Kealy: Little for hospitality
“This is not a plan to reopen. It’s a cruel blow to regional hospitality businesses who hoped they would be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel” – Emma Kealy, right
ember for Lowan Emma Kealy believes thousands of regional hospitality businesses will remain shut and their staff will still be out of work as a result of ‘unworkable’ new regional Victorian restriction rules.
She said the State Government had offered a glimmer of hope for country hospitality businesses with the easing of a regional lockdown last week.
But she added that with patron capacity limits so low, for many it remained unviable to reopen.
Ms Kealy said many business owners had told her details of the ‘easing’ gave them no choice but to stay closed for the foreseeable future, with some describing restriction changes as ‘mind-boggling’ and ‘meaningless’.
Regional hospitality businesses can only open with 10 patrons inside and 20 seated outside.
“This is not a plan to reopen. It’s a cruel blow to regional hospitality businesses who hoped they would be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel,” Ms Kealy said.
“Allowing a maximum of up to 30 patrons is a fraction of the capacity of many venues that would normally seat hundreds of diners at any given time.
“Pubs, restaurants and cafes have detailed COVID-SAFE plans and practices in place to keep patrons and staff safe.
“The chopping and changing of restrictions are devastating to hospitality businesses already struggling to stay afloat.”
Ms Kealy said many hospitality venues had already made the hard decision to cut back opening hours and staffing numbers.
“A 30-person capacity is a kick in the guts to venues that have been operating at a fraction of their capacity for 18 months now,” she said.
“The government’s unworkable rules have delivered no hope and no plan for regional hospitality businesses.
“This is just another cruel blow to regional pubs and clubs by a Premier who doesn’t care about the damage his government’s iron-fisted approach is inflicting on regional Victoria.”