Shadow Minister for Business Leanne Castley has today called on the Labor-Greens Government to immediately set up an independent formal review of the failed ChooseCBR scheme.

“I am loathe to call for a review – Canberrans are cynical about them and so am I. But the government has $2 million for ChooseCBR in the budget and I do not want to see more money wasted,” said Ms Castley.

“Business Minister Tara Cheyne must immediately set up an independent formal review of ChooseCBR to understand what went wrong and what must change so it works well next time round.

“Let’s be clear – if the program does not help small business then it is a waste of money.

“The $500,000 trial in December failed – uptake was low, it was confusing, did not support micro-businesses and many customers who used vouchers did not spend anything extra.

“It takes courage to start and run a small business. I ran three caryards, employed five staff and it is tough.

“Canberra’s 30,000 small businesses deserve all the help and support they can get but all this government offers is token and confusing schemes that make little difference.

“Let’s do a proper review and make it available to the public so ChooseCBR can be resurrected and we are not throwing good money after bad,” Ms Castley concluded.