Fears ChooseCBR criteria cuts out at-risk businesses

ChooseCBR is a program that aims to link customers and small businesses in Canberra through discount vouchers funded by the ACT government.

Canberrans who apply for the vouchers can redeem discounts at participating small businesses.

For a business to be eligible for the scheme they must have a physical storefront in the ACT, have less than $10 million in turnover and must have received JobKeeper at some point in 2020.

Artists Shed and Hadfield Gallery owner Margaret Hadfield said her business managed to scrape by through the height of the pandemic without government support.

Ms Hadfield is a studio artist who sells her own paintings.

Within her business she also sells art supplies, recycles art and runs classes.

Ms Hadfield has an ACT storefront and less than $10 million in turnover but because she didn't get JobKeeper she says she's cut out from a scheme which would help her business survive.

She tried applying for JobKeeper as a sole trader earlier in the year but gave up on the application process.

"I was so bamboozled and I didn't seem to fit the boxes," she said.

"I remember getting timed out when I tried to do it so many times and artists are not good at paperwork. In the end I gave up.

"I thought 'I will try and do it myself'. And I did," she said.

"I'm quite proud of myself although obviously I was disadvantaged - but it was tough for everyone."

Ms Hadfield cited the precarious nature of her work as a hurdle for receiving government support.

"I sold a painting right at at the crucial time at the beginning of lockdown and I thought, 'Oh great this will get me through a few months'. And it did," she said.

"I also had the best landlord in the world who was happy to accept what I could afford to pay. If I didn't have that landlord I'd be devastated."

Despite the survival of her business Ms Hadfield said she lived below the poverty line.

She was also a carer to her ill daughter and was unable to secure carer allowance for her duties.

As she began reopening art classes, a student recommended she apply for the ChooseCBR program.

"I thought, 'Great, I'll go and inquire'. And of course when I went through the criteria I miss out because I didn't apply for [JobKeeper]," Ms Hadfield said.

"Forty dollars from here there and everywhere from people coming in to spend their voucher would be enormous for me. I feel particularly disadvantaged now that I battled on."

Ms Hadfield said wanted to see the ChooseCBR criteria revised to include businesses like hers that did not receive JobKeeper but still had very low turnover.

"There's got to be more than me who didn't get any support," she said.

"Its been a year from hell. I don't want to be sour grapes or a money grub but it's a kick in the guts for someone who has managed to scrimp by."