Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:54): My constituency question is for the Treasurer and concerns the tidal wave of job losses the COVID lockdown is causing across our state. Seventy-three thousand Victorians have seen their livelihoods disappear in the last two months, compared to a national rebound outside our lockdown borders which has created 172 000 jobs. The fabulous tourism and hospitality businesses of western Victoria have been particularly hard hit. The collapse of international travel and the Melbourne lockdown have decimated Victoria’s visitor numbers on the Great Ocean Road, and just this week I raised the desperate situation faced by Warrnambool RSL, unable to reopen because of the restrictions. Worse still, regional businesses now must act as police, quizzing their customers and demanding proof of residence on pain of a $9900 fine. So I ask the Treasurer: what are you doing to end the lockdown, free businesses and allow sectors like tourism and hospitality to produce the same jobs growth yesterday’s figures show the rest of Australia has seen?