WARM AND FUZZY FIZZER
HERE we go again. Cross-border anomalies are about to play havoc in the Tweed and threaten to send people broke.
But this time it is not just the usual difficulties of split time zones caused by daylight saving for businesses and families in Coolangatta-Tweed Heads.
Just as blind adherence to ideology and huge helpings of political expediency left surfers unprotected against shark attacks for too long in northern NSW waters, a similar insistence on shoving ideology down people’s throats without consideration for the consequences is leaving Tweed traders exposed to ruin.
In this instance, a poorly constructed plan in Sydney to introduce a deposit scheme on bottles and cans to encourage recycling threatens to drive Tweed consumers over the border into Queensland to buy cheaper beer, cider and soft drinks.
Small businesses are between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
If they pass on to customers the fees the NSW Government is demanding to finance the scheme, they can’t hope to compete against their rivals over the border or against the big chains that absorb the costs in other areas.
If they try to absorb the fees they go broke, because what the Government wants is in many instances more than the profit margin.
Recycling is important. No one disputes that. But instead of doing its job and successfully educating the public to recycle voluntarily and willingly, ideology trumps the good of a community’s economy as the NSW Government gouges small business, cons the public and hands itself the major benefits of another tax.
But where is the benefit if bottle shops and craft breweries fail?
Without thinking through what might happen in its forgotten northern communities, the NSW Government feels warm and fuzzy while small businesses – the lifeblood of the Tweed – are left fighting against enormous odds.
Such a myopic approach is disgraceful and has to be addressed urgently.
The expected plunge in trade will imperil local businesses, and that will have a broader impact across the region.