Village Theme Parks, airport border blast for Labor, Palaszczuk
Two of the Gold Coast’s biggest employers - its airport and major theme parks operator - are freezing staff recruitment or keeping thousands of staff at bay due to border reopening uncertainty.
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TWO of the Gold Coast’s biggest employers - its airport and major theme parks operator - are freezing staff recruitment or keeping thousands of staff at bay due to border reopening uncertainty.
Village Roadshow is freezing recruitment of 500 staff for summer, blaming the Palaszczuk Labor Government’s “poor communication” about ongoing border blocks.
Meanwhile, Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills who oversees Gold Coast Airport says ultimately 3000 tourism businesses and 41,000 Gold Coast jobs are “linked to the opening of the border between NSW and Queensland”.
HOSPITALITY OPERATOR FACING ‘WORLD OF PAIN’ IF BORDER NOT REOPENED
“We are concerned about suggestions that the border won’t open on November 1, and urge the Queensland Government to move quickly and re-open this critical market,” Mr Mills said.
“Last year 2.7 million passengers travelled between the Gold Coast and Sydney and this was the fourth busiest route in the country.
“In the Gold Coast Airport precinct alone, more than 2,000 jobs are supported by the airport’s operations and in the past six months, traffic has been down 97 per cent – representing 3.08 million fewer people.
“These are real people’s jobs we are talking about – anyone from the barista making your coffee, to the retail assistant and taxi driver. Many of these people could be back at work next month if the border opens.
“We have seen good bookings for the flights from Sydney scheduled next week, and the first flight on Sunday is almost full. To turn them away at short notice would be a real blow to the Gold Coast’s recovery,” he said, adding it showed the pent-up demand from NSW residents keen to get to the Gold Coast for a holiday in the sun, “supporting jobs”.
“People are booking their summer holidays now, so the opening of the border is not just critical for immediate travel but will significantly influence the number of visitors we have in the city for months to come.
READERS ON BORDER CLOSURE: ‘WHOLE THING IS A JOKE’
“Further delays and uncertainty on the border opening will impact confidence in future bookings. We don’t understand why we have to wait until two days before the potential opening to find out what is happening. Airlines need time to schedule flights, travellers need to book with confidence, and employers need to be able to roster staff accordingly.”
In a similarly strong statement on Thursday morning, Village Roadshow CEO Clark Kirby - who overseas 4000-plus staff at Movie World, Sea World and Wet ‘n’ Wild - confirmed a summer recruitment drive was now on “pause”.
“With the uncertainty around the Queensland border reopening, Village Roadshow Theme Parks has made the difficult decision to pause the recruitment of over 500 positions required for phase two of its summer season plans,” he said.
Mr Kirby said he was extremely disappointed by the poor communication from the Queensland Government as well as their politicising of the borders reopening.
“Our recruitment depends on the border opening, if it does not reopen, then hundreds of summer jobs on the Gold Coast will be lost,” he said.
“As one of the largest tourism operators in Australia, we are seeking clarity on the Premier’s border position so we can prepare for the summer period and start the Gold Coast’s economic recovery.”
Ahead of the usually busy peak summer season, Village Roadshow Theme Parks typically undertakes a large recruitment drive for over 500 seasonal positions in a range of job descriptions such as lifeguards, food and beverage and retail attendants and more.
Ms Palaszczuk, who is on the Gold Coast this morning to announce funding for upgrades at The Spit, is scheduled to make a decision on whether she will reopen the Queensland border to NSW by Friday.
Village Roadshow Theme Parks chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa hit out at comments by her deputy Steven Miles, who joined Ms Palaszczuk at a press conference at The Spit.
Wow!! @StevenJMiles just said hospitality sector is running as close to normal and doing better🤦🽠which world is this man living in. We are all bleeding away @GCS_Pottsy @keenatGCB @GCBulletin talk to operators to get a reality check!! #opentheborders #qldpoll @9NewsGoldCoast
— Bikash Randhawa (@BikashRandhawa) October 29, 2020
“Steven Miles just said the hospitality sector is running close to normal and doing better,” Mr Randhawa wrote on Twitter. “Which world is this man living in?”
When the Ms Palaszczuk was asked if she was willing to risk large numbers of jobs being lost at Village Roadshow, said: “They employ a lot of people.
“I have to do what I have to do to keep Queensland safe. I’m not diverting one step away from that.
“We’ll listen to the health advice that’s stood Queensland in good stead.”
The Gold Coast has zero active coronavirus cases and Queensland has three.
New South Wales today recorded four new cases.
EARLIER: OPEN OR ‘WE ARE DEAD’
A GOLD Coast tourism heavyweight – fearing “swirling rumours Queensland will stay shut to NSW – is urging Annastacia Palaszczuk to open the borders “or we are dead”.
Village Roadshow Theme Parks chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa tweeted on Wednesday night borders needed to reopen with thousands of jobs at stake.
“Either this or we are dead.”
Mr Randhawa told the Bulletin he was feeling “disappointment based on rumours swirling the borders are not going to open”.
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“It would be really disappointing because we are looking at recruitment, investment but if the borders don’t open, the Gold Coast is not just going to fall over the cliff as the Mayor said, there is no cliff, we’re dead.”
He added via a tweet: “Our recruitment depends on border opening if it does not open then 1000s of summer jobs gone.”
Premier Palaszczuk is to make a statement on the sunshine state’s hard border with NSW on Friday, just a day before Queensland’s election.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she did not know what would happen but demanded her counterpart have the “courage to reopen Queensland’s borders.
“But I think it’s rather cute that it’s happening the day before the election, and I’m just so upset and frustrated as to why the border’s been in place for so long,” Ms Berejiklian told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“I just wish that she had the courage to do it earlier.”
The NSW Premier said she has been frustrated with the Queensland Government for its lack of communication.
It comes as NSW recorded one new locally acquired case of COVID-19 on Wednesday and seven in hotel quarantine.
A Tweed resident has been confirmed to have COVID-19, bringing the case numbers in the region up to 59. Health authorities said on Wednesday person was diagnosed earlier this week after returning from overseas and had been in hotel quarantine in Sydney.
On the Gold Coast there are no active cases while Queensland-wide there are five active COVID-19 cases.
200 Gold Coasters have recovered from the virus since it was first discovered on the Gold Coast in January.
The state recorded two new cases in the past 24 hours, both were acquired overseas.
Investigations continue into the traces of COVID- 19 that was detected in wastewater at Carole Park in Ipswich, west of Brisbane.
Population centres from Springfield, Ipswich, Camira and Carole Park all feed into the facility.
Originally published as Village Theme Parks, airport border blast for Labor, Palaszczuk