Covid NSW: Sydney lockdown costing $1 billion a week

Sydney businesses and casual workers are on their knees as the full cost of the city’s lockdown is revealed.

Lockdown is costing Sydney $1 billion a week with businesses and casual workers on their knees as Canberra rules out any further financial assistance.

It comes as senior Ministers remain concerned the lockdown is not having the intended impact of eradicating spread of the virulent Delta strain, raising internal questions as to whether tougher stay at home orders are needed.

With businesses, hoteliers and tourism operators pleading for help, the NSW government was on Wednesday begging Canberra to broaden support payments and scrambling to examine options to widen their own $1.4 billion business assistance package.

It can be revealed this could include payments for businesses and sole traders earning less than $75,000.

Up to 100,000 hospitality casuals are now out of work, the peak industry body estimates, with NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet pressuring Canberra to increase financial support for individuals.

But a formal request for the Commonwealth to reinstate JobKeeper was almost immediately rejected by federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Cracks over the government’s unity over its COVID policy have also been laid bare, with multiple MPs from the northern beaches, Shellharbour and Wollondilly openly demanding their regions be freed from the shackles of lockdown.

Mr Perrottet explicitly rejected the lockdown proposal in the state’s crisis cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres raised concerns about damage caused by the draconian measures.

The Sydney Opera House remains closed for Covid cleaning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Ms Berejiklian said it was “absolutely (her government’s) intention” that the lockdown would lift next Friday, but gave no strict guarantee.

“The next nine or ten days will determine how we live until those vaccines arrive at the end of October,” she said.

In a dramatic change in rhetoric, Health Minister Brad Hazzard directly addressed the possibility the virus may live in the community if the public doesn’t stay home.

“I think at some stage, if the individuals don’t hear (Chief Health Officer) Dr (Kerry) Chant’s message and don’t respond, then at some point we’re going to move to a stage where we are going to have to accept that the virus has a life which will continue in the community,” he said.

Business NSW estimated the lockdown is costing NSW $1 billion a week, with extra costs also incurred due to lost confidence.

The NSW Government is eyeing expanding the current assistance package for businesses impacted by COVID-19 restrictions to include businesses and sole traders with a turnover below $75,000.

Ryan Irvine, who manages the Sneaky Possum bar in Chippendale, said they were currently doing less than half their regular turnover after pivoting to takeaway beers and food. Picture: John Appleyard

The current package announced last Tuesday offers grants of between $5000 and $10,000 for businesses who suffer a loss of trade of between 30 and 70 per cent but under existing guidelines they must have a turnover of at least $75,000 per year.

In an acknowledgment of how dramatically people are suffering, Small Business Minister Damien Tudehope yon Wednesday said he had received correspondence making him question some business owners’ ability to “keep it all together”.

“Financial stress is a trigger often for self harm and mental health issues,” he said.

Mr Perrottet confirmed he will continue to lobby Canberra for more assistance, particularly for casual workers on their first week of lost income.

He is also considering rent relief for substantially impacted businesses and a separate “recovery” package.

The hospitality industry has called for rent relief for shuttered businesses, payroll tax waivers, and bigger business support grants.

Restaurant and Catering Australia has sent a three point plan to the Berejiklian government suggesting more measures to support the industry through the extended lockdown.

The plan includes payroll tax waivers for the June quarter for businesses “significantly impacted” by the lockdown.

Business support grants should be boosted by 50 per cent, and rental relief for businesses forced to shut should be provided, according to the proposal.

The Australian Hotels Association chief John Whelan said the industry needed certainty moving forward.

“The lockdown extension is devastating news for more than 50,000 Greater Sydney-based staff who are out of work for another week, as well as the broader NSW hotel industry which has operated under restricted trading conditions for more than 15 months and counting,” Mr Whelan said.

Tom, a barista and waiter at Redfern café Eats, said he had concerns about what the lockdown would mean for his employment. Picture: John Appleyard

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed he had received a written request from Mr Perrottet to reinstate JobKeeper, but said he was “not bringing back” the payment.

Mr Frydenberg said the federal government was providing the “same support” to NSW during this lockdown as it had during the Victorian lockdown several weeks ago.

“That is where there is a lockdown that extends beyond one week in a designated hotspot, payments of $500 and $325 are available.”

However the payment is only available from the second week of a lockdown, and has several criteria including that the recipient must not have more than $10,000 in liquid assets.

Canberra and the states struck an agreement at National Cabinet that the federal government will take responsibility for supporting individuals in lockdown and state governments will support businesses.

Both levels of government pointed to these arrangements when pressed yesterday on the inadequacy of support.

In particular, the state government authorities are concerned Canberra’s payments to individuals are not as generous as Jobkeeper.

Almost half of businesses surveyed by the Business NSW believed the impact of the two-week lockdown was equivalent to the blow two months after the first lockdown last year.

One in five businesses said they only have enough cashflow to get them through the next month, Business NSW Chief Executive Daniel Hunter said.

Fashion retailer Jillian Boustred says footfall to her business has fallen “100 per cent” during the lockdown, with online sales keeping her afloat. Picture: John Appleyard

Ryan Irvine, who manages the Sneaky Possum bar in Chippendale, said they were currently doing less than half their regular turnover after pivoting to takeaway beers and food.

“We wouldn’t exist if this goes for two months,” he said, saying the bar’s meagre “war chest” was being relied on so far.

Fashion retailer Jillian Boustred runs a business of the same name on Chippendale.

She says footfall to her business has fallen “100 per cent” during the lockdown, with online sales keeping her afloat.

Tom, a barista and waiter at Redfern café Eats, said “of course” he had concerns about what the lockdown would mean for his employment.

He backed the lockdown, but said he feared what any longer than an extra week would do to businesses.

“There’s frustration – we just got back to normal – but I’d rather this lockdown if it means it saves lives,” he said.