Making Central Ward the small business-friendly capital of Australia.
LORD Mayor Adrian Schrinner has unveiled a new high-powered roundtable to help deliver a successful 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games while ensuring Brisbane remains the most small business-friendly city in Australia.
Cr Schrinner said the new Small Business Roundtable will permanently replace the highly successful Economic Recovery Taskforce which was created during the COVID-19 pandemic to help drive Brisbane’s recovery.
Initiatives from the Economic Recovery Taskforce included a six-month rate freeze for residents, a multi-million dollar support package that provided rent waivers and reimbursements to businesses and direct assistance grants for community groups.
These initiatives complemented a range of measures undertaken by the Schrinner Council to help Brisbane businesses, including the Buy Local procurement policy which has seen $950 million flow to local businesses in 2020-21 and the successful seven-day payment terms for suppliers.
The Lord Mayor said the Small Business Roundtable will be asked to look at measures across the spectrum that will help Brisbane deliver the best-ever Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as new opportunities for local operators.
“I want to thank the taskforce members for the way they came together to help Brisbane and welcome the members of the new Small Business Roundtable,” Cr Schrinner said.
“The Economic Recovery Taskforce proved to be a very agile way of developing proposals quickly that helped Brisbane businesses during the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic.
“The work undertaken by the taskforce helped businesses right across Brisbane survive and many of them have since recovered and are now thriving.
“We’re not resting on our laurels. I want our new Small Business Roundtable to adopt the same mindset and come up with initiatives that will help local businesses grow and succeed.”
Cr Schrinner said as a future host city of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Brisbane was now in competition with the likes of London, Rome, Tokyo and Paris.
A critical part to guaranteeing the 2032 Games are a success will be ensuring local businesses have the right operating environment, he said.
“Hosting Brisbane 2032 will be about so much more than having the world’s greatest sporting event right here in our city for a few weeks,” he said.
“The experience of athletes, Games officials, visitors and representatives from media outlets from across the globe will be so important because when the event is over they will become advocates for our city.
“It is vital we use the time we have now to start asking the question ‘what can we do next to ensure we are ready to welcome the world to our city?’
“Things like footpath dining and the creation of our unique café culture, Sunday trading and the emergence of our boutique bars and breweries have helped Brisbane develop into the modern, vibrant city that it is today.
“We want to ask the question ‘what more can we do to continue with this momentum?’
“While Brisbane 2032 might be a decade away, these kinds of reforms take time to refine so we should not wait.”
Members of the Schrinner Council’s Small Business Roundtable are:
KRISTA ADAMS, Deputy Mayor
DR JOHN COWIE, Manager, City Planning and Economic Development (Brisbane City Council)
REBECCA LEAHY, Retail First
WES LAMBERT, Restaurant and Catering Industry
DOMINIQUE LAMB, National Retail Association
GRANT MENZIES, Family Business Australia – QLD Ambassador
AMANDA ROHAN, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland
JOHN COLLINS, The Triffid & Fortitude Music Hall
JANINE WATSON, Business Southbank
ANTHONY RYAN, Brisbane Economic Development Agency Chief Executive Officer
NIMROD KLAYMAN, University of Queensland – head of Ventures
JANELLE BOSTOCK, Women’s Network Australia
GLEN RICHARDS, Entrepreneur and Shark Tank
BERNIE HOGAN, Queensland Hotels Association
MIRIAM KENT, Brisbane Business Hub
CHRIS ISLES, Economic Development Manager (Brisbane City Council)
For more about how we are building a better Brisbane economy just visit https://vickihoward.com and https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/about-council/governance-and-strategy/business-in-brisbane