I congratulate the team at Precedent Productions on another wonderfully successful Blacktown City Local Business Awards, which acknowledge the best businesses in 37 categories across six State electorates. As the member for Blacktown, I was particularly proud to see that 16 winners out of the 37 categories were from my electorate, including the Business of the Year going to Parforce Australia. This business awards night of nights can easily be compared to the razzamatazz of Hollywood's Oscars, with a great emcee, Nigel Turner-Carroll, and wonderful stage performances by Kye Hall, Bella McSporran and Rebecca Selley. But the main event was the awards. There was a rollercoaster of emotions starting with loud cheering as each nominee's name was read out to nervous anticipation as the presenter opened the envelope to reveal the winner and then screams of joy and relief as the winning name was announced. One could have easily thought they were at the Oscars.

There was a common theme from all the winners in their acceptance speeches. They thanked their staff for their hard work and dedication; their families for their ongoing support, particularly in difficult times; the other nominees; their customers and the public for their support; and, of course, the team at Precedent Productions and the sponsors that made the awards night happen. For over 40 years, Steve Loe, the founder of Precedent Productions, has been the driving force behind the many business awards across four States and Territories that recognise the hard work, entrepreneurship, popularity and community giving of businesses in building local community spirit. Steve's team, including Chris Jamgotchian, Alana Amabile and Jacque Behjan, delivered an amazing program that made the night truly special.

The Blacktown electorate hosts great awards nights for sport, academia, community and the arts, with the hard work and dedication of local businesses often being overlooked. But Steve Loe and Precedent Productions changed this. From local awards, it has grown to hosting State and national awards, including the Business Champion of Champions Awards, as well as trade and professional-based recognition awards. Winning a Blacktown City Business Award is very special, because over 27,000 businesses operate in the area, ranging from sole traders through to billion-dollar operations. Blacktown's gross regional product is $26 billion, which is larger than 60 countries in the world. Manufacturing is always a hot topic, and it is successfully thriving in Blacktown City, with Parforce named both Manufacturer of the Year and Business of the Year. It operates in the mining and industrial sectors, delivering hydraulic and fluid power solutions tailored to individual business needs across the nation.

Other Blacktown electorate businesses that did particularly well in the food categories include everyone's favourite, Christopher's Cake Shop, Volcanos restaurant, Fried Brothers takeaway and Westpoint Growers in the outstanding business category. After a great meal, one might need to stay healthy, so there's The Athlete's Foot. For fashion and health improvement, there's Family 1st Care Services. For a sole operator, there's Pilates by Tracy. For a pet care hobby, there are horses at Greater Western Sydney Horse Parks. Now that they are fed and healthy, they may wish to improve their job prospects with Workhorse Staffing, which was the professional services winner, or start their own business with specialised business WOTSO Westpoint. Now they are fed, healthy and wealthy, they can upgrade their assets with Hyundai new and used cars and Century 21 Davelis and Co real estate, get those mags at Goodyear Autocare automotive services, or fix your roof with Aleksandar Stanic D&D Roof Vacuuming and Insulation, who won the youth award.

The Blacktown Workers Club was once again a wonderful showcase venue, also sponsoring the event with Westpoint and media partners such as Blacktown News, as well as many other sponsors. I thank them all. I congratulate all the businesses who took part in the awards. It is a difficult and exhaustive process, and every business that entered must be commended for putting their business out there for public scrutiny. I thank all the sponsors. I also give a huge thanks to Steve Loe and the Precedent Productions team for their vision and tenacity in recognising my electorate's entrepreneurs and enhancing the local business community. I look forward to next year's awards.