Victoria's fifth lockdown will 'decimate' small businesses already struggling

CEO of the Australian Retailers Association Paul Zahra says lockdown five in Victoria will “decimate” small businesses with some of them shutting down permanently due to the damage done.

“Particularly those small businesses that are actually based in the city of Melbourne because of course this is their fifth lockdown, they were suffering before the current lockdown actually hit.

“But of course these businesses were decimated because of the lack of international tourists, the lack of international students, people working from home because of COVID so we’re looking at an occupancy rate of 25 per cent,” Mr Zahra told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“A lot of these businesses will not return because they’ve just been so deeply damaged.

“You know a lot of the business support packages that we’re seeing ... often they are a deferral of rent or deferral of payroll tax and of course this is just amounting debt for small businesses who can’t afford to pick up on so some people have purely given up.”

Видео Victoria's fifth lockdown will 'decimate' small businesses already struggling канала Sky News Australia