Industry urges swift end to nation’s first construction lockdown

Industry leaders have urged the NSW government to lift the nation’s first total lockdown on the construction sector as soon as possible.

‘There’s a lot of work going out to contractors, workers, suppliers – it’s a big umbrella’: Sydney Builders Group managing director Ashley Agostino on site. Picture: Jane Dempster

Industry leaders have urged the NSW government to lift the ­nation’s first total lockdown on the construction sector as soon as possible as estimates of the total cost soar to the $1bn mark, as concern mounts an extension would mean losses will not be recouped.

Construction sites across Greater Sydney ground to a halt on Monday morning after Gladys Berejiklian announced a two-week pause on the $70bn a year industry on Saturday, including major government projects such as the WestConnex, following a spike in infections in the sector.

Construction industry forecaster and former BIS Oxford Economics chair Robert Mellor said while two weeks accounted for about $2.5bn in economic activity, the real cost of the lockdown would depend on its length.

“For the construction and infrastructure industry, it may be in the area of $2.5bn, but a lot of it would be made up in the next three to six months,” he said.

“From that point of view, the impact may be less than $1bn; if it goes on longer, then it takes a lot longer to recover what you’ve lost.

“Some of it won’t be recovered this financial year as you have such a backlog of work, but it depends on what sector you’re in.”

Australian Constructors Association chief executive Jon ­Davies said construction could not just be “turned on and off”. He defended the industry’s record of operating safely during lockdowns, saying the sector accounted for 25 per cent of insolvencies nationally.

Sydney Builders Group managing director Ashley Agostino, who spent the weekend preparing numerous sites including that of a duplex she is building in Canley Heights at the heart of the western suburb’s outbreak to close, said the ban would cost her business up to $100,000 a week.

“It’s the domino effect being in the construction business … there’s a lot of work going out to contractors, workers, suppliers – it’s a big umbrella,” she said.

“It is a huge contributing factor in the economy, and we have (situations like) clients due for their kitchen to be installed, and they have no kitchen and its gutted – how are they supposed to have that done when we only had two days?”

Ms Agostino was in the process of consulting her financial team about what kind of support she would be eligible for, but she was not holding out much hope as she wasn’t sure whether she would fit the criteria. “I don’t think I’ll be able to. You have to have a significant drop from last year. Hopefully as I am now closed I will.”