Coalition MPs ‘ignoring’ pleas for emergency wage subsidy
The Gold Coast’s three Coalition MPs are ignoring pleas for an emergency wage subsidy targeted at tourism to save the city’s dying lifeblood industry. FULL STORY >>>
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THE Gold Coast’s three Coalition MPs are ignoring pleas for an emergency wage subsidy targeted at tourism to save the city’s dying lifeblood industry.
City tourism, business and political leaders of all political shades have united behind calls for the Morrison Government to throw a lifeline to the Gold Coast’s biggest sector, which faces losses of at least $550 million for the months of July and August alone.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan has said the sector, worth $6 billion before the Covid-19 pandemic, was on its knees and dying a “death of one thousand cuts”.
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Ms O’Callaghan, along with LNP member and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) have all called for targeted industry wage subsidy.
The Coast’s Liberal MPs Karen Andrews, Stuart Robert and Angie Bell insist they are fighting hard for the Coast and have lobbied Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Cabinet for greater financial support for locals affected by lockdowns and border closures.
None acknowledged questions put to them about growing calls for a tourism-specific wage subsidy. All three blamed the state government for the region’s economic woes.
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“There is no doubt the Gold Coast tourism industry has taken a major hit from state government health restrictions and border closures,” McPherson MP and Home Affairs Minister Ms Andrews said. “I’ve been advocating for our region to support businesses during these difficult times, most recently resulting in the Commonwealth’s Tourism Aviation Network Support program being extended to November.” The program subsidised 800,000 airline tickets.
Mr Robert said there was a “national agreement state governments step in to support businesses during these short and sharp state-imposed restrictions”.
Ms Bell: “The Morrison Government has supported the Gold Coast economy and Queensland with $30bn in support measures to date.”
The tourism sector was bouncing back from the first year of the pandemic, with traffic at Gold Coast Airport at 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels in May. But two successive lockdowns with Sydney and Melbourne trapped in extended closures saw the airport get no flights in or out on Monday and Gold Coast businesses facing closure without customers.
Organisers of a further $120 million worth of events already booked through December 31 are now weighing up cancelling them entirely.
Gold Coast Labor Senator Murray Watt said: “The Morrison Government’s decision to rip away JobKeeper too soon has made it even more difficult, and has left Gold Coast businesses and workers exposed”.
“Gold Coasters aren’t looking for a hand out, they’re looking for targeted support to make sure that the businesses and industries that drive the Gold Coast economy are still there when we get to the other side,” he said.
“It’s time our local LNP MPs earned their keep and went in to bat for the Gold Coast.”
Abandoned: Shock fate of vital Coast gateway
GOLD Coast Airport welcomed no new flights at all for just the second time in a year on Tuesday as new data shows the pandemic’s giant drain on the city’s economy.
Just one flight will arrive on Wednesday, with airport bosses revealing there has been “no improvement” since the city’s lockdown lifted on Sunday afternoon.
And the losses are set to dramatically increase, with Destination Gold Coast data showing the shattered tourism industry’s losses are estimated to top $550 million between July 1 and August 31.
Organisers of a further $120 million worth of events already booked through December 31 are now weighing up cancelling them entirely. Tourism leaders welcomed state and council funding packages announced on Tuesday but said they were purely a band aid.
Instead they ramped up pressure on the federal government to introduce a targeted wage subsidy for the sector.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said the tourism industry was experiencing “death by 1000 cuts” without JobKeeper-like assistance: “The state measures are important, but we as an industry are calling on the state and Commonwealth governments to work together to produce a wage subsidy scheme.
“We have seen this in NSW and other states and it is time to look at a scheme which is relevant now because our industry is going through death by a thousand cuts and we are staring down the barrel of some of our darkest days.”
“We are expecting another $300 million lost on top of the $250 million lost in July. These numbers are scary. Our industry is just going through the motions, hanging on by a thread and trying to survive.”
The Coast’s $6 billion-a-year tourism sector lost more than $3.9 billion in 2020 but had shown signs of recovery, with Gold Coast Airport passenger numbers returning to 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels in May. But the city’s economy has not recovered since it was first forced into a three-day lockdown again in July.
Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills said the dramatic decline in passenger numbers since border closures and southern lockdowns had a “huge impact” on tourism operators and other small businesses which relied on traffic through the airport.
“Border closures and rolling lockdowns have seen Gold Coast Airport traffic grind to a halt this week, with no flights today and the terminal closed,” he said. “Given the conditions in our key markets, we have seen no improvement since the South East Queensland lockdown ended on Sunday afternoon.
“The Gold Coast is well positioned to attract visitors once confidence to travel is restored, but it remains unclear when that will be.”
Mr Mills said the confidence levels in the aviation and tourism sector had plunged to levels seen during the worst of the pandemic last year.
“We are steeling ourselves for conditions to fluctuate for some time to come, as lockdowns and multiple border closures impact,” he said
It comes as the state recorded three new Covid cases on Tuesday, with confirmation a man who tested positive in Byron Bay didn’t visit the Gold Coast when infectious.
On Tuesday Premier Anna Palaszczuk said all the cases were linked to the Indooroopilly cluster and in home quarantine while infectious.
The state has 155 active cases and 13,271 people in home quarantine.
Ms Palaszczuk said the “short sharp” lockdown in southeast Queensland worked “incredibly well” but that the state is “not out of the woods”.
“We could see clusters or cases popping up from until we get the majority of our state vaccinated,” she said.
She said while the situation in Queensland was excellent, she warned residents not to travel across the border into NSW after Bryon, Lismore, Ballina and Richmond Valley shires were declared hot spots.
Extra police will man the border to stop people travelling back and forth.
“Queenslanders don’t travel there at all,” she said.
Chief health officer Dr Young urged anyone who had been in those four LGAs since July 31 and had since returned to Queensland to abide by the stay at home orders.
“Anyone who has been in those four LGAs when he was there, now need to stay at home unless for those four reasons.”
Dr Young said the three new cases originally tested negative to Covid-19 on the first day of home quarantine, with positive tests returned on days seven, eight and nine.
Health Minster Yvette D’Ath said Gold Coasters in particular must adhere to stay at home health directives if they have been in the northern NSW hotspot areas.
“It’s absolutely critical,” she said.
Meanwhile, new border pass is being set up, with residents advised to visit Queensland Health’s website for details.
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