Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Adjournment

Health and fitness industry support

Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (19:00): (6256) My adjournment tonight is for the Premier, and the action that I seek is for the Premier to provide a plan to rebuild and recover the health and fitness industry that has suffered from one of the world’s longest lockdowns, uncertainty and fear. We have heard of the mental health issues and the crises facing many Victorians at the moment, and we know that health and fitness especially is something that can help many Victorians that have struggled during these harsh lockdowns. Many gym, yoga and dance-school goers were denied the important outlet that would normally keep their minds and bodies healthy.

Despite the thousands of COVID cases reported through the lockdowns, hardly any could be tracked back to the well-managed small businesses that pride themselves on cleanliness and system management—that is, the fitness industry. The comments made by the state’s chief health officer that gyms are known high-risk settings that cause outbreaks at the time were untrue and caused extensive damage to the industry. In an open letter to the CHO during the lockdowns, Fitness Australia wrote that:

… data collected by Fitness Australia in NSW since reopening in mid-June showed more than 7 million visits over 500 facilities with no confirmed community transmissions … to date …

Because we had that effective fearmongering regarding the gym industry, to get many Victorians back to the gym industry has been very, very hard. Normally January is the time when people come back after the Christmas period with their New Year’s resolutions, but that really has not happened. The industry and many of these small businesses have been impacted for more than 365 days—the longest period of impact on any small business—and they really want to know why. They want to know why they copped it more than anybody else. These small businesses need support. They need a positive message from the government, and they want to be treated as an essential service to health to ensure that they are kept safe. Should the Premier send Victoria into lockdown again, I ask that the fitness and wellness industry be treated as essential. If Bunnings can be considered essential, so can your local gym and physio.

Internationally we are seeing gyms being supported and health and fitness centres being supported, and we are seeing many of the health funds being able to give additional discounts because they know the impact that a gym membership and a fitness membership can have on your health and wellness.

We have seen many small businesses in Victoria go to the wall, and the health and wellness industry and many Victorians have been compromised during these lockdowns. I therefore ask for the Premier to provide a plan to provide the fitness industry and the wellness industry with more certainty to ensure that we can get these businesses to recover and get Victorians’ health in order to recover from the world’s longest lockdowns.