Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no such thing as business as usual anymore. After droughts, bushfires and a pandemic, a number of years have now made businesses uncertain and the disruption causes significant concern. Now, with a third border closure and another Sydney lockdown, Eden-Monaro businesses are at their wit's ends. And the impact is being felt not only in the city. In the Snowy Mountains one real estate agent alone reported losing more than $1.8 million in just one week due to cancelled bookings. The flow-on effects of this will be felt right across our community.

Last year restrictions meant that the snowfields were only able to operate at 50 per cent capacity. This year, with the best snow we've seen in years, businesses are expecting profits of 50 per cent of last year: that's 25 per cent of the usual winter turnover. That's livelihoods in the Snowy Mountains, because 80 per cent of their income comes from the winter period.

With this money gone, our communities need a government to step up and provide support. But all of the support is policy on the run. Every day there's a new policy and it's up to businesses to try to keep up. The Morrison government have had 20 months to plan and prepare; 20 months to ensure a speedy and effective vaccine rollout so that we wouldn't be in this position, and they've failed. That failure, combined with a lack of planning, a lack of consideration into the wide-ranging and ongoing effects of lockdown and no real planning for how this government will support businesses mean that my electorate and businesses are getting deeper and deeper into debt. (Time expired)