Business Council joins push to get us out of lockdown as soon as possible

A powerful business lobby group has joined the Treasurer’s call to end lockdowns, saying the cost to workers, mental health, and small business suppliers is too great.

Australia’s business leaders have joined the call for Australia to get out of lockdown and “open up society and live with the virus, in the same way that other countries have done”.

More than 80 businesses from across the country have signed a full-page open letter, spearheaded by the Business Council of Australia and published in The Daily Telegraph today, asking for a light at the end of the lockdown tunnel.

While acknowledging that lockdowns were successful in suppressing the coronavirus in 2020, and that they are still serving to slow its spread as the nation moves towards its vaccination targets, the letter says the costs are becoming too much to bear for many.

Crowds of people in restaurants and bars in London, where outdoor seating is allowed following a lift in COVID restrictions. Picture: Getty Images

“We can … see the impact of lockdowns on our people, on our customers, on our small business suppliers, and on communities and families right across the country,” the letter reads. “As vaccination rates increase, it will become necessary to open up society and live with the virus, in the same way that other countries have done. The National Cabinet has agreed to a road map which provides a path out of lockdowns … we need to stay the course.”

It comes just days after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg urged the nation’s business leaders to join with the federal Government in calling for Australia to stick with the plan for a phased reopening based on vaccination targets.

A couple kiss in a London street after lockdowns were lifted. Picture AFP

Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg has also supported an easing of lockdowns. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Already thousands of businesses have expressed interest in or begun programs to help vaccinate employees as well as run rapid testing places to keep workplaces safe and help workers comply with various state restrictions.

However, some jurisdictions – most notably Queensland and Western Australia – warned this week that they would not be bound to the ­National Cabinet agreement to open up state borders if cases in NSW remained high.

On Tuesday, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick accused Coalition state governments of being “chock full of crazies” who wanted to open the country too fast.

Originally published as Business Council joins push to get us out of lockdown as soon as possible