Covid-19: Pubs cry foul as South Australian footy crowds grow

SA’s health bureaucrats have been accused of double standards after allowing a 15,000-strong crowd for this Saturday’s AFL clash while businesses face collapse due to punishing restrictions.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

South Australia’s health bureaucrats have been accused of double standards after allowing a 15,000-strong crowd for this Saturday’s AFL clash at the Adelaide Oval while local businesses face collapse due to punishing restrictions.

As of Wednesday night capacity limits were increased from just 25 per cent to 50 per cent at pubs and clubs as SA creeps slowly out of last week’s seven-day lockdown.

But hospitality businesses say that even with the increase they are struggling to survive and are urging a return to 75 per cent.

Their anger erupted when it emerged that SA Health and the Adelaide Oval’s Stadium Management Authority had signed off on a 15,000 crowd for the traditional “Showdown” between Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows this weekend.

Duke of Brunswick publican Simone Douglas wrote an open letter on behalf of the 120-member Hospo Owners Collective representing city entertainment venues saying the SA Government needed to realise businesses were on the brink of collapse.

She said that the withdrawal of JobKeeper and the limiting of SA government assistance to the seven days of the lockdown meant pubs like hers were teetering.

Taking aim at the state’s Covid Transition Committee, Ms Douglas said the actual impact of the lockdown and ongoing restrictions was not understood by those managing the pandemic.

“Your emergency cash grant to The Duke of Brunswick paid my rent for the week but it did not cover the other $24,000 in outgoings in the week you shut me down nor the stock losses for perishables,” she wrote.

“It also didn’t help any of us this week left to trade at 25 per cent capacity, nor will there be any material compensation for being forced to trade at a loss in the interest of an abundance-of-caution approach on the other side of lockdown because you are worried about the permeability of our borders.

“ ‘Go Hard Go Early’ cannot just be the catchcry on the way into lockdown but must also be the path out if the economy is to survive.”

Premier Steven Marshall defended the committee and said he sympathised with the concerns of business and wanted life to return to normal as swiftly as possible.

“What we are asking our health professionals to do is to look at a set of restrictions that are going to minimise the risk but at the same time maximise the employment,” Mr Marshall said.

“We want to do it in a way that is careful and prudent and takes into account the risks as we make those further relaxations.”