excellence in small business.