Hunter families are facing increased levels of stress due to the indirect effects of the Coronavirus.
With families in lock-down, parents who are usually at work are struggling to entertain children on holidays trapped inside.
In response, Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison has provided some helpful tips to survive a ‘Staycation’. On her website she has provided activities for the whole family surrounding Easter and ANZAC day.
She says she hopes families can also share some of their tips to assist the wider community.
There are also a number of support contacts available through the site to help alleviate some anxiety surrounding the outbreak, and Ms Aitchison is encouraging parents to talk through the situation with their children.
“When you’re balancing work and child-caring from home it is pretty difficult,” Ms Aitchison says.
Adults are also being encouraged to use this time in isolation to prepare for the future and up-skill their qualifications online.
The MySkills Website has been updated by the Federal Government to make Vocational Education and Training (VET) more accessible.
Federal Member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie says the new update has made a number of new courses accessible and added new training organisations to the register.
“In the post-covid world a lot of our activities have turned online. That’s why the MySkills website for VET has been upgraded to facilitate and identify courses that interest people who want to study online to get an upgrade to their skills or move into a new area.”
He also says this outbreak has showcased the importance to increase Australia’s independence and decrease our reliance on other nations.
“We’re going to have to be a much more domestic resilient and self-reliant economy because we’ve learnt our lessons,”
“If we put all our eggs into international globalization chains we come up short if there’s any disruption.”
