Realtors, manufacturers and farmers were just some of the locals keen to hear how a Tamworth MP can help the small business community through his ministerial roles.
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Kevin Anderson was the guest speaker at Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce's networking meeting on Thursday night and explained his responsibilities in better regulation and innovation, fair trading, SafeWork, racing, the NSW Building Commissioner, long service corporation, rental bond board, the Subsidence Advisory Service and the Professional Standards Authority.
"The group was really interested to know what I do as MP ... [and] wanted more information about what my ministerial portfolio means - how does it link back to Gunnedah? I gave them examples of what we're trying to do to relate my ministerial roles back to Gunnedah," Mr Anderson said.
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Mr Anderson said topics of conversations ranged from payroll tax and zonal taxation to real estate reforms and professional indemnity insurance.
"I absolutely want to see less regulations ... how can we reduce regulations so that we can make it easier for people to do business and run their business?" he said.
"For me, as a previous small business owner, I know how hard it is when you're the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave at night, and quite often as a business owner, you're the last one to get paid because you want to look after your staff; you want them taken care of because they're your front line.
"We talked a lot last night about looking after staff and how you can provide better service to clients through your business with good staff."
Mr Anderson said chamber president Juliana McArthur was "very progressive" and was "driving the chamber in a very positive way and looking at what she can do to lobby me on behalf of its members to get a better outcome".
Mrs McArthur said it was a successful evening and a lot of ground was covered.
"There was a really good cross-section of community ... and the general idea was that things were bad in the drought but confidence has definitely lifted and Gunnedah district's unemployment rate has definitely fallen," she said.
"Everyone is focused on recovery from the drought ... we have a diverse and resilient economy."
