Traders seek clarification
SHEPPARTON HOSPITALITY BUSINESSES SLAM THE GOVERNMENT’S CONFUSING REOPENING GUIDELINES
IT’S JUST ANOTHER HURDLE . . . THE ROADMAP IS FULL OF OBSTACLES
— ANGELA MANGIAMELI
Hospitality operators in Shepparton have slammed the Victorian Government’s “confusing” reopening guidelines and want clarity before restrictions change at 11.59 pm tonight.
The Victorian Government this week announced hospitality workers would need to be fully vaccinated by Friday to be able to work once the state opened up, instead of just being required to have one dose of a vaccine.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday and Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar on Wednesday both said there was “no wriggle room” on hospitality workers being double-vaccinated by Friday.
No official guidelines had been published online by 4 pm on Wednesday about workers needing to be double-vaccinated to work once the state moved into its new set of restrictions when it reached 70 per cent of people fully vaccinated.
The Victorian Department of Health didn’t respond to a request about clarification by the time The News went to print, and was also unable to tell The News if any other classifications of workers needed to be double-vaccinated by 11.59 pm tonight.
Shepparton’s Sherbourne Terrace owner Nick Zurcas said while he was “very, very grateful” to be back open, the mixed messaging on Friday’s easing of restrictions was “frustrating”.
“They haven’t thought this through properly . . . I can’t believe how incompetent it is,” he said.
“We won’t know the exact rules until Thursday and then if there are questions, who do we ask?”
He said the Victorian Government was “moving the goalposts daily” and he didn’t know in what capacity he would be open come Friday, because he wasn’t sure what the guidelines were and how many staff he would have available.
“We have a daily email sent out to us about what we can and can’t do, and by the end of the day it feels like it’s completely changed,” Mr Zurcas said.
“If this government was a private business, they’d be shut down for incompetence.”
Shepparton’s Thai Orchid owner Graeme Murphy, who’s also involved with the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association of Australia, said the rules were changing quickly.
“It started one day with the one vaccination needed and it ended the day with us needing two,” he said.
Mr Murphy said he hadn’t had issues with staffing, but said as the state opened up and hospitality businesses became busier, the vaccine mandate could cause issues with staffing.
However, he said most people were complying and understood the vaccine requirements.
Shepparton Brewery owner Daina Winch echoed this.
She’s been asking for people’s vaccination status when taking bookings to make a seating plan, but said “everyone’s been pretty good” about the vaccine requirements.
However, Ms Winch said weather was a large factor, and without a large undercover area, inclement weather would mean the increased cap would hardly benefit her.
Kialla’s The Woolshed owner Angela Mangiameli said staff were “scrambling to get to deadlines” on vaccination, and not all her staff would be double-jabbed until mid-November.
“It’s just another hurdle . . . the roadmap is full of obstacles,” she said.