It relates to the numerous accounts I am hearing from across my electorate of the now-precarious financial position of (and the enormous accompanying mental health impacts for) many local sole traders in the COVID-19 period.

Among those accounts, I am regularly hearing about the particular difficulties of tourism sole traders in accessing meaningful financial assistance and compensation.

Typically, these sole traders are saying that the Federal JobKeeper program and the State’s business support programs (including the capped reimbursements through the Regional Tourism Accommodation Support Program) do not do nearly enough to offset the damages inflicted specifically on these businesses by the restrictions on movement into and within Victoria.

So I ask: what further actions will be taken to support sole traders, including in tourism, in desperate and urgent need of help in my electorate?