Corporate leaders call for national approach to quarantine

The boss of Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart and Target is pushing for a review of the best way to run hotel quarantine sites.

Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott. Picture: Marie Nirme

Australia’s corporate leaders have hit out at the hotel quarantine system that has now triggered the ­latest Victorian lockdown and have urged Canberra to step in with a national standard before more damage is done to a recovering economy.

Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott — one of the nation’s most powerful business leaders — wants the federal government to take a more hands-on approach to hotel quarantines operating across Australia.

Mr Scott, whose Perth-based conglomerate employs 30,000 people in Victoria, on Friday pushed for a review of the best way to run hotel quarantine sites for inbound Australian travellers, declaring them a vulnerability to fighting the pandemic, and the adoption of a national standard to enhance the system.

His call for a national code and more action by the federal government on the standards and practices of hotel quarantines in all states and territories could be the beginning of a groundswell of a wider demand for action by corporate Australia as it is savaged by flare ups of COVID-19 breakouts and lockdowns.

“Given the likelihood of further outbreaks in the months ahead, it is important that we continue to strengthen our processes and procedures with hotel quarantine, test, track and trace and COVID-safe operating practices with the new strains now present in Australia, so that we can reduce the enormous harm on families and business from further lockdowns,” Mr Scott said in a statement on Friday.

“It appears that hotel quarantine for inbound travellers is a vulnerability in different states so a review of best practice and a move to stronger national standards would be helpful.”

Wesfarmers operates a range of retailers including Bunnings, Target, Kmart and Officeworks, with a large part of its business ­located in Victoria, which suffered through extended lockdowns last year and will now also be hit by a new five-day lockdown announced by Premier Daniel Andrews on Friday.

The latest lockdown of millions of Victorian has sprung from 13 infections and community transfers of COVID-19 sourced from the Holiday Inn hotel quarantine site.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the fresh lockdown and more “stop-start restrictions” would be a bitter disappointment for the whole community and showed why Australia desperately needed a national framework that allowed the country to live with the virus.

“We can’t go on managing the country like this,” Ms Westacott said.

“This is the second lockdown caused by Victoria’s hotel quarantine system, it must not be as long and destructive as the last. We must get hotel quarantine working properly.

“Even a very short lockdown will have a monumental social and economic costs. Small businesses will now be making decisions about whether to lay-off staff or destroy inventory. Airlines will be cancelling thousands of flights and shifts,” Ms Westacott added.

“New outbreaks shouldn’t be a surprise. This is a highly contagious virus, but we know by now that we have to live alongside it.”

Ms Westacott said new and more contagious strains made getting contract tracing, hotel quarantine and local management right even more important.

“They are not an excuse for throwing an entire state into hardship. Developing a national, proportionate and evidence-based plan to keep people safe and save livelihoods must be our number one priority,” she said.

“What matters most is that we have confidence in the systems put in place to manage outbreaks when they happen.

“We urge the Victorian government to work closely with businesses to explain how this will work, the trigger for any further restrictions and exactly how this will work.

“The Victorian government must now explain why this step is necessary and exactly how this will work for each and every business across the state.”

Mirvac chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz called the Victorian shutdown “devastating”.

Wesfarmers owns the Bunnings Warehouse retail chain. Picture: Josh Woning

“It’s devastating for everyone living in Melbourne go back to tough restrictions, however we acknowledge the government’s difficult decision to safeguard the community,” she said.

“We have been very well served in Australia by the collaboration between government, business and community and proportional responses including short, sharp targeted actions have proven to be successful, and balance health and economic considerations.”

The Australian Retailers Association has tagged the shock lockdown declared from midnight Friday as a “devastating blow” for Victorian retailers.

Chief executive of the ARA, Paul Zahra, said some of the horrors of 2020 were now returning.

“They’ve been through so much in the past year and have done their best to return to an even footing in recent months. Unfortunately, some of the horrors of 2020 continue,” he said.

“We certainly hope the Victorian health authorities get on top of this quickly and that this lockdown doesn’t drag out for longer than it needs to.”

The five-day lockdown will also affect Valentine’s Day, which falls on Sunday and is a key driver of sales of gifts, flowers and restaurants.

“Sadly, there won’t be much love in the air for Victorian businesses this Valentine’s Day. Last minute shopping will be curtailed and romantic dinner date plans have been dashed. That’s a massive blow for restaurants who would have been fully booked for one of their busiest nights of the year,” Mr Zahra said.

“As we said in response to WA and other snap lockdowns — we have to learn to live with COVID and manage things in a responsible way without devastating business and livelihoods.”

He also called on uniform measures across the country.

“It’s time to have consistency from state and territory governments when it comes to COVID restrictions. At the moment, businesses are at the mercy of the different approaches from the various premiers with very little planning time around what the latest restrictions mean,” he said.

“The uncertainty and confusion around ‘trigger points’ has been a confidence killer and one of the key lessons out of this pandemic is to have a nationally consistent approach, with clear criteria, so business can at least operate with some certainty.

“The vaccines can’t come soon enough, but even when they’re rolled out, we’ll still be living with COVID for some time, so the existing challenges will remain for retail.”

Property Council of Australia president Stephen Conry said: “It’s a very sad day for Melbourne. It’s health and safety first but Melbourne’s economic activity was just starting to move and that has now been halted again. You have to take advice from health professionals. Australia needs to have consistent health advice and we don’t seem to have that.”