The Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the Federal Government's return to a budget surplus for the first time a decade. Chamber President Martin Hall said it was also pleasing to see the Government investing heavily in infrastructure, particularly the $500 million it had allocated to improving the M1 between the Gold Coast and Brisbane and the $8 million allocated to investigate the fast rail route between Brisbane and Gold Coast. Mr Hall said the Government also met...

It has been a busy two weeks at Parliament in Brisbane where the emerging hospital crisis under the Palaszczuk Labor Government has returned our health system to the bad old days under the Bligh Government.  Ambulance ramping, questionable medical operators and a lack of beds for patients in the public system is a typical outcome of a Government controlled by Unions and out-of-control financially. Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre
Further to my comments last mon...

Labor has today launched its official Small Business policy handbook "Standing up for Small Business." Through active consultation and engagement, Labor knows there are many challenges facing established and emerging small businesses in this country, and we are committed to enabling and encouraging their success. A Shorten Labor Government would boost our vibrant small business community and diversify Australia's economy, while still investing in our world class education a...

The Gold Coast's peak business body wants the State Government to take a tougher stance on crime to clean up the Coast's potential image problem. Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall says the State Government needs to appoint more police officers in the Gold Coast region and invest more resources fighting crime groups in the region. "The Gold Coast is renowned for its beaches, for being a tourism hotspot and increasingly as a key business hotspot but ...

The Gold Coast's peak business body is urging Bill Shorten to "get real" in relation to wages in Australia. Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said Mr Shorten's recent comments about the need to introduce his proposed "living wage" disregarded the reality that Australia already one of the highest minimum wage rates in the world. "Mr Shorten clearly doesn't comprehend that small businesses are the predominant type of business ...

Greetings all as we cool down into autumn!

State Parliament has completed its first two weeks of the sitting year and disappointingly we have endured another tax slug on everyday Queenslanders with the Palaszczuk Labor Government passing a new tax into Queensland Law. The so-called "Waste Tax" will collect $1,300 million from taxpayers over the next four years with only $150 million of that amount being returned for waste and environmental matters.  The rest of the...