Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this really important issue for discussion in the Senate. This summer has been one of shock, sadness and loss around the country. For those living across regional areas that have been impacted by bushfires, the consequences have been absolutely tragic. People have lost their lives. They've lost the lives of local firefighters and residents. They've lost homes. Over a billion animals have been killed or wounded, or have lost their habitats. Large areas of the country have been covered in toxic smoke. We've all endured the extreme heat.

We've also seen farms and small businesses in fire-affected areas put under extreme stress. Many of these communities are now looking at how, after the tragic summer, they can move forward. They're looking at how they can actually start to rebuild. And one of the major roadblocks to the recovery, to the rebuilding, is the challenge faced by many of the businesses that help sustain those communities. These are businesses that provide important jobs and also provide important services in those devastated communities in the bushfire zones. These businesses often rely on the tourism that they get during the summer months, during this time of the year. But, as we all know, the fires have kept that crucial summer business away. I have friends who live in Bright, in the Alpine National Park area of Victoria, and they are experiencing these challenges. The bushfires have kept so many tourists away from that area. My friends run a business and they rely on the summer tourists to keep their bike rental and wine business running. At the moment, they're left wondering exactly how they're going to make up that shortfall in their income.

Of course, there are lots of stories like this across those devastated communities. I think of Michael Li, whose story was featured by SBS. He is a motel owner from Lakes Entrance in Victoria. Normally during the months of January and February his motel is fully booked with guests who have come not just from around Australia but from all over the world. These people have travelled to experience the amazing things that we have on offer in eastern Victoria: the amazing wildlife, the scenery, the food and the wine that we're so well known for. But, when news of the bushfires spread, almost all of Michael's guests cancelled their bookings. Despite this challenge, Mr Li did an incredible thing. He opened his motel up to the volunteer firefighters who were working so hard to put these bushfires out. He offered free accommodation to the emergency services and also to those who had been evacuated from their communities. Businesses like Mr Li's, and others that are struggling to survive, need our help. On top of the bushfires, we have the coronavirus travel ban. That has created a double whammy for those tourist-reliant communities, with the loss of even more business coming into the state. Right now many businesses are wondering where the help is going to come from.

It is incredibly important that the government gets support to these fire affected communities and these businesses fast. These businesses need help now. We absolutely welcome the government's announcement of support and help, in the form of grants and concessional loans, for impacted businesses. The calls from the business community to provide those funds have received support from the government, but the government does need to go further. There needs to be a case management approach for the people who need help, a case manager who can take into account the unique circumstances of a business and help them cut the red tape to access payments faster. There also needs to be continuous and ongoing consultation with business over the response, and support provided now and into the future. We want to see a business task force set up to provide advice to government from those businesses on the ground so government can understand what is actually happening in businesses right now on the ground.

The real test of all the commitments that have been made, and all the assistance that has been announced by the government, is in the implementation. The real test is whether it actually gets out into the communities that need it. From the feedback that we've been getting from businesses in affected areas it does sound like, despite best intentions, the money is just not flowing fast enough into those communities that need it the most right now. Again, this is the critical time for these businesses. Many of them do 50, 60, 70 per cent of their annual turnover in the holiday season during December and January, and they have just lost that amount of their trade, so it's incredibly challenging for them to see how they can continue forward over the rest of the year. A lot of these businesses have reached the end of January and into February and just haven't had enough money to pay their bills. They need to be able to access the funds that have been made available right now, without delay. They cannot wait for months. If they can't access those funds then they face the real risk of going out of business.

Unfortunately, we're hearing story after story of businesses that are being held back from accessing the support that's on offer because of the red tape that appears to be involved in making an application. We're hearing about business owners who are filling out 15 or 20 pages of forms and then being told that the program application has changed and they need to start all over again. We're also concerned about businesses that need a cash injection but are concerned about taking the government loans because it will put them into more debt.

The government also needs to remember that it's not just businesses that were directly in the path of the bushfires that need help, that need assistance, that have been impacted this summer. In my home state of Victoria I've spoken to businesses that were far away from the fires but have also seen a dramatic reduction in the tourism and trade they're doing, because these fires have scared so many people away from large parts of regional Victoria. Right now if your business hasn't been directly impacted by the fire then there isn't a lot of support available to you, so I'm really worried that there are still many small businesses out there, some of which we're yet to hear from, that are falling between the cracks of the support currently on offer. I encourage the government to find a solution to that problem, because many of these businesses really can't wait too long. Business is putting forward lots of innovative ideas to help support them through this crisis, and we all need to listen to those ideas.

Of course, in the long term, these communities, these businesses, need action on the underlying causes of the bushfires this summer, on the underlying causes of the longer, hotter and drier fire seasons that we're experiencing in Australia. They need action on climate change. It's time that we confronted the reality that our climate is warming and it's human activity that is driving it, because the science is in and it has been in for a long time. It's time that the government listened and took unified action to cut carbon pollution and invest in renewables, because if we actually care about the future of these businesses and the communities that they support then we in this place absolutely need to be committed to real and demonstrable action on climate change.

So it is concerning that, over the last two weeks that we've been back in parliament, back in Canberra, the government has been more focused on its internal divisions than on solving the big issues facing the communities that I've been talking about. The National Party spent the day that the parliament had dedicated to paying tribute to our brave firefighters—and to honouring those that we lost in the bushfires—fighting over their leadership, and that was absolutely shameful. It pulls the focus away from the real issue, which is getting real help to those communities. (Time expired)