fter key discussions at the Noosa Round Table, The Noosa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Hastings Street Association, the Noosaville Business Association and the Noosa Junction Association have agreed to make a fresh call to the State Government and Noosa Council to help recover and strengthen Noosa’s economy and community. 

The joint call focuses on four key actions that require the State Government to act immediately to save Noosa’s businesses. 

1. Cash flow compensation: A joint state/federal strategy is urgently required to immediately assist businesses who have been impacted by government trading restrictions and determinations around who can and cannot be served in some stores. The Business Roundtable has already devised a support strategy for businesses and was provided to the State Government in late 2021. We urgently demand it be assessed and initiated. 
2. Vaccine mandates: Business vaccine mandates have placed enormous difficulty on businesses on a number of fronts and contributed to tensions between employer and employee, and customer against business. We demand Federal and State Government policy makers engage with business groups and urgently consider targeted compensation for loss of trade (as per the BAS format) and review the impact and value of vaccine mandates. These mandates have been inconsistently applied, caused staff shortages and in some instances have been the cause of attacks on businesses by customers. 
3. Emergency Powers: We ask for clarity on the need for Emergency Powers as 2022 progresses past March and require certainty as to when all restrictions on business and our community will end. 
4. QR Codes: Noosa businesses need assurance that the mandatory QR code check-in be immediately canceled for all businesses. It is an unnecessary impost on business and businesses should not be the “policeman on the beat”. 

COVID-19 is now entering an endemic phase as we learn to live with the virus, so we consider it is now time for government to step back and allow businesses to manage risks with their community without the need for draconian restrictions imposed by government that cause significant damage to our economic stability.