The Victorian government has confirmed that it has used a robocall approach to remind businesses of their coronavirus obligations, robocalling over 100,000 business owners.
However, what was meant to be an awareness campaign has now been slammed as “lazy” and “sloppy”, with CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations Peter Strong telling 3AW that the decision to employ cold calls was not made in the best interest of business.
“The government has learnt nothing from the quarantine situation,” he told 3AW.
“Don’t be confusing, make sure people know the rules, make sure they’ve got a different set of communications, and work really closely with the right industries to make sure it’s safe and economically sound.”
Callers to 3AW said that they mistook the calls for scams.
Small-business owner Lisa told host Neil Mitchell she received two calls within an hour and hung up.
“I just thought, ‘Oh, look, this is a scam’,” she said.
“Other than that (call), I’ve had no information whatsoever.”
Mr Strong also slammed the Victorian government for its lack of consultation with small business, urging it to look across the border to NSW.
“If they talk to industry, if they talk to us, then they would find out how to do that, like they did in NSW,” Mr Strong said.
The state government is expected to continue making the robocalls until Monday, in an effort to encourage business to enact their COVID-safe plans.
