Tuesday, 16 June 2020
After pleading with the SA Government to get back to business and re-open South Australia’s borders to the Northern Territory and WA, the South Australian Business Chamber has welcomed today’s announcement SA’s borders will re-open entirely on 20 July.
However, the independent and peak business body says the five-week wait is too long and SA’s borders should be opened to COVID safe jurisdictions like the NT and WA immediately.
The South Australian Business Chamber CEO, Martin Haese, also said the one person per four square metre rule was crippling small businesses across the State.
“The South Australian Business Chamber welcomes today’s announcement and commends the Premier for listening to the business community with regards to re-opening our borders to help boost tourism and get the economy moving again,” said Mr Haese.
“But we are asking the question: why wait?
“The South Australian Business Chamber has put forward the Centre-West Travel Triangle with the NT and WA, which are both COVID Safe now. If there are legal issues to sort out, sort them out immediately.
“Five weeks in business right now is an eternity. Every day is costing businesses, who are in a race against time to re-establish themselves before JobKeeper drops off in September.
“With regards to the further relaxation of Stage 2 restrictions from 20 people per room to 75 and total venue capacity of 80 to 300 from next Friday and no limits in Stage 3 from 29 June, on the surface sounds good.
“But this is being undermined by the continuation of the one person per four square metre rule.
“Businesses are telling us no matter what the capacity limit is they are being held hostage by the one person per four square metre rule.
“The one person per four square metre rule is crippling businesses across the State and restricting capacity to 25 per cent in many cases and you can’t operate a business making only 25 per cent of your potential sales.
“We encourage the Premier to follow the lead of WA and implement a one person per two square metre rule or consider a 50 per cent capacity, which the South Australian Business Chamber has been advocating strongly for weeks.
“In the South Australian Business Chamber’s Survey of Business Expectations for the March quarter, 36 per cent of all businesses cast doubt on whether they could survive another three months of restrictions. The accommodation, hospitality, and retail sectors were even higher at 52 per cent.
“We are concerned businesses won’t survive if the one person per four square metre rule remains in place.”
