About 70,000 workers needed financial assistance during July Covid-19 lockdown in SA

Hospitality workers are still struggling after the lockdown and ongoing restrictions – but only mass vaccination is likely to keep the brakes off.

Almost 70,000 workers needed financial assistance during the state’s latest lockdown – prompting industry and government figures to urgently call on South Australians to be vaccinated as quickly as possible.

The latest figures show state and federal governments paid out Covid-19 disaster payments worth $38.5m to 68,764 South Australian claimants during last month’s snap seven-day lockdown.

Eligible workers received a payment of either $600 or $375 during the lockdown.

It comes as South Australia shut its border to the entire state of Queensland on Sunday.

South Australia prohibited travellers from entering the state unless they have an exemption or are an essential traveller.

An updated cross border travel direction was issued by SA Police at 2.30pm.

Travellers who have not been in Greater Brisbane, Cairns or Yarrabah local government areas in the past 14 days were allowed to enter SA under level three requirements until 11.59pm Sunday.

All three eastern mainland states – including NSW and Victoria, which are both in full lockdown – are now shut to SA.

Treasurer Rob Lucas said while SA was still doing better than other states, vaccination was the key to avoiding future lockdowns. “The number of businesses and individuals impacted by lockdown demonstrate clearly why mass vaccination as soon as possible is critical to maintaining our enviable record of minimising the number of days under lockdown,’’ he said.

It’s a view backed by senior figures in both industry and union sectors. Australian Hotels Association SA general manager Ian Horne urged South Australians to “check in with your QR code and, if eligible, get vaccinated as soon as possible”.

Josh Peak, secretary of the Shop and Distributive Allied Association, which represents retail workers, said “snap lockdowns are going to be a reality until we see higher rates of vaccination’’.

But both men agreed more had to be done to support workers who had lost hours post-lockdown because of capacity restrictions in the hospitality sector. After the lockdown ended, hotels, cafes and restaurants were first limited to 25 per cent before being increased to 50 per cent.

Mr Horne feared for the future of the industry from long-term damage. “The workforce will have lost confidence in the industry as a reliable provider of long-term employment and we’ll also lose businesses,” he said.

Mr Peak said more needed to be done to support low-paid workers who had lost work because of the lockdown and its aftermath.

“We are 18 months into this pandemic and it’s not good enough that the government still can’t get its act together when it comes to supporting some of our lowest-paid and most vulnerable workers,’’ he said.

Mr Lucas said state and federal governments were not considering supporting workers beyond declared lockdown periods.

“Taxpayers are not in the position of being able to fully compensate everyone for every dollar that might be lost as a result of Covid,’’ he said.

Lion Hotel staff members Cody Mirabello and Sarah Davies are among those whose pay dropped during the lockdown and continuing restrictions. Picture: Tom Huntley

At the Lion Hotel in North Adelaide, bar supervisor Cody Mirabello’s pay packet has been halved, making it much harder for him and his girlfriend to pay the bills. “We’ve had to borrow money off people before, to help get us through,” the 25-year-old said.

The state government’s Transition Committee will meet on Tuesday. It had been expected to lift restrictions on hospitality and allow singing until the situation deteriorated in the eastern states.