Minister says city’s location is one reason behind employment woes

According to one Minister, Toowoomba‘s inclusion in South East Queensland might be why employment programs aren’t effective.

Di Farmer visited Toowoomba small business owners. Picture: Renae Droop

Small business Minister Di Farmer has cited Toowoomba’s standing as a part of south-east Queensland as one of the reasons programs like Back to Work have not succeeded in resolving the issues faced by local businesses.

Ms Farmer met with 100 small business owners across Toowoomba to discuss the challenges they’ve faced over the last 12 months as a result of the pandemic.

“Toowoomba has always, in a range of different categories across government, been counted as south-east Queensland,” she said.

“We’ve heard loud and clear about some of the challenges associated with that.”

Toowoomba is one of 17 stops around Queensland as the minister embarks on small business roadshow, touching base with business owners to assess the damage and listen to grievances in the wake of COVID-19.

She said across other regional centres similar to Toowoomba, feedback has been consistent.

“We back small business,” she said.

“We know that if we don’t back small businesses we’re not going to get the economic recovery that we need.

“We know that the support we need to provide now is different than what it was six months ago.”

One key piece of feedback accepted by Ms Farmer was the need for one-on-one support from the government to individual businesses.

“People are just not sure how they need to response as a business and they really need some help,” she said.

“There are few things that are already in place and we're taking feedback form some excellent conversations today.”