Staying positive amid the gloom

As many would know, this editor has been around for a while and weathered the ups and downs that life over 81 very interesting years throws at us.

From the early 1960s onward Australia went through several recessions engineered by government to control inflation that resulted in businesses bankruptcies and unemployment. Over time the country drifted out of these downturns and moved on.

One of the worst was the early 1980s when interest rates went through the roof.

The last downturn we had was the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08 and before that Paul Keating's "Recession we had to have" in the early 1990s and it caused a lot of financial harm to a lot of people.

The GFC was a different animal but in general it has been plain sailing for 28 years.

We are now in unchartered waters and no one knows what the effects of the coronavirus will be except that it will end. 

Right now the world's brightest minds are working on a cure and when that happens the Reset button will be pushed and just like after the end of World War II people who have been cooped up will get out, and where they can, make it happen.

Of course, a lot of people will be hurt and there will be some pretty sad cases of good businesses going under.

Presently it is a matter of hunkering down and surviving the next three to six months as best we can.

There is no question that the hospitality and education sector will take a massive hit as will retail although retail has been on the skids long before this.

While all this is happening we should not forget that we were just coming out of the worst bush fire season for 30 years and those affected are still struggling to get back on their feet.

Right now both federal and state governments are throwing billions at keeping people going on a day to day basis and for a change the banks are recognising their responsibilities but in the longer run we will need to get the economy going.

Building and Construction Industry can get the Coast out of this

Because of its very nature the building industry has not been closed down and we hear that the Federal Minister for Industrial Relations, The Hon. Christian Porter MP is working closely with Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU to make certain that the building industry, and others, get through this.
They may be from totally opposite sides of the spectrum but they understand the significance of these industries to the economy.

And, being at the pointy end Central Coast Council, councillors and planning and environment staff should be working flat out to Approve all the DA's they have held up.

Please read Page 14 While the Central Coast economy grinds to a halt Central Coast Council dithers on development opportunities.

An ABS report of employment by industry in June 2019 shows that 13,761 local people are employed by the building industry and when you add the supporting professions of about 5,000 that makes 15% and as of today all of these people would still have a job while most of those in the retail, hospitality and services industries are out of work.

What this means is that the very government body that can help get our region out of this mess is our Council.

And if they refuse or prevaricate the Secretary of the Planning Department needs to step in.

Everyone else is doing their bit.

Edgar Adams

Editor