Small business pleads with government amid Omicron uncertainty

Business leaders are pleading for clarity that they won’t be subjected to lockdowns as the threat of the Omicron variant intensifies.

Australian business leaders are pleading for the government to give traders “certainty and clarity” ahead of the Christmas period amid escalating concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant.

With the reopening of Australia’s international border to foreign students, skilled migrants and some other visa holders now pushed back by two weeks, there are mounting concerns that the new strain could derail the national reopening plan.

Council of Small Business chief executive Alexi Boyd said the pausing of the international borders had come at “the worst possible time”.

“A lot of businesses were looking forward to having the workers coming into the country. We have to wait and see what the next step is and make sure we get that influx of workers, which is our number one issue we hear from all our members,” she told the Today show.

“We have worker shortages and we can’t fulfil what our customers need in the lead-up to Christmas.

“(What we need from the government) is clarity and certainty and tell us what you need us to do to keep everything going and the economy going, and we will ramp up the economy like you expect.

“But we really need to not have any last-minute decisions.”

Small businesses are asking for assurances that Omicron won’t derail plans to reopen the economy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said she was concerned about “inconsistent decisions” and states overreacting to things that “aren’t relevant to the risk of this new strain”.

“People need to know how to plan for Christmas and order stock and they need some certainty and based on what we see, there is no basis to start shutting things down again,” she told Sunrise.

Scott Morrison will convene a national cabinet meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss with premiers and chief ministers any additional measures, but the Prime Minister and his ministers have remained firm in their intention to keep domestic borders open.

Ms Westacott said her message to national cabinet was to “stay calm”.

“Give people hope and confidence,” she said.

“My second message is to get these systems in place because there are a lot of letters in the Greek alphabet and we will have lots of variations on this thing, and we need consistent national systems in place and we need to keep calm and keep the community calm.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will convene a national cabinet meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Omicron variant. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews told ABC Breakfast that the states and territories had been “very clear” they wanted to find out more about the variant and what the impacts are.

“The premiers and first ministers have been very, very conscious of the impacts of the Omicron variant, but they’ve been taking advice and they’ve been excellent to deal with,” Ms Andrews said.

“It has been a very measured response from everyone here in Australia. That’s very positive.”

Ms Boyd said despite the states’ good intentions, small businesses were concerned with the borders shutting again.

“We have to wait and see, we have to listen to the experts and find out whether or not this variant is actually going to be really virulent within the community and really infectious,” she said.

“And then we have to wait and see what the government decides. What we need the government to do is make really swift and clear decisions so small businesses have the ability to plan.

“We have seen too many times over the last couple of years where decisions have been made at the last minute with only a few hours notice.

“At the moment, small businesses are under such stress that the main thing they need is certainty and clarity and an understanding of what is expected of us to help support the community and keep them safe.”