TERESA GAMBARO MP
Federal Member for Brisbane Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement Small businesses in the electorate of Brisbane: 29,100*
What is your small business story?
“I am the proud daughter of Italian immigrants and my parents are so grateful to have been able to make Brisbane and Australia home for their family. My father arrived here with nothing but the shirt on his back and an empty suitcase filled with hope. Australia is a wonderful place where if you work hard, there is opportunity and reward. My parents owned the local corner store. They worked hard and built one of the first local supermarkets in New Farm in Brisbane. They would deliver groceries to people who were sick. They knew who was hurting and they were compassionate to those in need. Through their hard work my parents went on to develop a seafood wholesale and export business, which progressed to what has become one of Brisbane’s iconic fine restaurants in Caxton Street – Gambaro’s!
We all worked in the family business and because I had the best English, my parents gave me the microphone at the age of nine to call the ‘No. 12 chicken specials.’
So you could say that I should blame my parents for putting a microphone in my hand from an early age that later led me into politics. I went on to have a career in hospitality, fundraising, franchising and personnel, as well as tutoring in the Business School at QUT over the past 20 years.”
What has your experience with small business taught you?
“You must have endurance and commitment. All your efforts must be focused on delivering what customers want. Good customer service is not an accident and is the result of a religious attention to detail through planning, proper financial management and accounting. If you get these basics right, you then have the capacity to grow your business through innovation.”
What message do you have for Australia’s small business owners?
“Make your business your passion, but concentrate on getting the back end right first. Once you do, you will then have the perfect platform from which you can grow your customer base. And above all, keep your spirits up – a Coalition government will grow the economy, reduce the burden of red tape and taxes, get off your back and let you do what you do best – create jobs and prosperity for our nation.”
Visit Teresa Gambaro MP’s website at www.teresagambaro.com. * 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.
