The impacts of border lockdowns for businesses on the Albany Highway have been shared by Kojonup Country Kitchen owner

As a major stop on Albany Highway in the Great Southern, Kojonup businesses receive much of their business from traffic travelling through the town. Kojonup Country Kitchen owner Peta Zadow noticed first-hand the importance of the highway when traffic disappeared during COVID-19 intrastate border closures. Ms Zadow addressed the Shire of Kojonup council at its June meeting to give her account of the impact of the pandemic, the crucial support of locals and the value of through traffic. Compared to the same time last year, the cafe had a decrease in revenue of about 35 per cent in March, 65 per cent in April, when the borders where shut, and 27 per cent in May when they reopened during the month. Remarkably, the restaurant had a 16 per cent increase for June compared to the same month last year. She said that number reflected what the highway does for the town. “It was quite clear, and I know there would be other businesses in town that would have the same information,” she said. “We have always been supported well by locals but I have always thought without the road we would be stuffed and this made it really obvious. “There was definitely that backlog of people that come through and now I think that there are a lot of people that can’t go anywhere else and down south is close. “During that shutdown time, the local support was really humbling, with people going out of their way to give us business.” She said the region had an opportunity to showcase how great its towns and businesses were with a lot of people visiting the Great Southern for holidays. “They will hopefully discover it is really nice here and you get good food and don’t need to go overseas to do all that stuff,” she said. She said the Federal Government’s JobKeeper program had been a saving grace for struggling businesses. Three of her staff members qualified for JobKeeper and some received JobSeeker. The business stayed open for takeaways during the restrictions — a decision she made to keep some normality in the town in the interests of mental health. “I can’t believe how quick they got JobKeeper going and without it we probably would have been shut the whole time,” she said. “It really did make a difference to us and it needed to be done at that time.”