A survey conducted by the NSW Business Chamber has found 96 per cent of businesses in Western NSW have been negatively affected by the State’s drought.
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It also found that almost 70 per cent of affected businesses indicated their local economy had been weakened.
The survey, which heard from more than 1,000 respondents across the State, highlights the need for immediate practical assistance to support NSW communities through this tough period.
President of the Cowra Business Chamber, Jordan Core said on a local level they had been seeing many of the same figures.
“We’re only just seeing the effect of the lack of money from the land filtering through now, a lot of our main street business are struggling,” he said.
“Our business are advertising quite well and doing well over social media but all the advertising in the world is not going to help them if people aren’t spending their money locally.
“We are working hard with our members and we’d really like to see some of the survey's measures implemented, like financial councillors for small to medium enterprises, connecting them with existing government programs to help get their probability up,” he said.
Other measures identified by the survey that could be implemented to support businesses include: clear policy statements from the ATO and Revenue NSW on the availability of tailored payment plans to assist businesses in meeting their tax obligations, Australian and NSW Government funding to allow local governments to provide council rate relief for drought affected businesses, financial relief modelled on the Farm Household Allowance, made available to family enterprises facing equivalent financial hardship.
Mr Core said the chamber was looking at tapping into the town’s strengths to support local businesses.
“We have a great tourism capability and we need to work on maximizing that drawcard for our main street businesses,” he said.
“Focusing on ensuring that when people stay, it’s not just for one night but it’s for a few days and nights, that they are warmly welcomed by all our businesses and they spend locally”.
“Now is a tough time for farmers and small businesses, but the drought will end, until it does we need to be thinking about how we support our locals.
“Remembering that when we shop out of town we’re not helping our friends or families and it has a negative impact on our businesses,” he said.
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