Many Victorian businesses will be unable to survive lockdown 2.0

It’s going to be a very long road ahead for many Victorians, and for the many who followed all the rules and did nothing wrong their livelihoods will be unfairly destroyed, writes Sophie Elsworth.

The financial armageddon has hit hundreds of thousands more Victorians including business owners and their employees and will completely wipe out their livelihoods.

Already 250,000 Victorians are on the unemployment queue and following Monday’s announcement by Premier Daniel Andrews another 250,000 have been added to this never-ending line of people out of work.

The Federal Government’s JobKeeper program is keeping 265,000 businesses and 975,000 employees afloat but time will tell if those propped up by the scheme can survive lockdown 2.0.

Non-essential businesses such as clothing, homewares and furniture stores will be among those forced to shut their doors for at least the next six weeks.

Hairdressers and hardware stores (except for tradies) will also close up.

Many of these operators impacted by the latest round of changes will be trying to desperately survive by operating online.

City and suburban streets will further become ghost towns as the economic fallout continues to be felt across what was once one of Australia’s most bustling cities.

The queue outside Centrelink earlier this year during the pandemic. Picture Glenn Hampson.

And there is a now clearer than ever divide in Victoria – public servants remain financially unscathed from this pandemic but those in the private sector continue to be crippled.

In fact many bureaucrats recently got hefty pay rises – including some of more than $40,000 at the same time people lost their jobs.

Hard to fathom really and surely one to fail the pub test miserably.

It’s going to be a very long road ahead for many Victorians, and many of these people followed all the rules, did nothing wrong but their livelihoods will be destroyed.

Many questions still remained unanswered on hotel quarantine debacle and poor contact tracing – the responsibility of the Andrews Labor Government in Victoria that has no doubt led the state’s disaster zone that it now finds itself in.

Many small business owners were left confused after Monday afternoon’s series of announcements by the Premier and further details will continue to be rolled out throughout the week.

Businesses in Melbourne continue to get decimated while regional Victorians remain not far behind with further restrictions but ones that are not yet as harsh.

The Australian Retailers Association’s chief executive officer Paul Zahra said Monday’s announcements would have a “devastating impact on Victorian retailers”.

Pressure remains on the Federal Government to extend JobKeeper for Victorian workers and further announcements are expected on that this week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also rolled out Paid Pandemic Leave for those with no access to any other support payments if they are forced to self-isolate.

@sophieelsworth