Coronavirus restrictions hit NSW South Coast businesses and tourism sector hard in wake of bushfires

Updated

The NSW South Coast was one of the hardest hit Australian communities when catastrophic bushfires destroyed homes and took lives across the summer.

But fears are growing that more lives will be lost — and more businesses destroyed — as coronavirus transmissions grow.

Key points: Businesses along the NSW South Coast were just getting back on their feet when the coronavirus pandemic hit

Visitors are being urged to stay away, amid concerns the region's healthcare system will struggle

Some businesses are frustrated with visitors ignoring safety measures and social distancing

Businesses that were just beginning to get back on their feet are now telling visitors to stay away, amid fears medical resources will be insufficient to care for those who are worst affected by the virus.

Batemans Bay Business Chamber president Alison Miers said while she feared many businesses would not survive the shutdown period imposed by coronavirus, she also held concerns for the health of the region, which has an above-average number of older Australians.

The region's hospitals also do not have the equipment that is found at metropolitan hospitals.

"As hard as that is to say, it's important, because we just don't have the medical resources here," Ms Miers said.

As a motel owner, Ms Miers said it was hard to watch her business grind suddenly to a halt, losing $60,000 in income in less than a week.

"We thought the fires were bad, but that was just a trial run," she said.

Campaigns to inject much-needed funds back into the community, after weeks of lost revenue due to the bushfires, have been cancelled.

She said the town had lost about six businesses due to the bushfires, but that many more could now go the same way.

"A lot that scraped through since Christmas may go," she said.

"And they were the ones that may not have sustained past Christmas anyway, but now you can see good businesses hurting, the ones that had the backup to keep going."

But she said despite the fact that it now looked permanently like "Christmas Day on the roads", she did not want people to visit.

"Even today, there were a lot of people coming down from Canberra," she said.

"It is difficult, but the messaging is just stay home. It's important to stay home because you can see the statistics of what happens if they don't."

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It is a message echoed by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, urging the Canberra community to keep off the coast — even those who own holiday homes, and would prefer to self-isolate near the beach.

"It's just not fair to those communities that tens of thousands of Canberrans would think that they can go down there," he said.

"There are no intensive care units in South Coast hospitals, so we need to be very conscious of our neighbours.

"The best health facilities in southern New South Wales are here in Canberra. So my very strong advice is not to do that."

From 'Canberra Come Back' to Canberra go home

Batemans Bay resident Jacob Crooke, who runs the restaurant JJs on the Marina, helped to spearhead the campaign 'Canberra Come Back' after the fires, but now said the message was the opposite.

Social distancing measures have been a tough blow after the business began gaining momentum in the past two months.

"We hit the ground running, we were on such a roll and then to be shut down," he said.

The business has lost much of its income while transitioning to takeaway, drive-through and delivery.

"We've managed to change our business model three times in the last week," he said.

When the first coronavirus-related restrictions were put in place, staff struggled to ensure their customers kept their distance within the café.

Mr Crooke said when they were told to shut, it was a relief to know staff would no longer be risking their health.

"I was actually mortified at how hard it was to get people to do the right thing, to use hand sanitiser, to not touch the water station," he said.

"On Saturday in particular it was just a nightmare."

Now, drive-through customers are able to maintain the recommended distance, while delivery drivers leave orders at the door without coming into contact with customers.

But Mr Crooke said his income would most likely not be enough long-term.

"We've had to adapt really quickly," he said.

"I am mentally and physically f***ed.

"But we'll keep going until the government says otherwise."

Takeaway not possible for all

Further down the coast, Narooma café owner Franco Sciannameo has closed his business amid the coronavirus restrictions.

"I couldn't operate takeaway," he said.

"It's not really set up for that."

Like Mr Crooke, his business had benefited from the support of tourists and locals after the fires, when many turned out to help ailing towns.

He said he had been assessing his finances once again, as he had after the bushfires, when power outages and the danger posed to the community made it impossible to run the café for weeks.

He said he preferred to stay home for his own health and that of his community.

"My regular customers, they're 60-70 years old, this virus is pretty nasty for these people," he said.

Mr Sciannameo moved from Italy six years ago and has watched what was happening in his homeland in horror.

"I just want to give the message to people that it's not just the flu," he said.

"We should just stay home."

He said he believed his business could bounce back, in part due to financial assistance from the Federal Government.

"It's hard — I'm always trying to be strong, always say it will be better, but it's been a really tough year," he said.





Topics: covid-19, bushfire, disasters-and-accidents, fires, batemans-bay-2536, nsw, narooma-2546, australia, canberra-2600, act

First posted