AS we head back into stage 3 stay-at-home restrictions, there is little doubt the next six weeks are going to be difficult for so many people.
With only four reasons to leave you home – for essential shopping, work, education or to give or obtain health care services – we will no longer be allowed to have visitors to our house and students have returned to remote learning.
Many small businesses are being forced to close or have had to change substantially the way they operate just to keep the doors open.
Isolation, anxiety and even anger are some of the emotions people are feeling at the moment about the situation we find ourselves in.
It is so important we do everything we can to help each other in these difficult times.
During the first lockdown, we were inundated with some brilliant images from people right throughout the Mildura electorate as part of our #MalleeTough campaign.
In the theme of banding together, I this week launched a new campaign labelled #OnlyLocal.
Some of our small businesses barely survived the first lockdown and the last thing we want to see is any of them closing for good now.
The premise is for all of us to pledge to shop local when the recovery begins.
Surely it’s not hard for all of us to agree to put a moratorium on non-local online shopping for at least six months after the lockdown in order to support our local businesses.
Small businesses really are the backbone of a community and we owe it to our pubs, cafes, restaurants, gyms, tattoo parlours, beauty salons, cinemas, and all those other businesses who are going to be hit hardest by the latest lockdown, to show support.
Many businesses will offer click-and-collect or home-delivery options during the lockdown and I would urge people to take advantage of these services.
We can get through this second lockdown, it’s going to be tough – again – but as we showed the first time around, if we stay connected and support each other, we can get through to the other side.
Ali Cupper is the Member for Mildura
