My question is to the Minister for Coordination of Jobs and I ask the Minister as to what practical actions will the Government be taking to provide new, urgently needed assistance to the snow industry and businesses within during the covid period.
My question is to the Minister for Coordination of Jobs, Precincts and Regions – COVID-19. I asked the Minister what further actions will be taken to support sole traders, including in tourism, in desperate and urgent need of help in my electorate.
The action I seek from the Emergency Services Minister is that she participate, with me, in an online meeting with CFA volunteers from my electorate. I request this because volunteers continue to express to me their considerable frustration and disenchantment with the implementation of Victoria’s fire services restructure. CFA volunteers are feeling increasingly undervalued, unappreciated and disillusioned. They also believe that Victoria’s until-now longstanding volunteer firefighting model and ethos is in danger of collapse.
As a result of the staggering recent decision to close the Victoria-New South Wales border for the first time in over 100 years, there are now thousands of residents in our electorate of Northern Victoria who are being prevented from attending work each day.
Many small business owners and primary producers in my electorate, in the Towong, Alpine and Indigo Shires, have applied for the $10,000 Small Business Bushfire Support Grant in the wake of the disastrous 2019-20 bushfires. Unfortunately it appears that many applicants’ claims for support have been rejected – because of the near-universal application of the strict 40% revenue decline rule.
My constituents, especially around Mansfield, are telling me that a host of people have been travelling to Northern Victoria from Melbourne during recent weeks. Many of these visitors are saying that they have come to inspect local real estate. To my great surprise, I understand this has been permitted as a reason to leave home – even under restrictions that purport to allow only essential movement.
Regrettably, the shock 6 July announcement of the shutdown of the Victoria-New South Wales border has meant that many individuals, businesses and other organisations in border communities (where there still remain no, or very low numbers of, cases of coronavirus) are now being excessively punished for the mistakes of others elsewhere.
I had the great pleasure last week of visiting the Wangaratta District Specialist School. A shout out and thank you to their engaging students, to their energetic Principal, Chris Harvison, and the incredible staff.
