2022 has kicked off to a roaring start for our entire community. It has been fantastic to see many of our businesses across the region bustling with activity and vibrancy after a very difficult year.
The Peel Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Real Peel Deals giveaway campaign has also been buzzing with activity, and there is still more to come.
At the time of publishing my last column, the giveaway had amassed a prize pool totaling just over $3000. At the time of launching the campaign, the total prize had significantly grown to now be well over $32,000 in prizes. We are only halfway through the prize draws with $16,000 in prizes still up for grabs so enter.
Talking to and meeting with many businesses across the region, it is apparent that many of us are feeling a considerable amount of anxiety with regards to the state's hard-border coming down February 5, what possible effects this could have on our plans already in place for 2022 and how might this affect my customers and clients.
Much of these questions and the overall sense of trepidation are impacting overall business confidence sentiment, however there is a silver lining to this situation, and that is one of time and learned experiences of others. We can learn from the experiences of business communities in NSW and Victoria and adapt accordingly earlier. Many businesses have been doing this preparation work well before Christmas and have such been able to adapt very quickly to the unexpected mandates we saw over the holiday season.
This week, many more businesses have needed to adjust their operations to suit as we find ourselves returning to mask-wearing practices. It is expected that once our borders do indeed open, the need to wear marks will remain for a period of time, that period will depend on a multitude of factors making it very difficult to estimate a time frame, however for now this very minor inconvenience is required to enable us to continue to enjoy our lives and support our local businesses.
When considering the alternative, this is a welcomed requirement. We have also been speaking to many businesses with regards to the state government's new service guidelines, and how this effects those of our community who are still yet to be vaccinated. While the vast majority of businesses we have spoken to about this have reported little disruption caused by this requirement to patronage levels.
Aggression towards business owners and staff however has unfortunately increased significantly which is both concerning and infuriating to hear. To be clear, businesses do not form these specific policies and are only enforcing and following such direction as is required of them to be able to continue to trade. Regardless of an individuals' personal views on this topic, abuse of staff and workers is abhorrent and will not be tolerated in our community, or any business community across WA.
Even with this uncertainty, there is still so much to look forward to for 2022, and with some big changes coming to the Chamber, we are planning to make this year, 2022 one of our best year's yet for our regional business community.
- Andrew McKerrell is the general manager of the Peel Chamber of Commerce.
