Monday, 13 September 2021
The business community is welcoming multiple announcements over the weekend that would see COVID impacted industry sectors receive financial support before interstate borders open ‘well before Christmas’.
As barriers to getting vaccinated continue to fall, Premier Steven Marshall is optimistic that South Australia will reach 80 per cent of the eligible population double vaccinated in the coming months, triggering a situation where domestic border controls will no longer be necessary.
The South Australian Business Chamber CEO Martin Haese says: “For the sake of many employers, we are hopeful that the state borders will re-open to as many jurisdictions as possible as soon as practicable.”
“We acknowledge that the re-opening of borders to New South Wales and Victoria could mean that South Australia may not remain at COVID zero indefinitely. Given that COVID may remain a reality for some time yet, we need to be realistic in our understanding that we can’t remain closed forever.”
“Mass vaccination is the only way we can return to some kind of normal,” said Mr Haese.
The unveiling of a $15m support package for struggling SA tourism and hospitality businesses is welcome relief for many small and medium sized businesses who are heavily reliant on open borders.
While we recognise that any support is always welcome, larger employers are still going to struggle to retain their staff even with a $20k grant package, particularly with other large overheads such as payroll and land tax.
In a recent proposal written in partnership with the South Australian Business Chamber, TiCSA and the AHA to State and Federal Governments, we outlined that the economic benefit of the tourism sector in South Australia has fallen by around 50 per cent during the pandemic. To some city accommodation providers, this equates to a loss of between $50k and $360k per month.
The South Australian Business Chamber Director of Policy and Advocacy Andrew McKenna says: “We thank the government for the most recent supports announced for these sectors, but we will continue to advocate for more, because more is going to be needed until the State borders re-open.”
“In absence of more substantial financial support, the South Australian Business Chamber foreshadows that job losses and business failures may soon become apparent.”
“These industries need both support and certainty and want to see more precise forward projections on estimated timelines for when we will reach vaccine milestones and State border re-openings.”
“Businesses need to be able to budget for how long these new supports are expected to last. They will also need to forward plan for when they will be expected to increase their workforce and operations for the return of interstate and ultimately international tourism.”
“In other efforts to accelerate South Australia’s reopening, the South Australian Business Chamber is working with SA Health and the State Government on mechanisms that will see vaccination numbers across the business community increase,”, said Mr McKenna.
