Brisbane CBD decimated as office workers stay home in wake of strict mask rules

Queensland’s latest Covid-19 outbreak has wiped out months of economic momentum in the Brisbane CBD with office staff given the chance to work from home in the wake of strict face mask rules.

Brisbane businesses are spiralling towards bankruptcy with one third of CBD workers shunning the office due to tough Covid-19 mask rules and growing fears about the highly contagious Delta variant.

Queensland’s latest Covid-19 outbreak has wiped out months of economic momentum in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD with office staff given the chance to work from home in the wake of strict mask rules introduced by chief health officer Jeannette Young.

Dr Young has ordered Queenslanders to wear masks at all times unless they are eating or drinking – prompting one in three workers to ditch the office in a dire decision for the CBD economy.

More than a third of Brisbane CBD buildings are vacant of workers and on the quietest days, Monday and Friday, as many as one in two workers are staying away, analysis by the Property Council of Australia at the start of the lockdown reveals.

Ghost Town Pt 2

Ongoing concerns about the threat of circulating Covid-19 coupled with tough mask rules is expected to result in the office vacancy rate increasing.

Committee for Brisbane CEO Barton Green said the health of the CBD was the most dire it had been in more than a year as masks prove “impractical” to many office staff.

“Foot traffic in the CBD is probably close to the worst that I’ve seen it in the past 18 months,” he said.

“My team is working from home most of the time – many of my colleagues in other companies are working from home.”

However, Mr Green predicts a repeat of early 2021 when CBD office vacancy rates had recovered to about 70 of pre-Covid levels.

“The CBD in any city is the centre of the economy and it’s absolutely critical it’s active,” he said.

Thousands of public servants are also understood to have concerns about remaining in CBD offices, with the Labor-aligned Together Union writing to government departments about bureaucrats’ preference to work from home.

Public Service Commissioner Rob Setter said the ability to work from home was part of the flexible work arrangements offered to staff.

Jumbo Thai restaurant owner Andrew Park said blamed the harsh mask mandate for the shortage of workers and, in turn, customers.

“The mandating of masks in offices this week has drained our CBD of people, put small businesses on the brink of going under and put a heartbreaking spear through the hope of many traders that the CBD would anytime soon return to a vestige of normalcy,” he said.

“It has been a major setback.”

Queen Street Mall in Brisbane on Thursday morning. Picture: Tara Croser.

Property Council Queensland Executive Director Jennifer Williams agreed employees’ working flexibility had contributed to the pain facing Brisbane’s retail and hospitality venues.

“While you have to wear a mask in the workplace people are reluctant to come in and sit at their desk,” she said.

The latest lockdown has erased the economic momentum generated by the Property Council‘s Fridays in the City campaign which offered vouchers, giveaways, and coffee deals to draw workers back into the empty CBD – leading to a 12.5 per cent jump in CBD foot traffic and a $5m boost to retail spending over six Fridays in May and June.

“Until vaccination rates are lifted, there remains a risk that the city will continue to experience snap lockdowns that have a devastating impact on the city’s retail and hospitality businesses in particular,” Ms Williams said.

Brisbane’s tourism and hotel sector has also been decimated largely due to ongoing volatility surrounding interstate travel restrictions created by New South Wales’ growing Covid-19 cluster.

Jess Wilson on her lunch break in Brisbane's largely empty King George Square. Picture: Tara Croser.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said many hotel operators were running out of cash and had “reached the end of the line”.

“They really can’t see a way out of this point because we have such a lack of confidence in what’s happening in NSW, Victoria has gone backwards and the ACT is now in lockdown,” he said.

“We have no corporate travel anymore – that was a particularly important part of Brisbane’s market … it’s been absolutely decimated.

“It’s the worst it’s been in 18 months.”

Mr Gschwind tipped the sector would have a rough time until the summer holidays with even people not in lockdown “too afraid to move”.

“It’s dead – we’re at a complete standstill,” he said.