‘Absolutely disgraceful’: small business slams Brisbane coronavirus lockdown

As small firms fume over the snap announcement to shut down the Queensland capital for three days, other business groups were more supportive.

Business is split on whether Queensland authorities should have announced an immediate shutdown. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Small business has slammed the three-day lockdown of Greater Brisbane as “absolutely disgraceful”, even as other business groups offered support for Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s “go hard and go early” approach to preventing the spread of a more contagious British COVID-19 variant.

Council of Small Business ­Organisations Australia chief executive Peter Strong said his members — who are over represented in some of the hardest hit industries such as hospitality and personal services — were “angry” that the authorities did not appear to have the testing and tracing ­capacity in place to avoid a shutdown.

“Why is their tracing system so poor after all this time that they have to go straight to a lockdown?” Mr Strong asked. “They’ve failed the business community and the Queensland community by not being ready for something (an outbreak) that was obviously going to happen.”

Ms Palaszczuk on Friday morning said her state would “go hard and go early” to ensure a single case of the British variant of the virus — which is reportedly 70 per cent more infectious — discovered in Brisbane would not lead to widespread community transmission.

“If we do not do this now, it could end up being a 30-day lockdown,” she said.

Ai Group Queensland chief Rebecca Andrews said her members in Greater Brisbane were willing to endure a brief lockdown if that prevented a wider, more damaging second wave of cases.

“Industry understands that this decision has been taken in the hope that the disruption is as short as possible,” Ms Andrews said, adding the conditions had been relatively “buoyant” leading into the announcement.

“At the moment it’s a bit of a ‘watch this space’ for most members, noting that the impact of this decision is costly and industry will be on high alert over future possible closures.”

But she called on authorities to ensure “that future responses to inevitable outbreaks are targeted and proportionate, and that the government continues to consult with industry”.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland general manager of policy Amanda Rohan said she also supported the government’s actions.

“We know the immediacy of today’s announcement will create operational issues for many businesses, while also causing an economic disruption,” Ms Rohan said.

“But containing the spread of the virus could also contain further economic implications.”

There are just under 200,000 registered businesses in Greater Brisbane, according to the chamber, many of which will face disruptions of various degrees, from forced closure — such as nail ­salons, nightclubs and hairdressers — to restricted activities, including cafes and restaurants, which will be forced to provide takeaway services only.

Greater Brisbane accounts for half the state’s total economic output, at about $182bn, or slightly less than 10 per cent of national GDP. The city generates about $500m a day in output, which will be severely cut by the shutdown.

South Australia’s three-day lockdown in November sent transactions on ANZ cards down 17 per cent year-on-year in that week, instantly reversing growth about 10-20 per cent over previous weeks. Even that relatively short lockdown was enough to erase any growth in retail trade for the entire month of November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.