JULIE COLLINS:
It's great to be here in Cairns, with Minister Di Farmer. And indeed Talicia from a small Indigenous business here in Cairns. We are here today to host the Small Business Ministers from around the country here in Cairns. This is our third meeting of Small Business Ministers since coming to government. And it's great to be outside of capital city. And I wanted to thank the Queensland Government and Di Farmer for hosting us here in Cairns today. It's terrific to be here. And it was terrific to hear from Indigenous businesses about how important it is for them in Indigenous Business Month, to showcase Indigenous businesses right across the country. And of course, this is important as we lead up to the referendum on the Voice. Working with Indigenous people, listening to Indigenous people is what the Voice is all about. It's about: 1. recognition, and 2. about listening to Indigenous voices about how we can work together and how we listen to them to improve outcomes for Indigenous people and Indigenous businesses right across the country. I might hand over now to Di Farmer, the Small Business Minister here in Queensland, our host, to say a few words about some of the initiatives of the Queensland Government in relation to Indigenous businesses.
DI FARMER:
Thanks so much, Julie. And it is fantastic to have Julie as the Federal Minister for Small Business and all of the other state and territory Small Business Ministers here today in Queensland, in Cairns, for Indigenous Business Month, and I'm so proud to show off what we do here in Queensland, to support Indigenous small businesses. In fact to show off those businesses themselves. We know that one of the important parts of the pitches to the Olympic and Paralympic Committee to bring the games to Queensland was that we wanted the games to be an opportunity to showcase our First Nations culture in Queensland and small businesses, Indigenous small businesses, are a very important part of that. We have a quarter of the nation's Indigenous small businesses. In Queensland we are doing everything we can to support them. We have a First Nations Training Strategy because we know that Indigenous small businesses are more likely to employ Indigenous people. We have a program to support Indigenous businesses – our Deadly Business Program - to grow to whatever extent they want. So, for example, the Indigenous food production business is worth $60 million annually. Only 2 per cent of the people involved are Indigenous. We want to grow that so it's Indigenous people who are really in charge of a business like that. So we're going to make sure that when the Olympic Games comes to Queensland, that it's Indigenous businesses who are at the fore showcasing their culture, showcasing what First Nations culture means to Queensland and to Australia.
COLLINS:
Now we have Talicia, an Indigenous small business here, and she wants to say a few words about her business and about the Voice.
TALICIA MINNIECON:
Thank you. My name is Talicia Minniecon a small business owner here in Cairns, my business is TTPOPP Tidda Talz Creates Progress Over Perfection Pieces. This business was created three years ago with the purpose of keeping me connected to my kids, my family. Creating a legacy for my children and my family, but also keeping us connected to our culture and also our community as well and so, you know, when I think about the Voice to Parliament and what it's going to do for First Nations people, it's a continued stepping stone of something that my ancestors and my elders have been fighting for a very long time. And First Nations people, we have the voice but the Voice to Parliament will continue to amplify our voices, and also amplify the solutions that we have for our communities. And, you know, First Nations businesses are thriving, thriving industry. And there are so many First Nations people that are running businesses that are not just creating income for our communities. But it's creating employment. It's creating educational opportunities. It's creating family and creating that ability for young people and people from all over our community to find a place where they can connect, find a place where they can really put their skills to work and find a place where we can bring solutions for our community. And so I'm really excited that Indigenous Business Month is being launched this month in light of the referendum, and I believe that the yes vote will come to pass and I really believe that it's going to continue to build on the amazing work that my ancestors and older people have been working on for a very long time.
COLLINS:
Thanks Talicia and it’s great to have some earrings from TTPOPP on from Talicia today. Talicia has been incredibly generous in talking to Di and I about her business and about the growth of her business. And there are stories like Talicia all over the country, but particularly here in Queensland with initiatives from the State Government, and indeed some of the things we're doing at the Federal level to support small businesses right across the country. We know that people have been doing it tough. But what we want to do is offer practical support in a targeted way so that we don't add to inflation, but that we're supporting small businesses right around the country. So it's terrific to be here in Cairns with Di and with Talicia, and I look forward to the outcomes of the meeting today, and to hearing from other Ministers across the country about what they're doing to support Indigenous businesses, small businesses right across the country today.
JOURNALIST:
Just from a pragmatic perspective, when we leave today, what are we hoping to achieve by the end of the day?
COLLINS:
What we're hoping to achieve today is more collaboration and a bit of a work plan about how small businesses and Small Business Ministers can work together to make it easier for small businesses that are operating across state jurisdictions. And indeed, within state jurisdictions, what we want to do is get more collaboration between the two tiers of government. As I've said, this is our third meeting of Small Business Ministers. Prior to the Albanese Government's election, it had been some time, I think it's almost nine years prior to that, that there had been a Small Business Ministers meeting. And indeed, the last meeting was under Bruce Billson, when he was a Small Business Minister. So it has been quite some time. This is now our third meeting, we want to have some tangible outcomes about how we start working together to improve the lot of small businesses, understanding the tough times that some small businesses are operating in.
JOURNALIST:
Have you seen any progress already? Any results coming back so far? Or are we just working towards 2030 timeline for the Olympics?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously, the Olympics is very important to Queensland and important to Australia more generally. And we'll be doing everything we can working with the Queensland Government to support the Olympics, and particularly businesses and Indigenous businesses showcasing around the Olympics. But what today is about is more about how we can find practical assistance to Indigenous businesses and other businesses around Australia on the ground. We understand, you know, the economic times in which we're in at the moment. We understand that it's tough for some small businesses around the country, and it's about how do we work together to provide that practical support on the ground for businesses in these current times.
JOURNALIST:
Talicia, perhaps you could just give us background? Like you touched on it, but the business that you've started, can you tell me, how like, from the ground up, what made you start that business? And what inspired you?
MINNIECON:
Yeah. What inspired me, I initially was inspired to start my business because of my children, and wanting to create something for them that I could pass on to the next generation. But I also know that there was a gap in the market. You know, I'm an artist, and I'm also a jewellery maker. And there was a gap in the market. And I wanted to see that gap filled with First Nations art and First Nations jewellery and, and so that's one of the reasons why I decided to do it. We have such a rich, beautiful culture that I believe needs to be shared with the world. And so yeah, that was one of the main reasons why I did it. And also too because it's about that reclamation of, you know, my culture and preserving my culture and ensuring that I have something to pass on to the next generation.
JOURNALIST:
For you personally, coming here today, what is it that you hope to achieve?
MINNIECON:
What I hope to achieve is to amplify what First Nations people are already doing. I hope to achieve the encouragement of First Nations people that they would understand that, you know, we can get there thinking if we’ve got business ideas, but we have the ability, we have the capacity and the resources to be able to, you know, create employment opportunities, create wealth, and create legacies for our young people in our communities. And that I think at the end of the day, I really want our mob to know that there are other resources out there that we can access that are going to help build those foundations so that we can achieve those things.