The long-term impact the ANZ boss tips Victoria’s lockdowns will have on small business

Australia has had its credit rating outlook to stable from negative, indicating the nation’s AAA rating is safe, but ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott has warned Victoria’s lockdowns will have long-lasting impacts on small business in the state.

Mr Elliott says lockdowns “do some harm” to the small business community, and it may take a long time to recover.

“It’s going to have an impact on people’s confidence, on small businesses wanting to open up again or new people wanting to have a go and start a business,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“There will be a little bit of reticence compared to what there was before. It clearly isn’t a good thing.

“Victoria as an economy is …. certainly probably the worst of all the states.

“It’s not doomsday but it’s clearly not good.”

NEIL MITCHELL: “That’s a scary thing, isn’t it? A well run, good business could go to the wall.”

SHAYNE ELLIOTT: “Yeah. I think that’s why it hurts confidence because … you can sort of understand things when you screw up … This is sort of literally an act of Good, right? This is something that’s happened out of nowhere. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Press PLAY below to hear Shayne Elliott on air with Neil Mitchell