One in eight small, medium businesses in Melbourne may never reopen Liberal leader Michael O’Brien claims
The confidence of traders is at its lowest point as damning figures reveal how many Melbourne businesses may never reopen.
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Melbourne’s harsh lockdown will force more than one in eight small and medium businesses across the city to not reopen, Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien claims.
It comes after new figures released by the Sensis Business Index showed 56 per cent of Melbourne small and medium businesses (SMBs) suffered a “significant” reduction in sales compared with 39 per cent in Sydney.
The data released on Monday morning also found 54 per cent of Melbourne SMBs estimated profitability to decrease over the next three months compared with 27 per cent in Sydney, and 38 per cent of Melbourne SMBs were worried about their prospects for the next year compared with 28 per cent in Sydney.
Opposition Leader and spokesman for small business, Mr O’Brien said the damning results highlighted the precarious situation Victorian businesses were in.
“Tens-of-thousands of Victorian small businesses have been closed through no fault of their own,” he said.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the Victorian economy, and when small businesses are thriving, our economy thrives, but unfortunately, they’ve been the ones hardest hit in our state.”
A fortnight ago Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced another 250,000 workers would be sent home from their workplace under tough new lockdowns in a bid to slow the state’s growing COVID-19 infections.
The move meant about one million Victorians were no longer travelling across the state for work.
“If we’re serious about driving this thing down – and we absolutely must be – we need to take unprecedented steps in limiting the movement of people and therefore limiting the movement of this virus,” he said.
The State Government subsequently launched a $534 million Business Support Package to provide support for struggling businesses, traders and workers.
Originally published as One in eight small, medium businesses in Melbourne may never reopen Liberal leader Michael O’Brien claims