Andrew Wear jumped into a new job just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact Australia in March last year. Speaking to The Mandarin, the City of Melbourne’s director of economic development and international says he started his first week when most people in the workforce (who were able) pivoted to working from home — but that arrangement was not the most profound implication of how his work outlook would change.
“I interviewed for the job heading up economic development when it was all roses and it was all about growth and opportunity,” Wear says.
“And by the time I started my job, it was all about, ‘How do we address the economic impact of COVID on a central city?’, which was massive — Melbourne was effectively the epicentre of the economic crisis in Australia.”
Melbournians living in Victoria don’t need to be told that they have endured one of the longest lockdowns (in excess of 250 days so far) in the world.
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