COSBOA notes the launch of the Victorian Road Map out of COVID-19 lockdowns released by Premier Andrews on Sunday.
COSBOA CEO Peter Strong said "this Road Map is economically and socially reckless. COSBOA is concerned that small business individuals and families, as well as their employees, now face even more hardship and long-term health and economic impacts that could have been avoided by engaging in industry consultation."
Mr Strong added "We have complained before about the lack of consultation on the part of the Victorian Government and they are well aware by now of what the business community thinks of them. Now is the time to be constructive and come up with ideas for how to minimise the damage to small business owners and their employees."
On Monday 7 September COSBOA convened an emergency meeting of its members to share thoughts, concerns and ideas. After lamenting about the lack of consultation, one idea suggested was that the Victorian Government set up an SME Recovery Panel to engage with small business representatives. One activity for such a panel would be to design assistance measures for people exiting their business.
Mr Strong said "I hate saying this, but some people will have no choice but to close down their businesses. It's just not realistic or feasible to try and stay in operation. There are a lot of costs associated with closing down, from exiting leases to paying entitlements to employees. The Victorian Government should take responsibility for this situation and provide financial assistance to those people."
Mr Strong added "This is just one idea that COSBOA members came up with. There's a communique that outlines everything said at the meeting today."
Mr Strong further added "If anyone wants to know what COSBOA members and the industries they represent are thinking, that information is publicly available and always has been – we have been running inclusive roundtables since the beginning of the pandemic and publishing a communique every week on our website."
Mr Strong concluded "this isn't only a health crisis; it's an economic crisis and a social crisis too, and we need not forget that. We need to work together to manage all three aspects of the crisis as well as recovery. Small businesses are more prepared now than they were back in March. We can work together to be COVID Safe and get through this."
See communique attached.
