Jane Howlett,Minister for Small Business
Having spent months promising to release a plan, Labor has today unveiled a proposal to do….exactly what the Government has already been doing.
In this latest round of Labor flip-flopping, just last month the Mercury reported that Ms White "agreed that a new voucher program wasn't necessary". (https://www.themercury.com.au/news/coronavirus/premier-peter-gutwein-reveals-fresh-details-of-travel-voucher-scheme/news-story/23703ccc095c632428573b1ed35b3b01)
And when the Government released its $7.5 million voucher program in 2020, $5 million more than Labor's proposal today, Ms White said the program "can only go a small way". (https://www.becwhite.com/index.php/news/releases?start=80)
We are pleased that Labor has finally recognised our businesses deserve support when they need it, but what is disappointing is that their proposed scheme appears to make it very difficult for Tasmanians to support family-run businesses like the local pub or cafe.
By expressly excluding alcohol, Labor's scheme wouldn't allow families to have a meal at the local pub if they wanted a beer with dinner. Cafes and coffee shops would also miss out unless people plan to buy enough lattes to meet the $100 minimum spend requirement.
Lazy Labor has again showed their ineptitude promoting a scheme that will largely support up-market and fine-dining venues, effectively providing no support to the other 2000+ hospitality businesses across our state.
If they had of consulted with industry they would have received that advice.
Since the onset of the pandemic Tasmanian businesses have received $160 million in assistance.
Our feedback from industry is that over the last few weeks their patronage has continued to increase significantly as confidence has returned in the Tasmanian community.
Importantly, the Tasmanian Liberal Government has provided a range of voucher programs to specifically support the tourism and hospitality industries when they needed it most.
We have also announced round two of the COVID-19 Business Impact Support Program, which opens on February 15 and has doubled the maximum funding available to Tasmanian businesses to $10,000.
So far, 672 applicants have received more than $1.4 million in round one of the COVID-19 Business Impact Support Program.
This scheme also provides targeted support to businesses that need it, as opposed to a voucher program that largely supports businesses that patrons choose to support.
We continue to listen to what businesses are telling us and tailor our programs to offer additional support.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is firmly committed to supporting our economy as we continue to transition to living with COVID-19.
