Covid-19 lockdown: Businesses in fear as South Australia snapped shut

The snap imposition of a hard seven-day lockdown in South Australia has left shattered businesses with unanswered questions about compensation to offset their losses.

Beer and Barbecue Festival organiser Gareth Lewis, right, and Aaron Sandow after packing up the hall on Tuesday. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

The snap imposition of a hard seven-day lockdown in South Australia has left shattered businesses with unanswered questions about what compensation they will receive to offset their multimillion-dollar losses.

But the state government insists it had no choice but to move swiftly against the fast-spreading Delta variant, saying it had shown that any delays could have resulted in a mass outbreak within days.

As SA’s supermarkets were again the scene of frenzied panic buying, Premier Steven Marshall said SA had signed up to the joint state-federal compensation arrangements at last Friday’s national cabinet and details of relief would be made available soon.

SA was ordered into lockdown from 6pm Tuesday after a fifth Covid case was confirmed, sparking fears of a superspreader event linked to an Argentinian man who came to Adelaide via Sydney earlier this month.

Late Tuesday a sixth case of great concern was confirmed: a worker at a Meals on Wheels ­centre in the western suburb of Hindmarsh. There are expectations more cases will emerge.

There was confusion on Tuesday as to whether SA businesses will receive the same compensation as those in NSW and Victoria, with the SA government originally insisting the state was not in lockdown, just under level four restrictions preventing all non-essential businesses from operating.

But following a snap press conference on Tuesday morning Premier Steven Marshall ramped up restrictions to level five, declaring all schools and non-essential workplaces would close and people barred from travelling more than 2.5km from their homes.

The announcement caught many businesses by surprise after the state government had been at pains to stress that lockdown would be avoided.

The commonwealth declared late Tuesday that Adelaide and key suburbs and regional towns are now designated as Covid hotspots. The Australian understands the Premier and SA Treasurer Rob Lucas will make an announcement on Wednesday about the provision of specific assistance to businesses that on Tuesday were pleading for help.

The state’s peak business group, Business SA, has been lobbying for months for the creation of a Covid contingency fund to ensure employers and employees receive automatic assistance in the event of a hard lockdown. Premier Marshall spoke to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday morning and has been reassured federal assistance for individuals would be offered, but did not elaborate on what role the SA government would play in aiding business.

“I have spoken with the Prime Minister this morning, giving him an update on where we are at the moment, and the same compensation that’s available for NSW and Victoria will be made available to South Australia,” he said.

Mr Marshall said he wanted SA to go hard early to minimise the likelihood of an extended lockdown. “I am hopeful that we can nip this in the bud as quickly as possible,” he said.

The lockdown has been onerous for all businesses but some have been completely destroyed by its timing, such as this weekend’s Adelaide Beer and Barbecue Festival, which was cancelled in its entirety even before the stage five lockdown was announced.

Event director Gareth Lewis started the business in 2015 and has grown it into Australia’s second-biggest festival; this weekend’s event was set to attract a crowd of 16,000, with 1000 staff and more than 100 vendors.

The festival was cancelled last year, then a rescheduled version was postponed in December due to the Woodville Pizza Bar cluster, and Mr Lewis estimates this closure has cost “a couple of hundred grand”. He is urging the SA government to introduce an events support package based on the $20m scheme devised by the Andrews government in Victoria.

“We are happy not to present the festival for health reasons but it is frustrating when it’s not our fault and there’s no safety net,” he told The Australian.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens rejected criticisms from rural businesses that it was an overreach to lock down remote and sparsely populated parts of SA which had never recorded a Covid case.