Covid lockdown extension’s has crippling impact on regional Victorian small businesses

Extending the Covid lockdown for another week could be the death knell for many small businesses in regional Victoria.

CrossFit TMA co-owner Zak Rogers says his business will not be able to withstand many more lockdowns.

Small businesses in regional Victoria already being crushed by Covid lockdown measures believe the latest extension could force many to close their doors for good.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday announced lockdown five would be extended for the entire state until at least next Wednesday in the latest blow to businesses already under immense financial strain.

Co-owner of CrossFit TMA in Wodonga, Zak Rogers, said his business could only survive one more lockdown before he would have to close his doors for good.

He said there needed to be some light at the end of the tunnel for small businesses.

“We can‘t keep going in and out of lockdown, we need to know when it’s going to end,” Mr Rogers said.

“My business can probably survive this shut down and one more before we literally have to close our doors for good.”

Body and Soul Gym owner Mel Tempest says Ballarat people have left for Queensland.

Body and Soul Gym owner Mel Tempest said the forecast did not look bright for the fitness industry in Ballarat.

“We will see a lot of gyms close in Ballarat,” she said.

“With lockdowns continuing, they can’t meet their rent or their running costs and will be forced to close down.

“Many of our members have had enough and are leaving for Queensland.

“We are seeing people in their fifties packing up a suitcase and heading interstate; they are over it.”

San Remo’s Print it Fast owner Denni Slorach said the lockdown extension was the “right thing to do” because of the increased exposure sites in Phillip Island.

“I‘m trying really hard to stay positive but it’s hard,” she said.

“With 99 per cent of our customers being tourism, hospitality, retail and other industries who are forced to close, there’s no work coming in.”

Mrs Slorach said she had to let one staff member go.

“It‘s a devastating start to the new financial year,” she said.

Jacinta Harrington, owner of Curves gym in Warrnambool, says the lockdown has had a devastating impact on her business.

Jacinta Harrington, owner of Curves Warrnambool, a circuit-based fitness centre for women, said the lockdown extension was having a “tremendous impact”.

“It’s just tough all-round,” she said.

“The girls we have working for us have been so positive and the members have been very, very supportive as well. We’re all surrounding each other with positivity but it’s just tough.

“I do wonder how much battering small businesses can take before it’s final.

“They’re the fabric of this town, the small businesses, so it’s just a shame — but there’s only so much businesses can take, there really is.”

A spokesman for the Roving Roast catering company in Shepparton described the year as “a whitewash” after three lockdowns in six months.

The current management only took over the company in October and has been faced with countless hurdles already.

“This fifth lockdown since the start of the pandemic has been breaking point for us,” he said.

“We’ve already got people cancelling their bookings for September and October because they have no confidence in the government about what could lay ahead.

“The support we’re being offered isn’t enough when we’ve got all these bills to pay. All these big sporting events are still being run and Victorian people are suffering, it isn’t fair.

“How some regional areas are still in lockdown just doesn’t make sense.”

Ms Tempest echoed that sentiment, saying the relief payment system was too slow.

“I only received a business relief grant for lockdown four yesterday, and here we are in lockdown number five,” she said.

Mr Rogers said Victoria needed to follow a postcode lockdown system.

“Lockdown by postcode just like Sydney and NSW is doing. We have no Covid cases in Wodonga, there’s no need for us to be locked down,” he said.

“All my customers can drive across the causeway to Albury and go to gyms on the other side.”

Liberal MP Gary Blackwood, who represents the West Gippsland seat of Narracan, said there needed to be a more measured and targeted approach to lockdowns.

“It is absolutely essential that areas with no outbreaks have an easing of restrictions,” Mr Blackwood said.

“Allow businesses to begin to reopen where it is safe to do so, allow students to return to classrooms.”

Mr Blackwood said the closure of every business in a community where there was no transmission or infection did not work.

Bendigo motel co-owner Kristyn Slattery said she had a new personal anthem to survive the latest lockdown — Chumbawamba’s I Get Knocked Down.

Bendigo Motels Association president and Julie-Anna Inn general manager Kristyn Slattery at her Napier St business. Picture: Zizi Averill

But unfortunately for the Julie-Anna Inn co-owner, the latest lockdown has not been the one-hit-wonder she was praying for.

Ms Slattery said the seven-day lockdown extension was “deflating” to all Bendigo motel owners who felt trapped in the “groundhogday” of snap emergency restrictions.

“I’m not sure when this ends,” Ms Slattery said.

“Each (lockdown) has had its own challenges, both emotionally and financially.”

Ms Slattery said the May lockdown brought her to her lowest point, leaving her sitting in the dark and ready to give up herbusiness.

“Each time this happens we’re risking losing another motelier in Bendigo,” Ms Slattery said.

“It’s the risk of landlords and banks knocking on the door.”

She estimated her business alone had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in bookings in the past seven months.

The Bendigo Motel Association president said many businesses were still waiting on emergency payments from the May lockdown.

“There’s one motel that hasn’t received a cent,” she said.

The Bendigo Motel Association president said while she understood why contract tracers needed lockdowns to quash the virusspread, that did not stop the devastation on regional businesses.

Owner of Skin Ski and Surf John O’Neil said the latest lockdown was taking its toll on the Ballarat store.

“Lockdown extension doesn’t do us any good, we understand why it is in place, but it kills us,” he said.

“Being shut for a week takes a huge financial chunk out of the month; extending that for two weeks is even worse. It will take six months of trading to make that back up.

“It’s horrible timing — we had thousands of dollars worth of snow gear to hire out that we will now have to refund.

“Staff are handling it well, we are a tight knit family, we have been open for 42 years, and they have all been here a long time. We do have staff members with mortgages who can’t afford not to get paid.

“If it goes for longer than two weeks, we will be into real trouble with no cash flow in regards to paying people.”

Mildura councillor Glenn Milne said compared to past lockdowns, the existence of a local case made a difference to how an extension would be received.

But he said state and federal governments, and possibly the banks, needed to do more to help struggling businesses.

“There‘s people in the community who have worked really hard to build businesses and are watching it crumble before their eyes through no fault of their own,” Cr Milne said.

Benambra MP Bill Tilley said the extra seven day lockdown was “gut wrenching”.

Mr Tilley said there were 49,000 tests done yesterday across the state, with 12 returning a positive result.

“That’s less than 0.025 per cent -- and that is the justification for the continued statewide lockdown.

“Locally we also need to up the ante on vaccinations – figures last week showed Albury-Wodonga was lagging behind about half of where Bendigo and Ballarat are at, we need more flexibility with vaccinations and testing centres, minimise the optionsfor these lazy lockdown laws.”

Peter Walsh

National Party Victorian leader Peter Walsh said the Victorian Government must act immediately to better support the regional business community.

Mr Walsh said businesses in Mildura shut down as exposure sites after the two cases there, had been left hanging in the wind.

He said to reopen, they must undergo a deep clean from an accredited service – of which there appeared to be none in the city.

“Desperate business owners have been calling the Covid hotline, and pleading for support, but so far that is all fallingon deaf ears,” Mr Walsh said.

“Business owners and their employees can’t be left to fend for themselves. People waiting on hotlines doesn’t pay thebills.

“People are stressed, and the idea of making them hang on the phone all day is just making that worse.

“I am encouraging people to reach out and get help if they are feeling too overwhelmed – and I also encourage family, friends and colleagues to also check in on people they know are in these situations.”