Density limits at cafés, restaurants, and pubs increased last week, while cinemas, museums, zoos, and entertainment venues reopened – a relief to Canberra’s struggling businesses.

“It is great to see that more businesses impacted by the lockdown have been able to open and get back to something resembling normal trading, and to feel that greater sense of business and consumer confidence in the Territory,” said Graham Catt, president of the Canberra Business Chamber.

“But for many small businesses, this comes from a sense of relief, not a return to business normality. As a community, as a government, we need to be very mindful of how hard it still is for businesses.

“They’re still operating under restrictions, they’ve built up debt, they’ve lost stock. Many are still trading with only a tiny percentage of what they’d normally take at this time of the year.

“Let’s be careful to not just say ‘the lockdown’s over, it’s all good’. There are so many small local businesses with owners under enormous stress – and they need all the support they get, they need it quickly, and they need it without complicated processes or requirements. 

“There’s no doubt that there will be great consumer demand for some goods and services – but not all.

“And for local businesses to really benefit, they need to be operating without restraints and restrictions that reduce their ability to operate at full capacity, to compete with their interstate counterparts, and to provide jobs for Canberrans,” Mr Catt said.

Some businesses are disappointed the ACT Government’s COVID-19 Small Business Hardship Scheme won’t start until mid-November.

ACT Business Minister Tara Cheyne said in August that the Hardship Scheme would open in October.

“It’s unacceptable that this Scheme has continued to be pushed back,” said John-Paul Romano, Chair of the Inner-South Canberra Business Council on Friday. “Businesses needed these payments months ago, weeks ago, today; they don’t need it next month. By next month, they’ll be broke already.”

Leanne Castley MLA, Shadow Minister for Business, accused the government of breaking their promise, and of keeping businesses in the dark about when the Hardship Scheme would be rolled out.

Mr Romano and Tom Adam, president of the Phillip Business Community, called on Chief Minister Andrew Barr to meet the business community to discuss further support.

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