Page 2312 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 4 August 2021
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As Ms Castley’s original motion rightly points out, while we have—with a fair bit of luck and a lot of good planning, I daresay—avoided a lockdown here some of our local businesses, particularly those that provide accommodation to overnight visitors, have seen a downturn in their situation due most likely to those lockdowns in New South Wales.
Recently I met with several important stakeholders in our small business and tourism sectors, including the Canberra Innovation Network and the Canberra Region Tourism Leaders Forum. These organisations have discussed with me the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales on the ACT economy and on our operations.
Prior to COVID-19, residents from New South Wales made up between 60 and 70 per cent of Canberra’s domestic visitors, with four million of our closest neighbours coming to the ACT every year to stay in our hotels, visit our national and local attractions and eat our unrivalled local produce. At the height of the pandemic in June last year the percentage of visitors coming from New South Wales rose, evidencing the significant contribution that they have continued to make to our economy even during the pandemic. While we are not locked down, we benefit from the trade of those who are. Therefore we are impacted by these people being in lockdown. A more nuanced, comprehensive approach is needed to respond to this appropriately and sufficiently, as this is a responsibility that should be led by the federal government.
The ACT Greens will be supporting this amendment, which reflects evidence obtained through the Australian Bureau of Statistics monthly retail trade data from May and the work of government to support the hospitality sector. Today the ABS released their latest updates to this data for June. We were pleased to see in the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction comparison the ACT is performing the strongest of our counterparts, with a 1.3 per cent upturn in retail trade from May to June. While not the big picture, this data is telling a very promising story about our economic recovery to date. This data is important in assisting the government to develop and target specific supports to those parts of the local hospitality industry that have been most affected.
There is no denying that some businesses in Canberra continue to do it tough. The amendment we are supporting today allows the government to undertake this analysis and ensure that our responses are targeted and strategic, rather than an unmeasured cash splash suggested by the Canberra Liberals that would see some businesses that have done quite well in recent months receive the same amount of support as those who are struggling.
It is worth noting that some businesses in Canberra, particularly those in the dining and takeaway sector, have done very well, thanks in part to the government’s measured and appropriate response to date and to the support of the local Canberra community who have chosen to spend their money locally instead of taking their money up the road to Sydney. Our food businesses have seen an upturn in trade in both May and June. I am pleased to say that I played my part in my own electorate.
I have many friends in Sydney and I feel for them right now as they are experiencing yet another lockdown. A few months ago when things in Sydney still seemed
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