Frankston and Mornington Peninsula hit hardest by coronavirus job losses
Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula have suffered one of the heaviest hits to employment in the state due to coronavirus, with the number of jobs lost alarming even experts. But they have a plan to get people back to work.
South East
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One in 12 jobs has been lost across Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alarming figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed the region suffered one of the heaviest hits to employment in the state following the start of the lockdown, recording a 7.9 per cent decrease on payroll jobs.
Only Warrnambool and the South West (8.6 per cent) and North West Region (8.2 per cent) experienced greater decreases between March 14 and April 18.
Committee for Mornington Peninsula president Bruce Billson said the group was expecting the region — which relies on construction, hospitality, tourism, leisure and retail — would be hit hard.
“But to see that one in every 12 paid positions has been lost reveals the true extent of the impact and the work ahead to recover these livelihoods,” Mr Billson said.
“And these are payroll position — we have to also address the impact on local business owners and the self-employed that create their own livelihoods and job opportunities for others on the Peninsula.”
Executive Chairman of Mornington Peninsula Regional Tourism Board executive chair Tracey Cooper said the board’s own economic and employment analysis “paints a picture of the wind being taken out of the sail of the peninsula visitor economy and tourism-orientated businesses and very stiff headwinds in our face”.
Ms Cooper said government support had helped some business keep their lights on but more stimulus programs were needed for the region’s tourism industry to return to its role as a jobs driver.
“We’ll need to stimulate the entrepreneurship, investment and business confidence needed to encourage business owners and operators to ‘have a go again’ and rebuild viable operations that can support jobs returning”, Ms Copper said.
Mr Billson also urged Mornington Peninsula Shire to rethink its 2020/2021 Budget and boost its capital works program to provide a stronger pipeline of construction projects to keep the “significant local building industry on the tools”.
The Committee for Greater Frankston chief executive Ginevra Hosking said even before the coronavirus pandemic the situation in Frankston’s CBD was “dire”.
“There were one in four vacancies for office space and one in five for retail,” Ms Hosking said.
“We won’t know how things are now until businesses either start to reopen or stay closed.”
She said the precinct was ripe for change and needed a better mix of businesses to encourage residential developments so people could live and work in the city.
Better public transport was crucial to stimulate economic growth and a continued push to create a nationally significant health and education sector was also needed, she said.
“We have to extend the railway line. It’s critical,” Ms Hosking said.
She said fostering the booming Carrum Downs industrial precinct was another key to growing jobs.
The precinct is southeast Melbourne’s fastest-growing, most productive employment hub boasting job growth that is more than 13 times higher than the southern region average.
Many businesses wanted to expand and were likely to leave if the precinct could not support growth.
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But Frankston Council recently deciding not to investigate rezoning green wedge land nearby.
“We have to find a way to allow that otherwise they will leave and take the jobs with them,” Ms Hosking said.
“We can’t do it solely at a local level. We need good policies and the right infrastructure to make all of this work.”