Michelle Slater
A Traralgon dry cleaner fears his business is going to cop a second hit this year if Ambulance Victoria pulls its uniform cleaning contracts from him.
Traralgon Dry Cleaners had recently lost its contract to launder Fire Rescue Victoria uniforms amid fears a similar decision may also be made for Ambulance Victoria cleaning services.
Business owner Nathan Theissling said the further hit would mean between a $3500 and $4000 downturn in business a month.
“How can the business just be taken from under our feet? It’s the same saga as the FRV and we are going down the same path,” Mr Theissling said.
“Our government says it wants to support locals businesses but they are not doing it. It’s infuriating what they are doing to small business, they are just supporting local businesses in the city.”
Traralgon Dry Cleaners carries out twice a week laundry services to Gippsland ambulance stations, including Traralgon, Mirboo North, Leongatha, Foster, Wonthaggi, Korumburra and Cowes.
Mr Theissling said the loss of work would also mean he would have to downsize his deliveries services.
It comes as Fire Rescue Victoria had told the local dry cleaner it was terminating its firies’ uniform cleaning contracts as from January this year to send the business to Melbourne.
Mr Theissling said the agency told him his services “did not meet FRV standards” and instead, uniforms would go to a certified provider to remove any contaminants that firefighters may be exposed to.
However, he said he had only ever been cleaning “everyday station uniforms” and was not required to clean any personal protective equipment.
Member for Morwell Russell Northe had taken the issue up with the state government, calling on
it to come clean on its intentions for regional dry cleaning contracts.
Mr Northe said he was worried Ambulance Victoria might be going down a similar pathway as FRV by pulling dry cleaning services from the local provider.
“How could it be more efficient to send uniforms to a centralised business in Melbourne and back, rather than doing it locally?” Mr Northe said.
“There is no logic in taking work away from local businesses when these same businesses have been providing professional services to government organisations for many years.”
A state government spokesman confirmed that Ambulance Victoria had recently put out a public tender for dry cleaning contracts.
“In line with policy, Ambulance Victoria recently released a public tender for dry-cleaning contracts with options to provide services for specific areas, however none were received for Gippsland,” the spokesman said.
