South-west businesses welcome support package to soften lockdown's financial blow

The state government today announced a $250 million package to support small and medium-sized businesses.

Acting Premier James Merlino said it would cover a range of businesses in the hospitality, retail, and events sectors.

READ MORE: $250 million to support Victorian businesses during lockdown

Allansford Hotel owner-manager Dianna McLean said the much-needed funds would go towards covering wages.

"Definitely any support over lockdowns is always welcomed," she said.

"Our biggest cost right now is wages. We've been allowed to keep trading in a takeaway capacity which means it won't affect our perishables, so we haven't lost out in terms of throwing out food because we're still able to use it for takeaway.

"We've still had a loss of income, business has well and truly dropped off.

"It's impacted the business big time."

The pub's workforce is made up of mostly young casual workers and the roster has had to be cut in half.

"To have a fourth lockdown is very disappointing but at the same time there's not lot we can do, ultimately it's to keep people safe.

"But from a business point of view it's very hard to take.

"My staff been great and very understanding, we do have younger workforce that are still at school and reliant on their parents for everything.

"It's moreso our chefs and full-timers that are affected, they're still able to work with takeaways but it does make it difficult.

"We've had to cut back but tried to make it fair so everyone still gets a couple of shifts here and there.

"We're lucky we're smaller and have a small workforce and lot are still students, we're doing a little better than some of the bigger operators."

The uncertainty around the length of lockdown also makes it difficult to plan ahead.

"We can't plan anything; we had a lot of bookings coming up so we'll just have to wait and see whether we get onto those or contact people to cancel. There's lots of events in the diary coming up that are not going to happen, which is a bit of a kick in the guts."

She thanked the Allansford and surrounding community for the support through the lockdowns.

"Our community has been fantastic, every lockdown they're so supportive of us which allows us to continue to service them takeaway meals."

The community expressed their concerns when the lockdown was announced, taking to The Standard's socials to share the impact on them.

Casual worker Teresa Dyson said: "I work two casual jobs in hospitality and both are closed so no work no pay."

Heather Parsons said her daughter was facing an uncertain week.

"Having two casual jobs both in industries not able to trade over this period hurts her with uni and living expenses that continue."

Sharon Darren Gore said it wasn't just casuals who were affected.

"I work permanent part-time and I will be given leave without pay as well."

The program will offer grants of $2500 for eligible businesses, including restaurants, cafes, event suppliers, accommodation providers, and non-essential retailers.

Another $40.7 million will go towards the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund, which provides businesses holding an eligible liquor licence and food certificate with a $3500 grant per premises.

An allocation of $20 million will also be dedicated to supporting operators in the events industry who have incurred losses due to the lockdown.

Businesses can register their interest in the Business Costs Assistance Program at business.vic.gov.au, so they can be notified when applications open this week.

The package has been criticised as 'too little too late' by some, saying businesses couldn't apply for the funding until Wednesday and information provided was 'too vague'.

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