Page 145 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 12 February 2020
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The National Bushfire Recovery Agency has a comprehensive website that covers every aspect of assistance on offer. In many instances it provides access to links to state or territory government agencies who are then responsible for devolving and administering the grants and the loans. On that website the ACT, until this morning, did appear anywhere. The short answer to this is that that Mr Barr and the government have been very slow off the mark in comparison to other affected jurisdictions. That has added significant and additional impact to an industry that already sees that, at many times, this government treats it with contempt. That is a contempt that has defined Mr Barr’s leadership. The recovery will take a concerted effort and will require a coordinated one, both with the commonwealth doing its part and the territory doing its bit.
I welcome the announcement by the federal minister, Minister Littleproud, that the ACT has finally enacted its disaster funding arrangement and that the commonwealth assistance is now going to be available to businesses in the ACT. The ball is now in the government’s court. The ball is now in Mr Barr’s hands to determine what assistance the ACT government is able to offer. The ACT needs to take some action on its own.
Today the opposition are calling for a few fundamental steps to be taken that will go a long way to easing the cash flow pressures that many businesses are facing following the January period. The first is to establish a deferral scheme for commercial rates and payroll tax for affected businesses. It needs to have immediate effect. This will help enormously in managing the cash flow during this critical trading period. Second, there is the need to further leverage the tourism investment that the commonwealth is making in further promoting the ACT as a tourism destination. The opposition supports the industry call for an additional $200,000 to be put into VisitCanberra to assist in promoting the ACT as a destination, both domestically and internationally.
We could not have controlled the weather events that struck us over the past six to eight weeks, but we can control how we respond to them: ensuring that local businesses remain viable, that jobs are secure, that there is sufficient incentive for businesses to continue, and continuing the promotion of the territory as a tourism destination.
Sadly, the bushfires are just one of a number of things that have hit our region. The hailstorm wiped out a number of critical asset and infrastructure bases for our tourism sector. I have heard reports that there are very, very few hire cars available in the ACT, both as a result of direct damage to the fleet at the airport but, likewise, as Canberrans’ cars have been damaged and insurance companies have provided courtesy vehicles, those stocks have been depleted.
We need only look at the world stage to see what is happening with the coronavirus and the impact that is having on people’s movements and the future for the tourism and hospitality sector. It has been through hard times and there are some more hard times to come. I look forward to hearing what the Chief Minister has to say and what further support the ACT government is going to be offering those businesses. I commend my motion to the Assembly.
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