Clr Khal Asfour Message

Dear Resident

The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the way Australians celebrated the festive season this year, but it hasn’t put a dampener on Christmas spending.  In fact, the forecast for retail spending for this Christmas period was over $54.3 billion – an increase of 2.8% from 2019.

Many would see the increased spending as the economy bouncing back but the figures can be misleading.

With the World, and indeed our own borders shut down, most people are cashed-up and spending their holidays locally. That means more cash flowing through the local economy

And when you take a closer look at the sales figures, they reveal a very clear picture of our spending habits – a whopping increase of more than 10 percent spent on food and household goods.

The real story behind the sales figures is that we can all play our part in kick-starting the local economy by supporting local businesses.

Small and local businesses are the heart of our Canterbury-Bankstown community and the backbone of a thriving City. They create jobs, they employ locals, they stimulate economic activity and provide essential goods and services, like automotive services, cafes, early childhood centres and even the corner butcher and baker.

That’s why it’s important we continue to support them by buying or ordering on-line from local businesses– whether it be shopping, take away food, or services to help our favourite business stay open.

If we all collectively do some or all of these things, we can make an impact on helping our local businesses and our economy. I understand, retailers have strengthened their COVID safety protocols and we support them in their efforts to keep their businesses open and to keep their staff and customers safe.

Finally, I take this opportunity to thank our local businesses for all you do and let’s hope the next twelve months is a healthy and prosperous one for us all!

Yours sincerely

Clr Khal Asfour

MAYOR