00:00Businesses in this small town have reopened now the bushfire threat has passed, but their
00:06challenges are far from over.
00:09Even though it's safe now, visitors have been slow to return and many tourism operators
00:14are struggling.
00:15Today, they met with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
00:18I've got to say the meetings that we've had this morning have been pretty confronting
00:22and all Australians watched their television screens in horror when they saw these bushfires
00:28raging just across here and when you think of the impact on lives, on livestock, on businesses,
00:38it's been devastating.
00:39He's joined the chorus of locals calling on tourists to return to this region.
00:43The entire town was forced to evacuate when the Grampians fire tore through.
00:48Firefighters saved the town, but the blaze destroyed four homes, triggered mass evacuations
00:53and burned through an area bigger than Singapore.
00:56Every business in Halls Gap was forced to close during what's usually peak season.
01:01Some have lost a third of their annual earnings.
01:03The Victorian and Commonwealth governments are offering support via emergency relief
01:07payments and income support for workers and sole traders, but many business owners aren't
01:12eligible and there are concerns some operators will be forced to close.
01:17Peter Dutton today called on the Victorian State Government to pull the trigger to offer
01:21more support to businesses.
01:23State governments have to do the assessments and provide that advice to the federal government.
01:28That's the way that the emergency management arrangements work and I think there is a lot
01:32of frustration understandably here on the ground from the people that we've spoken to
01:36that that decision hasn't yet been made by the state government.
01:39It's understood that assessment phase and consultation with businesses is ongoing.
01:45A Victorian State spokesperson told the ABC it will continue supporting impacted communities.
01:51Officials here say one silver lining has been the support from each other.
01:55They're rallying around businesses that have been impacted, but they say they need other
02:00people, tourists and visitors to come and help as well.
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