Light Electorate, Coronavirus

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:17): Today, I would like to bring to the house's attention some of the feedback I received from people across the community regarding the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on the electorate of Light. Quite rightly, in the media we have heard about the effect COVID-19 has had on economic activity and therefore, by extension, the number of businesses in the town. Throughout, the electorate has suffered enormously. With small businesses suffering, we also have their employees suffering.

One of the factors I found out is that, without the JobKeeper program, our communities would be suffering a lot more. I am very concerned about the JobKeeper program being cut short and the impact it will have on the community and also the recovery process itself because there are a number of businesses that are doing it really tough at the moment. They are not ready to carry the whole burden of the labour they require to undertake their businesses. That has been well canvassed in the media and various commentaries to date.

What perhaps has not been as well canvassed are some of the other effects that the COVID-19 crisis has had on the community. I would like to bring attention to some in my own electorate. One of the groups or community organisations in my electorate are the various service clubs. The feedback I received from service clubs is that a lot of their fundraising activities have ceased as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and that many of them are now finding it difficult to support various community projects, which they do on an ongoing basis. This may also have the effect of perhaps motivating the various volunteers who work in that sector, so we need to support our service clubs.

Another important role that service clubs play is that they keep people active in their communities. The fact that they have not been able to get together for meetings and other events means that some of their members have become socially isolated. I will come back to the issue of social isolation because it is very important and it is having a negative effect on the mental health and wellbeing across a number of our communities.

Obviously we are all aware of the increase in unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. I would like to particularly mention that one thing that may hinder the recovery is the uncertainty around economic activity. At the moment that uncertainty is stopping small businesses from starting to recruit and employ people, so the recovery might be much slower than it should be.

Local sports have basically closed down over this period. Local clubs, especially with their winter sports, rely on the fundraising that takes place with various activities, and they are suffering as well. Another major concern that sporting organisations have is, again, motivating their volunteers and keeping up the motivation for their volunteers who are not involved at the moment. We need to work out ways to support our sporting groups and to help those volunteers get back into the game.

I have received quite a bit of feedback from my local schools. Over the last two weeks, I have spoken to 17 principals in the schools either located in my electorate or those that service my electorate in some way. Some of the feedback I have received regarding the effect that COVID-19 has had on their schools, their students and their communities generally is that, obviously, businesses are doing it tough and the opportunities for VET students to undertake work experience has come to a halt. That has had an effect on the students' ability to obtain offsite training.

We do not understand yet what the full impact will be, but it is certainly not helped by students not being able to do work placements. There are some schools that specialise in the area of Vocational Education and Training and they have been hit the hardest. Schools have also seen an increased spike in the need for counselling and mental health support services for young people who are feeling the impact. This applies also to their families where, if a family member is unemployed, etc., they are feeling the stress.

We often talk about online learning and one thing that schools have noticed is that there are some young people who actually do not have those devices at home. Schools have had to go into their basic funds to support those students to make sure that they do not miss out on their education.