Celebrating the Glassies 2025 by Glasshouse Country & Maleny News

Celebrating The Glassies

THE Glassies have become a cornerstone celebration for the Glass House electorate. This year, the awards expanded their footprint through a new partnership between Member for Glass House Andrew Powell MP and Member for Caloundra,

Glass House

The collaboration ensured businesses operating along the border of the two electorates were fully recognised. The awards, held during Queensland’s Small and Family Business Month, attracted more

than 3,000 public votes - reflecting the region’s growing appreciation for the sector’s impact. With finalists and winners drawn from a wide range of industries, the event showcased the diversity of enterprise flourishing across the hinterland.

Kendall Morton MP.

Celebrating The Glassies

Easton Lawyers deserved inclusion into Hall of Fame

Maleny law ﬁrm recognised at the 2025 Glassies

By Kirra Livingstone

EASTON Lawyers has been part of the Maleny community for more than 35 years, and its recent induction into the Glassies Hall of Fame conﬁrms its status as one of the region’s most enduring and respected businesses.

While the ﬁrm has undergone changes in name over the decades, its commitment to the community has remained consistent.

Manager Sharon Schoﬁeld, who has led the oﬀice for the past 35 years, was herself previously inducted into the Glassies Employee Hall of Fame.

“It’s just one way for us to get a little bit of a reward,” Ms Schoﬁeld said.

“In this industry, you can kind of slog away, so the recognition is nice.

“Everyone works so hard here, and it can be a tricky industry — it gets tough and stressful — so I think it’s a nice distraction too.”

While some staff prefer to remain out of the spotlight, Ms Schofield said the team was proud of the firm’s Hall of Fame recognition.

“Everyone’s very proud of what they do, we’ve all got each other’s back, and I think it solidiﬁes that we are the longest-serving law ﬁrm in Maleny,” she said.

“The awards have been running for nine years now, and I think there’s only been two years where we haven’t been nominated.”

Since the Glassies were launched by Glass House MP Andrew Powell in 2016, Easton Lawyers has received six awards.

Ms Schoﬁeld said more businesses in the region should consider embracing the value of the awards.

“I don’t think businesses value them enough” she said.

“From an employee’s point of view, I think bosses should also acknowledge it more, because a boss can nominate an employee.

“I think that’s important

as well — the business itself, which the boss predominantly gets the recognition for — employees will always need to be boosted up.”

Operating out of 62 Maple Street since the mid-1980s, the premises once belonged to the well-known Lyons family.

The ﬁrm has been owned by Tove Easton for the past 18 years and specialises in select areas of general law.

“We do all general law — so property law, wills and estates, leasing commercial — no family law or litigation,” Ms Schoﬁ said.

“We have ﬁrms that we trust and send our clients to if they ever need help with a type of law we don’t cover.

charged cases often involved estates.

“We have strong relationships with these ﬁrms and we know that our clients are going to be looked after as we would want to look after them.”

She said the most complex and emotionally

“There’s often stoushes with estates, especially these days, and whether it’s interesting or not, we’re here to help people,” she said. “People are really sad when it comes to estates and it’s daunting, but that’s

what we are here for.

“We help people get through some of the toughest times.”

All members of the Easton Lawyers team are locals, further strengthening their standing in the community.

“I went to school here, Simone our receptionist

went to school here — we’re all here long term and we are proud to be a part of this community,” Ms Schoﬁeld said.

“We sponsor a number of community groups and events, and have been in the Chamber of Commerce for a number of years.”

The Easton Lawyers team, Tove Easton, Sharon Schoﬁeld, Valli Benoit and Simone Svenson.

Liarna paints the town bronze with her Glassies award win

By Kirra Livingstone

MALENY Accident Repair second-year apprentice, Liarna Jenner, is laying the foundations for a successful career, having been awarded the Glassies Bronze Employee Award for Maleny last month.

Ms Jenner is undertaking a trade qualiﬁcation in vehicle painting, and her employer, Juan Perez, said her skill level surpasses that of many qualiﬁ tradespeople.

“I reckon she’s a fantastic girl, I’ve been in the trade for 35 years so I have seen heaps of girls come and go,” Mr Perez said.

“I threw her in the deep end and told her to paint straight away, and she’s taken it like a duck to water.

painters, I’m proud of her because she’s obviously doing well here,” he said.

“I leave her alone now, I don’t need to worry about her I just let her do it.”

Originally from Bundaberg, Ms Jenner moved to Landsborough with her family at the age of eight. She attended Maleny State High School and later the Flexi School

“She’s been told by other painters, reps and people in general that she’s doing probably fourth-year or tradesman-level painting.”

Mr Perez added how proud he was of his employees successes so far.

“She is out painting most

commencing her apprenticeship at Maleny Accident Repair.

“I’ve always been into cars, and I like doing art and painting as well,” she said.

“Probably a year before I started here, I saw a video of someone online doing car painting and I thought it looked really cool.”

She said she was thrilled to be nominated by Mr Perez and to receive the Bronze Employee Award.

“It felt nice to kn somethin har

“It felt pretty good, it’s nice to know I guess I get something back for trying really hard,” Ms Jenner said.

She als for the fu desire to sk

She also shared her hopes for the future, expressing a desire to further develop her artistic skills.

“I’d like future try brush wo like

“I’d like to maybe in the future try to specialise in air brush work or something like that,” she said. Liarna added she was grateful to be as hands on as she is at Maleny Accident Repair.

“I like the small shop and if I went to a bigger shop, I wouldn’t get to do nearly as much as I do here,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t even be painting yet, and it’s also a nice place to work.”