A return to pre-COVID normal isn’t enough
Opinion | Kingborough Chronicle | February 16, 2021
As we start this new year of 2021, many of us have a sense that life has mostly returned to normal.
The kids have returned to school, our borders are mostly open to the rest of the country, there’s plenty of toilet paper on the supermarket shelves, and the small inconveniences of hand sanitising and check-in apps are becoming second nature. We can go about our daily lives without too much COVID anxiety or bother.
But not everyone is sharing the same sense of relief that normal life has returned. And for many people, a return to ‘normal’ means again having to face insurmountable challenges.
Of the 20,000 Tasmanians who lost their jobs in early 2020 due to COVID-19, one in four are still out of work, and many of those who have returned to work are not back to full hours and pre-COVID income.
Almost all of the 37,000 small businesses in the state were affected by the COVID shutdown and ongoing restrictions during 2020. For some, it resulted in a fortunate boom in business, but for many others it caused months of stress, planning and struggle to survive and continue trading. There continue to be many Tasmanian business owners who are trying to make up lost ground and return to a viable income.
The stress and disruption caused by COVID-19 made difficulties faced by many people worse. It eroded mental and physical health, triggered and amplified addictions, fuelled family violence and highlighted vulnerabilities in our communities.
In 2020, in the urgency of the pandemic, we pulled out all the stops to make sure that no one was left behind. We knew that for the whole community to stay safe and get through it, we needed to help each person be safe and supported. We took some extraordinary steps and invested in supporting people in ways that were not thought possible before COVID-19 struck.
Now, in 2021, with that urgency abated and the extraordinary supports being wound back, we need to be mindful that there are people around us – family members, friends, neighbours, customers, colleagues – who continue to be hard hit by the effects of the pandemic crisis, but find that the support they need is no longer available.
Some will soon be returning to an unliveably low rate of jobseeker payments, others will have jobkeeper payments withdrawn. With protections removed, some tenants will find themselves at risk of homelessness when their rents are hiked up or their leases not renewed.
In Tasmania, before the pandemic, we didn’t have enough homelessness services, or family violence services, or alcohol and drug services, or mental health services. People languished on waiting lists or gave up seeking help. Now, with an increase in those needing support as a result of the pandemic, even more Tasmanians will be turned away every day from services they desperately need.
Returning to normal is not enough. We need to do much better than returning to normal if we are to see our community become healthier and more whole from the pandemic recovery. We need to continue and extend our additional investment and target it better to those who most need support.
Our experience of rising to the challenge of COVID-19 has shown us that we can do extraordinary things when necessary. We can act swiftly and compassionately to meet the needs of everyone in our community. That is the spirit that we need to carry forward as our focus this year.
