Lockdown rules favour big business

Many Covid restrictions have exacerbated social inequities, says Theo Foukkare

FOR the past year, Tasmania has been an oasis in our Covid-ravaged world, and full credit to the Tasmanian government and Premier Peter Gutwein for his strong and sensible border controls, which have helped to keep Tasmania safe and open.

However, there is no doubt that a lockdown – which hurts people and business – will be imposed should a Covid case pop up here. Mr Gutwein confirmed as much last week.

While we all understand why lockdowns are considered necessary to fight Covid-19, with our rapidly increasing vaccination rates hopefully they will soon be a thing of the past.

One of the worst outcomes of these lockdowns is that they are socially inequitable. They disproportionately impact those who are already less well-off, forcing them to isolate in their smaller homes and apartments, and preventing them from earning a living in their largely blue-collar and service industry jobs.

Similarly, lockdowns have disproportionately benefited big business at the expense of small business.

While many understand that small business has been hit by rolling Covid-19 lockdowns and border closures, what few may realise is the significant encroachment big business has made on market share during this period.

It would be fair to say, during the pandemic, big businesses have grown bigger, while small businesses have struggled to survive.

As far as health bureaucrats and politicians have been concerned, from day one of the pandemic there has never been any question the big supermarket chains were an essential service and should remain open. In contrast, other small business organisations have had to fight every step of the way to have it accepted that smaller convenience stores selling exactly the same essential products should be allowed to say open.

For example, the list of essential businesses that will stay open in Tasmania in the event of lockdown, released by the Premier last week, cites “supermarkets, butchers, grocery stores, bakeries, fishmongers, bottle shops … newsagents … petrol stations”.

We assume that this includes our convenience store members who sell goods typically available at supermarkets but who are not petrol stations, and we have written to the Premier seeking clarity.

Yet, notably, not on the list of essential businesses are tobacconists. Yet, the big supermarkets are allowed to stay open, selling exactly the same product. Apparently, they are safe whereas the smaller store is not.

This is manifestly unfair and irrational, and simply helps big business at the expense of small business.

The key to a convenience store is just that – there when you need it for an array of products including food, drinks and fuel. Your day-today essentials, on hand and nearby to wherever you are, no matter the time of day or night. Most recently, a disturbing new trend has commenced around the country – authorities are strongly encouraging people to purchase online and “click and collect” during lockdowns.

This is written into the Tasmanian lockdown plan, which states “Click and collect (where possible) of time-critical items only.”

While on a health level this makes sense, this is just another blow to small businesses who simply don’t have the capacity, let alone the resources, to develop sophisticated websites or the ability to reconfigure retail sites to allow for click-and-collect operations.

In contrast, one major alcohol outlet’s operations are being reconfigured to allow consumers to simply pull up, open their boot, have their purchases loaded up and off they go in under a minute; while online orders from another can be delivered to your front door within the hour.

Apart from being grossly unfair to the small operators during lockdown, all of these measures drive permanent market share to the bigger supermarkets at the expense of the small operators.

Small businesses are the centre of our local communities and are particularly vital in regional areas and remote towns.

Small businesses and convenience stores don’t want special treatment. We just want to be treated fairly and on the same basis as the bigger guys.