State election candidates forum Townsville: Pollies talk on how to help small business thrive

Townsville business leaders saw encouraging signs from the answers of state election candidates on how they would encourage small and local businesses to grow.

Townsville Chamber of Commerce 2024 State Election Meet the Candidates Breakfast held at The Ville on October 11, 2024. Candidates for the seat of Townsville Margie Ryder (KAP), William Tento (Family First), Scott Stewart (Labor), Wesley Newman (Ind) and Adam Baillie (LNP).

Townsville business representatives saw encouraging signs from the answers of state election candidates addressing how they would encourage small and local businesses to grow.

State candidates across four electorates spoke on how they would tackle crime, housing shortages, energy, and infrastructure at a forum hosted by the Townsville Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber’s chief executive Heidi Turner said after the forum that one of the significant challenges for North Queensland business growth was outdated payroll tax thresholds and stamp duty insurance costs, and she said these needed to be confronted in the next government term.

She said candidates had reflected promising views and ideas indicating they would be open to doing this if they were elected.

Ms Turner said stamp duty was a “double tax” and placed North Queensland businesses at a greater disadvantage compared to a comparative Brisbane business, considering how expensive premiums were.

“With stamp duty we’re being punished because of percentage,” she said.

Labor's Mundingburra MP Les Walker chats to residents at the Townsville Chamber of Commerce 2024 State Election Meet the Candidates Breakfast held at The Ville on October 11, 2024.

Another burden was the payroll tax threshold of $1.3m which had not been updated in 14 years, and the problem was that it had not been updated alongside Consumer Price Index.

This unintentionally created a “bracket creep” making it more likely for businesses to surpass the threshold.

“Wages on a Sunday, the extra money, all these things make businesses less profitable, less attractive to have small businesses, which everyone quotes are the backbone of our economy.

“So, if that’s the case, if you value the backbone of the economy, do something about it.”

Townsville Labor MP Scott Stewart said the unemployment rate had greatly decreased from 13.4 per cent to below 2.2 per cent since 2015, and he believed his government’s programs contributed to this.

But he said there was always more to do.

“There is constantly people calling for additional workforce.

“We have free TAFE and with an industry that we have we have been working very closely around how do we solve this together? “

LNP candidate Adam Baillie said the solution was in building more housing for more workers to live in.

LNP candidate for Townsville Adam Baillie. Picture: Liam Kidston.

He said an LNP-led government would spent $2bn on housing infrastructure with half of that earmarked for regional Queensland.

Mr Baillie said there would be “no surprise taxes” for businesses and the LNP would make an effort to reduce red tape and improve approval processes.

Family First Townsville candidate William Tento said protecting stable households were important to develop a local workforce, and the way to do this was to subsidise energy costs for households with more than five people.

‘We would support the expansion of the decentralisation of government services into the regions to provide both services and employments to attract families,” he said.

KAP Townsville candidate Margie Ryder said she would encourage development of a skilled workforce by bolstering the wages of adult apprentices.

She said while new technology and improved efficiency was needed these things came at a cost to businesses.

“Small businesses need a hand up, not a hand out,” she said.

“We need Townsville to be showcased as the best place to live.”

And that included addressing crime concerns.

Independent candidate Wesley Newman said he sought to avoid making campaign promises, but he said the community needed to focus on “buy, spend and invest”.

Originally published as State election candidates forum Townsville: Pollies talk on how to help small business thrive