Coronavirus Austalia: Just Cuts boss slams ‘bonkers’ move

The boss of Just Cuts has slammed the PM’s decision to backflip on the 30-minute haircut rule and called for the industry to be shut down.

Just Cuts boss Denis McFadden’s plea for immediate government action.

The boss of Just Cuts has slammed the PM’s decision to backflip on the 30-minute haircut rule and called for the industry to be shut down.

“This decision is bonkers,” Just Cuts founder and chief executive Denis McFadden said in a statement.

“It is physically impossible for stylists to do a shampoo or haircut without touching the client. It’s physically impossible for stylists to do their job and keep the four-square-metre (rule) which national cabinet now says ‘must be strictly observed’.”

Mr McFadden said it was “not about what services can and can’t be provided in a 30-minute window”.

“This is about health of everyone in our salons, our hairdressers and our clients,” he said.

“Hairdressing is not an essential service. Of course I would prefer this weren’t happening at all, and calling for the sector to be shut down might seem counter-productive but it simply must happen in the interests of people’s health.”

Hairdressing needed to be officially added to the shutdown list because otherwise “it is incredibly difficult for our franchise owners to take the heartbreaking but necessary steps to stand down workers so they can access available support or call for breathing space on leases”, he said.

“Given the steps taken in the UK and New Zealand to close salons along with other non-essential businesses and given everything the medical experts are saying, we simply cannot justify the health or financial risk to our franchise owners, stylists and clients.”

Mr McFadden said he was “pleading” with the federal and state governments. “We understand that you’re trying to juggle protecting livelihoods and saving lives but this decision puts both at risk for our people and clients,” he said. “Please act now.”

Just Cuts employs 2500 people in Australia and 3500 globally.