Hotels, arts hardest hit in SA’s COVID-19 recession as pubs urge return to stand up drinking
Pubs are urging a return to stand-up drinking as a cost-free way to stimulate the sector, as new analysis reveals which parts of the SA economy have been hardest hit in the COVID-19 recession.
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Pubs are urging the rapid lifting of restrictions on stand-up drinking as a cost-free way to stimulate the sector of the SA economy hardest hit by the COVID recession.
New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal that accommodation and food services have suffered the largest job losses since the pandemic took hold in March, slumping a huge 15.5 per cent.
That equates to roughly 9500 jobs. The other sector smashed was arts and recreation, down 13.4 per cent as people worked from home and social distanced.
The minor bright spots have been jobs added in education, health and the financial sector. The figures also reveal that construction has only suffered a 1.2 per cent decline over the period, raising questions about if infrastructure stimulus will reach those now still out of work.
Industry says government support for new-home and extension builds has been essential to keeping construction going so far, with concern over effects if it scales down.
SA currently has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 7.9 per cent, as a rush of people looking for work again swamps a rebound in the total number of local jobs.
Australian Hotels Association general manager Ian Horne said governments must get creative about stimulus, as historically massive spending was stretching budgets.
“Clearly tourism and hospitality have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and being the first hit and the hardest hit,” he said.
“Operators’ only hope of trading out of the current economic challenge is for government support to remove some of the harsher restrictions, such as seated drinking, that are now damaging rather than protecting business and their workforce. A simple decision to allow standing up to consume drinks and food will greatly assist events, function, meetings and general hospitality and cost nothing.”
Mr Horne said the loss of JobKeeper and an “imminent debt cliff” increased the need for adjusting restrictions.
Property Council of Australia SA executive director Daniel Gannon said infrastructure spending had a three-times multiplier effect: “The construction of a typical house requires 40 trades or sub-trades to complete, highlighting the importance of the recent HomeBuilder stimulus from the Federal Government.”
Primary Producers SA executive chairman Rob Kerin said the agriculture sector was coping and challenged the ABS’s recorded 12.5 per cent jobs drop.
He said it may be due to changes in how jobs were classified each month, as agriculture crossed over with other sectors such as manufacturing, and some seasonal impacts. “I don’t think that there would have been any real change,” Mr Kerin said.
“We’ve been classified as an essential service. Our abattoirs have been busier than ever given what happened in Victoria. It’s not as if any part of the industry has been closed.”
Australian Industrial Transformation Institute director John Spoehr said lifting household incomes was essential to driving confidence.
Premier Steven Marshall has already flagged a new approach to a second wave of state-based stimulus.
Opposition treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan said SA had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and the weakest stimulus spend, which was “no coincidence”.
Coopers joins call for tax support
Aussie brewers forced to tip out 20 million schooners of beer during the COVID-19 lockdown are calling for a tax freeze to make a drink at the pub more affordable to keep venues afloat.
Coopers, Lion and Carlton & United Breweries have joined forces to ask for a cut or freeze to the excise on beer sold in the nation’s venues in the wake of the pandemic. Excise accounts for about $17.32 of a $52 carton of beer with 4.9 per cent alcohol, with the Federal Government netting about $2bn in revenue from it in 2018-19.
Brewers Association of Australia chair Peter Filipovic said COVID-19 had significantly affected the hospitality sector, which was the brewing industry’s.
“A cut, or at the very least, a freezing of excise will give hospitality businesses a chance to get back on their feet as beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in Australia’s licensed venues,” he said.
“The tax on beer has gone up twice annually for the past 35 years forcing Australians to pay the fourth highest beer tax in the industrialised world.”
Excise on beer costs $51.31 a litre of pure alcohol for bottled products and $27.59 for kegs.
– Clare Armstrong
West End cancels much-loved events
Confined spaces around the West End Brewery at Thebarton have been blamed for the COVID-19 cancellation of its two cherished community events.
The SANFL premiers’ colours unveiling will not be a public event and the brewery Christmas lights display will not go ahead, West End owner Lion Nathan has announced.
A Lion Nathan statement said the company had tried different plans to keep crowds socially distant, but had decided it was not possible.
“The annual Christmas Riverbank Display is a wonderful Adelaide tradition and one we are proud to support,’’ it said.
“Just as other Christmas events, such as the carols, are unable to go ahead this year, neither can the riverbank display.
“We want to do everything we can to keep the SA community as safe as possible at the moment.”
The statement said the decision was made after closely monitoring the SA Government’s advice on large public gatherings and the fact that the brewery was a drink manufacturing facility.
A private event for the winning SANFL team will still go ahead with limited numbers.
– Miles Kemp