SENATOR ANNE RUSTON
Senator for South Australia Small businesses in South Australia: 142,176*
What is your small business story?
“My husband and I bought my family business, Ruston’s Roses, in 2003 about a year after our son was born. Ruston’s was a commercial rose garden supplying florists around Australia, however we recognised we needed to diversify and make other improvements if we going to remain profitable. We introduced irrigation efficiencies that reduced our water use by around 60% and transformed the business into a licensed café, retail, floristry and tourism operation, including a vintage and classic car museum. This involved building a visitor centre and later expanding it to include a large function room and commercial kitchen. Ruston’s is now one of our region’s major tourist attractions, and also receives a lot of local business.”
What has your experience with small business taught you?
“I think the most important lesson was the need to have a strategy for business growth and risk management – to have a vision and follow it through.
My experience has also taught me the value of business networks, particularly in regional tourism.
In more recent years I’ve also experienced an ever-increasing burden of regulation. We’ve been forced to spend a greater amount of time complying with more and more red tape. It’s made me a passionate advocate for reducing this burden on Australian small business so they can get on with doing what they do best – making money and creating jobs. It’s one of the main reasons I decided to go into politics.”
What message do you have for Australia’s small business owners?
“It’s important to have a long-term plan that’s flexible enough to meet changing circumstances. Running a business is hard work, but the rewards (not just financial) can be great.”
Visit Senator Anne Ruston’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/AnneRuston. * Source: “Australian Small Business – Key Statistics and Analysis”, Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, December 2012 We will be releasing small business stories from Australian politicians regularly in the lead up to the election on 7 September 2013. Read other stories that we have published here.
