Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2016 Induction Dinner

Minister Enoch; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to join you for the 2016 Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame Induction Dinner.

I at once acknowledge, with respect to Elders, the Traditional Owners of the lands around Brisbane. In doing so, I note the participation of Indigenous men in our armed forces in World War I – a participation which may not always have been sufficiently acknowledged.

I have just returned from the 100^th anniversary commemorations of the Battles of Fromelles and Pozieres on the Western Front.

I learned that our most decorated, Queensland-born soldier, Major Edgar Thomas Towner, awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on the Western Front, served as a director of the Russleigh Pastoral Company after he returned to Australia.

And Brigadier-General William Glasgow, who commanded the 13^th Brigade, which together with the 15^th, recaptured the town of Villers-Bretonneux in 1918, was a storekeeper in Gympie before he enlisted.

After the war Glasgow served as a director of Milliquin Sugar, Hume Pipe Company and the AMP Society, Queensland Branch.

So I want to acknowledge the valuable service of veterans of all conflicts to business in Queensland.

They are part of the diverse, entrepreneurial and inspirational business community that we celebrate this evening.

From the city to the country, in almost every field of endeavour, enterprising Queenslanders are building the future of our State.

So it’s good to look back to the past, and acknowledge the trailblazers who laid the foundations for our prosperity.

The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame records the great stories of our commercial history.

Through it we can trace the development of professions, sectors and services, through good times and bad, and celebrate the outstanding individuals – the inventors, the visionaries and the leaders – who created this success.

Queensland has many economic and strategic advantages to offer investors, but our greatest lies in our people, in the innovators who turn our natural advantages into productive enterprises.

The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame is an engaging way to record and celebrate their achievements, and I commend the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Library Foundation and QUT Business School for creating it and sustaining it.

I also commend the partners and supporters of the Hall of Fame for backing this important initiative.

I thank you for your attention and I look forward to shortly hearing the stories of the 2016 inductees, and presenting them with awards.

I wish you all an enjoyable evening, and an invigorating business year ahead. Thank you.