Senator David Van speaking on Victorian business strain due to Victoria's sixth lockdown

Senator VAN (Victoria) (13:40): I rise today to give voice to and support my fellow Victorians, who find themselves today in their sixth lockdown in over six months of lockdowns since the pandemic started. They are doing it tough, both those locked down and the businesses that they're locked out of. My neighbours sent me a photo of a business around the corner from my home that has permanently closed its doors. This is just intolerable for businesses. The Victorian government has, admittedly, put out some money. We're seeing $6 billion over the course of the pandemic, whereas the Commonwealth government has spent over $45 billion supporting Victorians. Last Friday, the Commonwealth and state governments announced that they were providing packages of $2,800 under the state's determined support package and that a further $5,000 to $20,000 would be made available to nearly 9,000 hospitality businesses.

This is in stark contrast to the way that the New South Wales government designed their support package, which the Commonwealth government, the Morrison government, is also supporting. It is equivalent to 40 per cent of the weekly payroll, with a minimum payment of $1,500 per week and a maximum payment of $100,000 per week. So I call on the Victorian state government to look at their packages, to lend more support to businesses like Stables Provedore, which has closed, and the many thousands of others. I will give them a bouquet, though, for today supporting and distributing the AstraZeneca vaccine through their state-run campaigns. It's finally good to see a Labor government supporting the AstraZeneca vaccine. Thank you.