The current Omicron outbreak is having a huge health and economic impact on our communities. Our health system has been overwhelmed due to a lack of adequate resourcing and the failure of the Premier to listen to health experts.
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Small businesses have been struggling immensely and are still waiting to access support.
Premier Perrottet's economic mismanagement continues to waste important taxpayer's funds. It has just been exposed that the NSW Government has wasted $775 million buying worthless personal protective equipment that had to be thrown away as it was unusable, out of date or did not meet TGA standards. That is an enormous amount of taxpayer's money for the Perrottet Government to squander. The money could have bolstered our strained health resources and helped small businesses who have been crying out for assistance instead of being completely thrown away.
This has not been the only waste of taxpayer's money. The NSW Government's purge of the public service has cost taxpayers over $250 million for the past three years. The waste needs to stop, our economy is suffering. The Omicron outbreak caused a shadow lockdown, ANZ-Roy Morgan data from January confirmed the onset of the worst consumer confidence in 30 years. This has been crippling for so many of our residents, with Business NSW saying 40 per cent of businesses don't have the cash flow to last three months.
Labor Leader Chris Minns has been listening to small businesses; for weeks upon weeks he has been calling for an urgent support package. Unfortunately these calls went without a timely response from the Premier, as the Government has only just recently announced a support package. However, many small businesses are saying it is coming far too late and it is inadequate.
Despite Covid's impact being worse on many businesses and our economy than last year, it is harder for small businesses to qualify and the support will be less. Businesses need to prove they lost 40 per cent of their trade in January, yet they will not be compensated for that January loss.
It is extremely concerning that no one can access support until mid February, when businesses have been desperate for help since December. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities and are Australia's biggest employer. They need the support now and the Government ought to be getting it into their hands urgently.
The Premier must start paying attention to the health experts. On the 10th of December, the Premier was warned by our state's health experts of Omicron's enhanced transmissibility and that it could lead to increased hospitalisations. Despite being alerted to the added pressure it would bring to our health system; the Premier did not listen to the health advice and just five days later he ditched the mask requirements, dropped the use of QR code check-ins and scrapped density limits. Now as a result of ignoring our experts, there has been real consequences for our overstretched hospitals, our health workers and our businesses.
We need a Premier that listens to health experts who are experienced in managing our response to Covid. We also need Premier Perrottet to stop wasting taxpayer's money and listen to residents and small businesses in our communities who are needing the Government's support more than ever.
