ACT Chief Minister reaches out to Josh Frydenberg for possible Covid-19 support package

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has raised the prospect of a NSW-style deal with Josh Frydenberg to support Canberra businesses battered by border closures.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Picture: AAP

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has raised the prospect of a NSW-style deal with Josh Frydenberg to support Canberra businesses battered by border closures and the aftershocks of Sydney’s Covid-19 lockdown.

Despite being 270km from Sydney’s CBD and not recording a local coronavirus case in more than a year, Canberra’s business community says it is suffering as tourists fail to fill hotels over winter and recent mask mandates in the capital see restaurant bookings plummet.

Canberra business leaders on Wednesday called on Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison to provide similar economic support given to regional NSW businesses, saying other states were already treating them as part of the same region and punishing them accordingly.

Mr Barr on Wednesday said he had reached out to the federal government on further assistance for the ACT and he would also put together his own tourism support package.

“The ACT government will be providing economic assistance to the tourism sector including the accommodation providers and tourism operators hardest hit by the Sydney outbreak and the Victorian border closure,” he said.

“In addition, I have raised with the commonwealth Treasurer the potential for the commonwealth and ACT governments to provide further support for businesses and employees if the Sydney lockdown becomes protracted.

“We will continue to engage with commonwealth officials to ensure appropriate access to fin­ancial support for significantly impacted ACT businesses and employees.”

The Treasurer’s office was approached on Wednesday over the ACT’s proposals.

The current NSW-federal deal on cash flow support and boosted Covid-19 disaster payments sees the cost of the financial stimulus shared between the commonwealth and state governments.

Canberra recorded zero cases on Wednesday but it is subject to border closures and strict restrictions by Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

The ACT also ended a mask mandate last week and has put up quarantine rules on people returning from Greater Sydney to prevent the Delta variant spreading through the capital.

New restrictions were also applied on workers from nearby Goulburn, which recorded one Covid-19 case on Wednesday.

Canberra Business Chamber chief executive Graham Catt said the Sydney outbreak had devastated the city’s hospitality and tourism sector in the midst of the winter school holidays.

“Hotels in the past two weeks have recorded only 25 per cent of their usual bookings and the ACT mask mandate saw a 50 per cent collapse in restaurants and cafe bookings,” Mr Catt said.

“The states closing their borders are treating us like we’re part of regional NSW so it makes sense the federal government offer us similar support.

“It is analogous with the 2020 bushfires, where we suffered from smoke pollution but the federal government gave us no extra ­support.

“It’s about fairness … federal support needs to be consistent.”