Almost after two years, the Australian SMBs are seeing some good. After countless extended lockdowns, the country is finally about to resume its normal form.

While other Australian states have gradually reopened as vaccination rates have risen, McGowan held strong and the state’s residents were able to live almost restriction-free lives within its borders. Western Australia only had 12 days of lockdown in total during the pandemic and recorded one death due to community transmission.

The decision to reopen comes even as New South Wales, the country’s most populous state, records increasing omicron variant case numbers. Early health advice given to McGowan and other state and territory leaders last week suggests the new variant is not as severe as prior strains.

Geof Alexander, general manager of Zip Business speaks to the small business owners in Australia and has shared what mindset is stopping the small business owners from reopening their stores at present. 

Fluctuations in Business confidence still persists

It’s been a difficult few months this colder time of year for some Aussie businesses, especially those states that have persevered through long lockdowns. In any case, post that, Aussie organizations in different urban communities have likewise been anxious, managing shock snap lockdowns and the dread of additional lockdowns approaching overhead.

Alexander in an interview said that last year, New South Wales largely escaped lockdown until recently when they went down again for a few months.

He added about how he had managed to spend a couple of months with his family up in Queensland during the most recent lockdown, and even though the state was open, every business had spoken to was just waiting for a shutdown. Even in those booming economies, their confidence was still impacted, which was miserable. 

It might look ok for now, but Aussie businesses are skeptical about their future and economy and are still figuring out how to deal with everything. They are wondering what their future looks like in the next 12 months and how they know that their customers are going to keep coming in. Uncertainty has engulfed the business owners at most.

Uncertain cash flow

While the restrictions were crucial for public health, they are now having an outsized impact on small businesses that are dependent upon foot traffic and in-person sales. The lockdowns to control the virus spread is having a devastating effect on small business cash flow.

Their mindset needs to be proper at this point. The journey has seen so many ups and downs that they aren’t able to see the goodness of what’s coming. 

Some have found new places to invest in vehicles, others are shifting to providing virtual business services. And some have started making a living by using combined government grants, stretching their cash, and controlling their spending. 

At this point, Alexander said that With such uneven performance if small business owners go to a bank and ask for funding, it’s hard for a bank to understand what the business’ true financial position is. 

At Zip, while states have been locked down, they’ll look back at a small business’ performance prior to that period. It’s at the heart of why they have launched their product, which is helping businesses to extend their payment terms

Affected Supply Chain

Geof Alexander, says that even three to six months ago no one would have the confidence that everything was going to get normal by Christmas. At present it is hard placing orders, getting stock in and out along with the shipping. It has now become a sort of challenge and so the supply chain has been affected badly. 

All of this is because of the combined action of the pandemic, transport strikes coupled with an increase in online retail. For big businesses this isn’t an issue at all, it’s all that the small business owners have to face the fatal blow. 

Business owners being more cautious and less aspirational  

Right before the pandemic hit, small business was doing just fine in and around Australia. They were hopeful about their future and motivated to take on the next big step.

The covid has eaten all those hopes and motivations and whatever is left is what these small Aussie small businesses are trying to come up with. 

The latest small business trend is to support each other and get back to the best forms they ever thought to become.

The post Time To Prepare For Aussie Small Businesses appeared first on TheAussieway.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration said that the changes strike a balance between the need to prevent adolescents and young adults from taking up nicotine vaping products while allowing current smokers to access these products for smoking cessation with appropriate medical advice.

And that there is evidence that nicotine vaping products act as a ‘gateway’ to smoking in youth and exposure to nicotine in adolescents may have long-term consequences for brain development. So organizations like Legalise Vaping Australia started storming in.

However, perhaps in response to a number of public submissions against the ban, by January, the Australian Government decided to momentarily set the ban aside. It established a Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction, with the aim of launching an inquiry into vaping and coming up with clear e-cigarette laws.

Meanwhile, the NRA Committee will continue to lobby the government against the illogical policy that allows vapers to freely purchase vaping products online from overseas retailers, but not locally. 

While retailers in neighboring New Zealand and most other countries can responsibly sell nicotine products over the counter, as of October 2021, vapers in Australia will only be able to purchase the products from pharmacies via prescription.

Former CEO of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores appointed advisor for the National Retail Association, Jeff Rogut, the former CEO of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores has been appointed as advisor and spokesperson for the committee, said that local policymakers are failing to understand the impact of the measures they have been setting in place.

He said that Vaping is one of those things that has grown in popularity and there are an estimated half a million consumers of vaping products in Australia. The issue is that nicotine is an illegal product and cannot be sold by retailers and that they’ve recently seen the shortsightedness of the government in not allowing convenience stores, tobacconists, or anybody else to sell it. 

They are looking at restricting that to pharmacies, which we are lobbying quite fiercely against. They’re making all of this legislation and regulations without fully understanding the full impact of their decisions.

He added the TGA’s ruling goes against tobacco harm reduction. As they have seen with tobacco, the harder you make it and the more expensive you make it, you drive the products underground. 

The danger for the government is that consumers will move to buy these products from the criminal elements and the black market importers, as we have seen happen with tobacco products,  and they won’t know what the product is or what it contains. 

There are no TGA-approved nicotine vape Australia products in the Register of Therapeutic Goods, but doctors can prescribe them for dispensing at an Australian pharmacy through the Special Access Scheme for a single patient or by becoming an Authorised Prescriber.

The federal government has created new telehealth smoking cessation Medicare Benefits Schedule items, which can include the provision of a script for nicotine vaping products.

Doctors can also write a script for a patient to import the juice in Australia themselves for up to 3 months through the Personal Importation Scheme. 

However, the RACGP has strongly cautioned against this pathway as products imported from overseas are less likely to meet Australian requirements, including child-resistant packaging and restrictions against known toxins.

They also recommend that if vaping devices are to be used, unflavoured, vapour liquid or closed systems should be preferred, as there is limited evidence about the long-term safety of inhaled flavorings.

Yes, it might be cheaper and easier to get but from a health point of view it might do more harm than good, and that is the shortsighted thing that the government appears to have overlooked. So the laws are definitely not going to work this time, or ever.

Also, the NRA has opened an option for retailers and vapers to join their emerging business committee, so their voices are heard.

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