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Coronavirus: regional Victorian towns bleeding as lockdown cuts deep

Regional towns were bleeding jobs going into Victoria’s hard lockdown and are suffering the biggest employment losses in the country, new data shows.

Liberal MP for Monash Russell Broadbent’s electorate has suffered the second biggest rate of job losses since March. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING
Liberal MP for Monash Russell Broadbent’s electorate has suffered the second biggest rate of job losses since March. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

Victoria’s regional towns were bleeding jobs going into Premier Daniel Andrews’s hard lockdown and are suffering the biggest employment losses in the country, new data shows.

Analysis from the Grattan Institute reveals the regional electorates of Gippsland and Monash — held by Veterans’ Affairs Minister Darren Chester and Liberal MP Russell Broadbent respectively — suffered job losses of 10.24 and 9.91 per cent respectively between March and early July.

Of the 10 electorates with the nation’s highest job losses, only two are outside of Victoria: opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek’s seat of Sydney and NSW Labor MP Matt Thistle­thwaite’s seat of Kingsford Smith round out the top 10.

Grattan Institute program director Brendan Coates’s data uses payroll information up to the first few days of Melbourne’s stage-3 lockdown in early July. He told The Australian regional towns suffered most in the initial hotspot lockdowns but had the most promise of rebounding.

“Regional economies in the state are the hardest hit now because they have less white-collar jobs. They rely on retail, hospitality — all of them very exposed right now,” he said.

“When the first lockdown happened, regional electorates were hit hard, and then as lockdown eased, urban ones were suffering big job losses.

“As we go into lockdown, regional electorates in Victoria are seeing the biggest losses. From this time period, we are already seeing tourism being hit as Melburnians in the initial hotspots couldn’t travel … But they are likely to recover the quickest once lockdown is over.”

The northwest Victorian electorate of Mallee, held by Nationals MP Anne Webster, has the third-highest job loss rate.

Education Minister Dan Tehan’s southwest Victorian electorate of Wannon sits at No 8.

Mr Broadbent said his electorate was struggling under the lockdowns but the agricultural sector offered a path forward.

The inner-metropolitan seats of Melbourne, Macnamara and former Labor leader Bill Shorten’s seat of Maribyrnong round out the list of leading job-losing electorates.

Mr Coates said the Melbourne electorates’ job losses would get worse once stage-four lockdown was factored in.

Read related topics:Coronavirus

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronavirus-regional-victorian-towns-bleeding-as-lockdown-cuts-deep/news-story/03ab87951c100428a5a6cde3b2058ce0