Snapper Rocks, St Vinnie’s, Humpty Doo Hotel and more share how vax mandate affects them

The NT News spoke with businesses and organisations on how the government’s vaccine mandate would affect them. Here’s what they had to say.

THE Northern Territory’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate came into effect on November 13, with many businesses braced for how hard they might be hit.

The NT News spoke with businesses and organisations on how the mandate would affect them. Here’s what they had to say.

Humpty Doo Hotel perseveres

The Humpty Doo Hotel has had its share of hardships in the past month.

After being named as a Covid-19 close exposure site and losing four employees to quarantine, the popular pub is facing a taxing shortage of staff due to the nature of the industry and the vaccine mandate.

Humpty Doo Hotel owner Rod Parry said six out of 40 of his employees left due to the mandate.

“They just came to us and said, ‘we’re not doing it’, and I said, ‘that’s fine, it’s your choice’,” Mr Parry said.

“They’re adamant they’re not doing it and that’s fine, but they won’t be able to work in hospitality.”

Humpty Doo Hotel barworker Argean Romano. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The owner said the understaffed hotel was always on the lookout for new employees.

“Everyone has stepped up to the plate to cover those hours until we get some more staff,” he said.

“It changes every day, who’s going to turn up to work and what the government is going to do.”

Mr Parry said Hospitality NT was doing everything it could to attract and retain workers to the Territory.

“People come and go all of the time – the issue is finding people to replace them,” he said.

“We’re all in the same boat together though.”

Better safe than sorry as workforce fully vaxxed

Darwin Business Machines Office National proprietor Bryan Moroney adopted a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach to the national emergence of Covid and responding to government workplace vaccination mandates was just another step in retaining normal operations under abnormal conditions.

He said there was no resistance from his six-member team to receiving Covid vaccinations and this had smoothed the process of continuing with his business as usual.

DBM has delivered services to businesses in Darwin for the past 45 years and Brian understands the business landscape.

“As well as the service agent contracts we have with local businesses, we also go to Howard Springs quarantine centre as a supplier for Karen Sheldon Catering and we also service Aboriginal communities,” he said.

“Our team also regularly goes on to boats to maintain machinery so we need to be very careful about what we do.”

Staff shortage an issue, says hospitality business owner

Over the past 20 months hospitality has taken one of the biggest financial hits during the unprecedented period of Covid-19.

Many businesses across the Territory are in dire need of more hands on deck and with the mandate coming into effect over the weekend, it has made it even more difficult for owners to fill positions.

Hot Tamale and Snapper Rocks owner David Robinson said he had lost three or four staff across the two venues due to the Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

Hot Tamale and Snapper Rocks owner David Robinson. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“The vaccine mandate isn’t keeping me up at night, it’s the ability to attract and retain staff,” Mr Robinson said. He said the greatest issue was not being able to hire and then retain a skilled workforce with “border closures being the biggest one”. “People send through resumes saying they are only here for two weeks and we openly consider them because that’s how tight it is,” Mr Robinson said.

“Our skill shortage is not something new but Covid-19 has really accelerated it.”

Boss says rights should beat jabs

Owner of Aldebaran Contracting Danny Skewes says he will step away from the family business he founded in Darwin’s rural area in 2008 because he won’t be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The long-time Territory businessman says he has never been vaccinated and isn’t starting now, despite the potential impact it will have on his business and his own freedom to work and engage in the community.

“For 40 years I’ve been contracting and serving the general public of the Northern Territory and today I’ve got to stop work because I don’t wish to get an injection,” he said on Friday.

“This is our rights being taken away. I’ve never broken the law.

“I’ve never done anything wrong. I have participated in every level of government.

“Why am I now unclean?”

Ten of approximately 70 Aldebaran employees have declined to have vaccinations and they will also be forced to stay away from work.

“The lack of opposition is astounding to me; the lack of involvement in opposing this being imposed on us,” he said.

“It was Remembrance Day (on Thursday) when we celebrate people who gave their lives fighting for our rights, our liberties. The day after all our liberties are being taken off us.”

Vinnies ask for more hands

The Territory-wide staff shortage issue and vaccine mandate complexities are not isolated to just the hospitality industry.

Finding volunteers was already hard enough for organisations like St Vincent de Paul NT which has been on the hunt for more volunteers since a recent decline in helping hands.

St Vincent de Paul NT chief executive Rob Lutter said since the announcement of the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, Vinnies NT had lost 10 per cent of volunteers and about three out of 34 staff members.

Terrie Winterford manager of the St Vincent De Paul shop on Cavenagh St. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“It has added pressure to the staffing shortage but on the other hand, we work with vulnerable people so we understand the need for staff and volunteers to be vaccinated,” Mr Lutter said.

At the end of a 45-minute interview with a potential new employee last week, KCom Constructions owner Brett McManus found out the candidate ticked all the boxes but one. “He was 100 per cent against getting vaccinated and the conversation ended there,” Mr McManus said.

“We just said look, whether we agree with the government or not, it’s not our decision and you’re not worth a $25,000 fine.” Mr McManus said the first question for potential staff would now be if they were vaccinated?

More information required

Carey Joy, proprietor of Alice Springs electrician and communications specialist Joytech, expects to lose about half of his 12 employees when work returns on Monday.

“This will definitely result in a massive loss of turnover and income for the company. We’ve got certain timeframes to respond to certain level jobs and we’ll probably have to look at some renegotiations of contracts and timeframes. I will have to reduce my remote work massively because only 50 per cent of my staff are vaccinated and can go into communities,” Mr Joy said.

“We just all need more information and more support on how to manage it and how to get through it. Obviously our firm wants to support the NTG directions as much as possible but we as business owners are left unprotected when we enforce this.

“Our commercial insurance providers have stated we are not covered from litigation if a staff member became ill from an adverse reaction to the vaccine, we are also not covered against unfair dismissal claims if we let staff go due to vaccine refusal.

“Legal advice is we can’t force staff to have a medical procedure against their will as there is no allowance for forced medical procedures in their employment contracts which they sign when they start work.”

Originally published as Snapper Rocks, St Vinnie’s, Humpty Doo Hotel and more share how vax mandate affects them