New South Wales Central West leaders have described $10,000 payments for businesses impacted by the closure of the Great Western Highway as “pathetic” and demanded more support.
The state government is expected to decide how it will fix the cracked and moving Mitchell’s Causeway at Mount Victoria later this month after it was closed due to instability in March.
The NSW government released a $3.5 million support package to “buffer” businesses and councils from the financial impacts of the closure.
But Nationals Member for Bathurst Paul Toole, who is also shadow minister for regional transport and roads, said that support was “pathetic”.
“All we’ve had is a measly $10,000, only targeted for very few businesses that can get it,” he said.
$10,000 business grants can be accessed in Little Hartley, Hartley, Hartley Vale and Mount Victoria. (ABC Central West: Xanthe Gregory)
“And then councils themselves were given $15,000.
Businesses in the locations of Hartley, Little Hartley, Hartley Vale and Mount Victoria can apply for the $10,000 grants if they demonstrate a 40 per cent downturn since the closure.
Mr Toole said the failure of the nearly 200-year-old bridge needed to be treated as a natural disaster to unlock funding from the state and federal governments for small, medium and large businesses.
“This is a road of national significance and yet we seem to have a federal government that is blinded by the incident on Victoria Pass and have offered nothing to the people of the Central West,” he said.
“100 days with no timeline, no solution, is simply unacceptable.”
Paul Toole says the support provided for businesses and councils is a joke. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)
The NSW government has previously said the closure did not satisfy the definition for natural disaster funding.
Fears over Bathurst 1000 attendance
Bathurst Mayor Robert Taylor said his tourism city’s occupancy levels were down by up to 15 per cent since March.
He was forecasting a similar downturn for the Bathurst 1000 supercars event in coming months.
Bathurst City Council forecasts a reduction of up to 15 per cent in attendance figures for the supercars event in October. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
“To have the attendance down by 15 per cent, it has a very big impact on supercars as well as our local council but also the region,”
Mr Taylor said.
“They are very worried and we are too because we’re not getting the answer that we want to hear, which is when are we going to start [fixing the bridge], when is it likely to be finished?”
Oberon businesses ‘in tears’ over survival
Oberon Mayor Andrew McKibbin said businesses in his district were hurting as much as the four locations that could receive the support grants near Hartley.
He said one timber business was paying an additional $200,000 a week because it could no longer make two deliveries to Sydney with the detour.
Mr McKibbin said the key question at an Oberon Business and Tourism Association (OBTA) meeting was when Victoria Pass would reopen.
“I had people in tears about how their businesses could survive,”
he said.
“This should be treated like a natural disaster and businesses in our community should be adequately supported.”
Andrew McKibbin says a timber company is paying $200,000 in extra costs per week. (ABC Central West: Xanthe Gregory)
Oberon Business and Tourism Association president Tatiana Coulter said two businesses had closed in the past 100 days, while others were experiencing a 50 per cent downturn in trade.
“We’ve recently done a survey for our members and about a third of them don’t think they’re going to see out the end of the year if access doesn’t open,”
she said.
“Can anyone take a 50 per cent reduction in salary? I don’t think so.
“That’s in the first 100 days. I dread to think what will happen in the next 100 days or more.”
Andrew McKibbin (left) and Tatiana Coulter say their community needs more financial support. (ABC News: Xanthe Gregory)
Pleas for more money for tourism drive
Blayney Mayor Bruce Reynolds said his shire’s two tourism villages had experienced a downturn of up to 15 per cent in visitors, particularly at Millthorpe.
He called on the government to provide more money to the council-run initiative Other Ways to the West to promote their districts, with impending road work along the Bells Line of Road at Mount Tomah to cause even further delays to the detour.
“It will be another deterrent for people coming to the west and that is a major concern,” he said.
A collection of Central West councils funded the Other Ways to the West campaign. (Supplied: Bathurst Regional Council)
“I plead with the government to provide more funding … there is no money left with that campaign,” he said.
The NSW Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison and the Minister for Recovery Janelle Saffin have been contacted for comment.
