Wednesday, 24 March 2021
Following today’s Transition Committee meeting, the South Australian Business Chamber enthusiastically welcomes the increase in capacity limits to 75% for many businesses, effective Wednesday 31 March.
The South Australian Business Chamber has worked tirelessly with its members and in collaboration with the South Australian Branch of the Australian Hotels Association to support impacted businesses across the State ensuring that the State Government hears their call and remains mindful of the ongoing impacts of COVID restrictions.
Following a recently concluded survey of many South Australian businesses, the South Australian Business Chamber says that 82.3% of businesses that remain impacted by restrictions would retain or hire additional staff with an increase of capacity.
The South Australian Business Chamber Chair, Nikki Govan says: “With the announcement of South Australia having the highest unemployment rate in the country last week, this is a strong vote of confidence which will strengthen our economic recovery and put more people in jobs.”
“The South Australian Business Chamber thanks the Premier and the Transition Committee for their decision. With JobKeeper due to end on Sunday, the timing is now perfect for South Australia to be taking this step to ease restrictions. With the rollout of the vaccine also moving to the next stage, it is pleasing to see that the voice of the business community has been heard.” said Ms Govan.
Many businesses felt betrayed over the weekend with huge crowds at Adelaide Oval and the conclusion of the spectacularly successful Adelaide Fringe, and were wondering why they were still being forced to trade at 50% capacity. The State Government has thankfully listened to those concerns.
With the end of JobKeeper, the conclusion of the Adelaide Fringe and the winter months looming on the horizon, this is a shot in the arm for business confidence across South Australia.
With the pandemic still far from over, the South Australian Business Chamber has written to the Premier and the Treasurer last week with a suite of recommendations to further support COVID impacted businesses in the next State Budget.
