SA hospitality business owners call for an end to capacity limits after 500 days of restricted trade
Restaurants and venues say they have sacrificed as much as they can for SA’s pandemic effort in a passionate new video calling for urgent rule changes.
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A new video campaign by SA hospitality business owners is pleading for an immediate end to venue capacity limits as the industry marks more than 500 days of restricted trade.
The emotive video, called My Wish for the SA Hospitality Industry, features owners of local cafes, bars and restaurants sharing their hopes for a return to 100 per cent capacity to secure the survival of their struggling businesses.
Industry group, Hospo Owners Collective, organised the campaign to further highlight the dire situation facing the sector, with venues restricted to 75 per cent capacity or less every day since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March last year.
In an open letter to the SA Transition Committee, group co-founder Simone Douglas said their members were losing “thousands of dollars each day” because of unfair and inconsistent Covid-19 rules.
“We don’t want a hand up or a handout, we just want a fair go. The price you have asked us to pay is now too high; something has to give,” Ms Douglas says in the letter, written on behalf of their 130 members.
“We are coming into function season and losing thousands of dollars each day because people can’t plan, and we have no clear end in sight, no meaningful support, and no lifeline.
“Let us trade without restrictions – 500 days is enough.”
At present, venues such as pubs, restaurants and cinemas can allow three people per 4sq m – or 75 per cent capacity. Standing up drinking is only allowed at private functions at one per per 2sq m.
Ms Douglas said today’s announcement that an extra 5000 people would be allowed to attend this weekend’s AFL finals at Adelaide Oval was another “slap in the face” for the industry.
Australian Hotels Association SA chief executive Ian Horne said restrictions have had a devastating impact on the hospitality sector, which is worth an estimated $4.3bn to the state’s economy and employs about 26,000 people.
He said figures from the SA Centre of Economics showed the state’s three-day lockdown in November and subsequent restrictions had resulted in “$100m lost revenue, 20,000 employees stood down, and $11m in wasted stock”.
Another study is being commissioned for SA’s seven-day July lockdown.
Since density restrictions were brought in on March 23, 2020, capacity limits have not returned to 100 per cent.
The collective said since the start of the pandemic, there have 48 days of 25 per cent capacity, 263 days of 50 per cent and 71 days of zero capacity in SA.
In comparison, density limits in WA’s hospitality venues were removed in July, less than three weeks after a four-day lockdown.
SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said this week any major easing of restrictions was unlikely due to escalating risks from the Delta variant spreading interstate. However, he added, officials were open to tinkering with rules.
“The numbers that we’re seeing in Sydney, and now Victoria, I think we need to recognise that we’re probably getting to a point – very close to a point – where further relaxation of the public activities direction is going to be more difficult,” Mr Stevens said.
Rogue Libs vote down emergency powers extension
By Elizabeth Henson
A Liberal MP has defied his party’s wishes and crossed the floor of parliament to help thwart the state government’s plan to extend coronavirus emergency laws until after next year’s state election.
Nick McBride, who represents the southeast seat of MacKillop, said he voted in favour of an amendment moved by independent Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell because he felt the emergency laws may not be needed beyond this year.
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman introduced legislation into parliament on Wednesday, seeking to extend the Covid-19 Emergency Response Act – which came into effect in April last year and supports Police Commissioner Grant Stevens’ extensive powers to manage the pandemic – until April 30, 2022 or 28 days after the emergency declaration ends.
The Act is currently due to expire on September 17.
Ms Chapman wanted the laws, which also allow police to fine people for breaching virus rules, extended because of the ongoing threat posed by the Delta variant.
However, Mr Bell moved amendments to the Bill that would wind back the Act’s expiry date to December 1.
“The (government’s) comments have always been that they will not be in place one minute longer than is necessary and then you have the Prime Minister of Australia saying that we should have 80 per cent vaccination rate around December this year and that’s when lockdowns and severe restrictions will be a thing of the past,” he said.
“So it just seemed logical to me that … we bring (the act’s expiry date) back to the 1st of December … so we can assess it and see whether these powers need to be extended further.”
Mr McBride crossed the floor to support the amendment on Wednesday evening.
“I spoke to the Attorney-General as she was getting ready to count the numbers, the bells were ringing, to say ‘look I can’t support this’,” he said.
“I said it makes no sense to roll these Covid rules out until April if we don’t need to do that and if we come back on the 1st of December to review it then, what can be the harm in that?”
Mr McBride said SA may not require the act “beyond December”.
“We’ve done a terrific job of managing the Covid pandemic in South Australia,” he said.
Asked if there was any backlash from his party in response to his decision to cross the floor, Mr McBride said “I don’t expect things to change”.
The amendment passed 22 votes to 18.
Mr Bell also successfully moved amendments that would:
PLACE a regional SA representative on the Transition Committee to give country SA a greater voice on restrictions;
PUT in place a 21-day deadline for authorities to approve or decline applications for restriction exemptions;
ENSURE all MPs were briefed on any changes to Covid rules within seven days of directions being issued.
A government spokeswoman said the government was “pleased to reach a compromise with the crossbench to ensure this important piece of legislation passed through the house”.
“All MPs have the right to vote in a way that best represents their communities,” she said.
An Opposition spokesman said Labor supported Mr Bell’s amendment in relation to the December 1 expiry date, while his other amendments passed without resistance from the government.
“Steven Marshall is lucky that Grant Stevens and Nicola Spurrier are running the state because he can’t even run his own party,” he said
Comment is being sought from Ms Chapman.
The amended bill is likely to be considered by the Upper House on Thursday.
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