Townsville Enterprise put pressure on state government to provide help for small business
Townsville Enterprise is laying the pressure on thick for business support after the city haemorrhaged millions due to a Covid-19 lockdown.
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TOWNSVILLE Enterprise is ramping up the pressure for business support after the city haemorrhaged millions during the three-day Covid-19 lockdown.
Last Tuesday, Townsville, Palm and Magnetic Islands were thrust into a three-day lockdown after a woman holidaying in the region tested positive to the delta variant of Covid-19.
The business advocacy group has been calling for support since the lockdown was announced, saying the region needs state government support.
CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said the business community needed help to restart the city and recoup lost earnings.
“Recently following short lockdowns we’ve see the Northern Territory, Western Australian and New South Wales governments provide recovery packages for businesses and the tourism industry,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
“We stand ready to work with our government on what can be put in place to support our businesses from this lockdown and any future interruptions to their operations.
“We have proposed a number of solutions to the state government to support business recovery, such as grants and redirecting funding already budgeted such as diverting the $10 million aviation funding to a half price flights scheme.”
Ms Brumme-Smith said collectively, almost $5m in revenue across 130 businesses surveyed was lost due to the lockdown, with more than 60 per cent of those business standing down staff, reducing hours or making redundancies.
“That has impacted hundreds of local families whose livelihoods are now hanging by a thread,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
On Wednesday Treasurer Cameron Dick trumpeted the state’s economic recovery from the pandemic and said Queensland would stick to the nationally recognised seven-day period before business support was provided.
“We’ve adopted what everyone else has done, we’ve adopted the seven-day rule for supporting businesses,” he said.
“We’ve seen a strong rebound after short, sharp lockdowns – that’s the most effective way we can support business to get them open and operating again.”
Mr Dick said the government was monitoring the health of Queensland’s economy, but did not have “specific data” about how businesses fared in the last lockdown.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli accused Mr Dick of failing to listen to thousands of small businesses which were “clinging on by their fingertips”.
“It’s just wildly out of touch to suggest that everybody after another lockdown is doing fine, to suggest there is no need for an assistance package for the next time there could be a lockdown is reflective of a tin ear approach,” he said.
He called for a voucher system to be introduced similar to other states and a targeted Covid-19 support package for businesses.
“It’s certainty in uncertain times, it’s the ability to trade with certainty and confidence,” he said.
Originally published as Townsville Enterprise put pressure on state government to provide help for small business
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