15/05/2026
Iāve been thinking a lot lately about the conversations happening around wealth, business owners and the housing market.
And honestly, I think weāve reached a point where people are becoming very quick to judge outcomes without understanding the years of risk, sacrifice and pressure that often came before them.
If your goal is to work a stable job, maintain a good work-life balance, save steadily and buy a home over time, then parts of this new Federal Budget proposal may absolutely feel supportive.
But thereās another side to Australia too.
The people who took enormous risks.
The people who built businesses from scratch.
The people who signed personal guarantees, worked seven days a week, sacrificed time with family and carried the responsibility of other peopleās livelihoods on their shoulders for years.
That path looks very different.
When we bought our first business, we went all in. We terminated our lease in Sydney, moved our family into a rental on the Central Coast away from family support and worked around the clock for years to make it work.
There was no guaranteed income.
No safety net.
No certainty it would succeed.
When we opened our second business, we operated at a loss for months and used profits from the first business to keep it alive.
Then I did it again in another state.
Then again with more businesses after that.
For over a decade now, Iāve dedicated my life to building businesses that support families, employ women and contribute positively to the community.
Today, I employ over 150 people ā all women ā many of whom are mothers themselves. We pay above-award wages, provide flexibility wherever possible and support staff through difficult seasons of life whenever we can.
Weāve helped thousands of families.
Won over 30 awards across business, leadership and education.
Achieved Exceeding ratings across every childcare centre I own.
Created jobs, opportunities and businesses that genuinely give back.
But what people often donāt understand is that building and maintaining successful businesses also requires making difficult decisions constantly.
Sometimes that means having hard conversations.
Sometimes it means removing people who arenāt aligned with the standards or culture of the business.
Sometimes it means holding firm boundaries and policies despite criticism or pushback.
Leadership is rarely as simple as people on the outside think it is.
And I think thatās where a lot of public commentary misses the mark ā whether itās about business owners, investment properties or āwealthy people.ā
Most people commenting only see a tiny piece of the puzzle.
They donāt see the financial pressure, the sleepless nights, the years of uncertainty or the sheer weight of responsibility involved in building something at scale.
They donāt know all the pieces on the chess board.
And often, they donāt even realise what game is being played.
Itās very easy to criticise decisions when youāve never had to carry the responsibility attached to them.
I absolutely believe we should support younger Australians trying to enter the housing market.
But I also donāt believe business owners should continually face increasing tax obligations, tighter restrictions around structures like trusts and bucket companies or increasing penalties for building wealth through years of hard work and risk-taking.
And I donāt think Australians who have worked relentlessly to purchase investment properties should automatically be painted as the enemy either.
Because for many people, those assets represent years of sacrifice, pressure, delayed gratification and risk ā not greed.
I think we need more balanced conversations in this country.
Because supporting younger Australians and supporting the people building businesses, creating jobs and contributing back into the economy should not have to be mutually exclusive.
