Small businesses are incredibly important to the Tasmanian economy and a series of forums on the North-West Coast this week has put them in touch with government, decision-makers and other experts to make it easier for them to do business well.
As Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business, I was proud to host a 2-day visit to the region by the Federal Minister for Small Business Michael McCormack as part of the National Small Business Roadshow.
The Small Business Roadshow was a great interactive experience and well attended by local businesses.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is a strong supporter of Tasmania’s 36,000 small businesses, in fact we were named “Australia’s most popular government” in the 2017 Sensis Business Index.
We have a target to increase the number of small businesses by 10 per cent by 2022 which would see another 10,000 Tasmanians employed in this sector, many in regional Tasmania.
We have made massive in-roads into reducing red tape that slows down small business, and we have a target of an 85 per cent clean-up of reported red tape by 2022.
Small businesses are also winning more Government contracts (81 per cent in the past year) and our target is to lift that to 90 per cent by 2022.
We will always back our small business sector so it can continue to growth with confidence and create more jobs.