Financial hit forces sackings and more job cuts at Mindil Beach Casino resort

FULL-time and part-time roles will be axed and dozens of casual staff will have their shifts cut in the wake of a COVID-19 forced restructure at Darwin’s Mindil Beach Casino Resort.

Mindil Beach Casino Resort Picture: SUPPLIED

• Hundreds of Mindil Beach Casino Resort jobs on the line as JobKeeper comes to an end

TWELVE full-time and part-time roles will be axed and 200 casual staff will have their shifts cut in the wake of a COVID-19 forced restructure at Darwin’s Mindil Beach Casino Resort and more cuts may follow if business conditions do not improve.

Delaware North, the owner and operator of Mindil Beach Casino Resort, told the NT News it had to continue to make difficult decisions necessary to stabilise the company in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

General Manager Mark Bennett said while the company was hopeful that next year will see operations at Mindil Beach Casino Resort continue to return to normal, the business conditions will continue to be monitored as will the subsequent effect on its operations and impact on its workforce.

The company had foreshadowed impending cuts with the end of the Federal Government’s JobKeeper funding.

Mr Bennett said the number of full-time and part-time team members who were leaving the casino resort were lower than originally anticipated.

“With Mindil Beach Casino Resort ceasing to be eligible for the Federal Government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy program from September 28, we have engaged in close consultation with the United Workers Union to review our operational requirements and determine the subsequent impact of this development on our team members,” Mr Bennett said.

“This development, combined with the increased severity and extended duration of the pandemic, have led us to make the difficult but necessary decision to implement a restructure process which has reduced the size of our workforce at Mindil Beach Casino Resort with 12 of our full-time and part-time roles no longer required.

“For those team members whose positions were made redundant, it became clear that their roles would not return in the foreseeable future.

“The number of full-time and part-time team members who are leaving us is lower than we originally anticipated and reflects the fact that some staff have been redeployed to the Howard Springs quarantine facility where Delaware North has been contracted to provide hospitality services.

“With Mindil Beach Casino Resort still operating at a reduced capacity, we are also currently unable to provide approximately 200 of our casual team members with the same volume of shifts they are accustomed to.

“While we have done everything in our power to stabilise our business and keep our workforce intact, unfortunately, this restructure was an unavoidable and inescapable result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mr Bennett said many industries, notably hospitality, continue to absorb major financial losses as a result of government health directives enacted to contain the spread of COVID-19.

“For Delaware North, those losses are very significant,” he said.

After the property was forced to completely close for 11 weeks from late March, the casino section of Mindil Beach Casino Resort reopened in June, but other parts of the property, including the hotel and resort, have unfortunately remained closed.

“There are a number of reasons for this,” Mr Bennett said.

“Notably, in the absence of interstate and overseas visitors, whom we rely heavily on for business, demand is very low, and therefore we are currently trading well below where we were before the pandemic hit in March, notably our food-and-beverage and accommodation services.”

Originally published as Financial hit forces sackings and more job cuts at Mindil Beach Casino resort