Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of Federal policy on Friday more states have announced their plan of adoption, while hospitality continues its plight of asphyxiation.
Western Australia’s McGowan Government has now announced that from 18 May pubs, restaurants and cafes will be allowed to reopen with 20 people, representing double the number in most jurisdictions. Venues will need to comply with providing four square metres per patron.
Also, most intrastate travel will be allowed, although many tourist-centric regions of the State’s north, heading into peak tourism season, will remain isolated.
But Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods suggests allowing more flexibility for larger venues with multiple sections, or many pubs will not be able to afford to reopen even with the greater limit.
“To be able to open up and have 60-80 people with 20 in each area and 1.5-metre social distancing is still going to be required,” said Woods in an interview with The West. “People have still got to be seated at some form of table.
“I think we can manage this a lot better if we can have some flexibility around the rules.”
Max Fox-Andrews of The Windsor in South Perth, one of Perth’s biggest pubs, told the ABC it is simply not economically viable for them to open for only 20 people, and that it will be impossible to fulfill one of the fundamental tenements of hospitality – atmosphere.
“Given the size of the venue, and given the kitchens and the power and the perishable product we’d have to purchase in order for us to remain open, we go by the saying ‘it’s better to be fully open, than half-open’.”
Australian Venue Co (AVC), which operates over 150 pubs around Australia including several in WA, says the restrictions won’t allow much revenue but JobKeeper is helping and there are other motives to reopen.
“The 20-person restriction will make it difficult to make this a profitable exercise, but we think it’s important to get the doors open and as many team members as possible back to work as soon as we can,” offers AVC CEO Paul Waterson.
“My fear is that pubs will have barely opened before JobKeeper runs out, and as a result, we won’t be able to use this subsidy to get back on our feet. We call on the government to consider increasing the length of the JobKeeper subsidy for pubs and other hospitality businesses until the end of the year.”
South Australia began lifting virus measures Monday, allowing all country accommodation, caravan parks, hotels and motels to open, as well as outdoor dining at cafes and restaurants, and outdoor sports training, with appropriate distancing and 10-person limits. Universities and TAFEs are resuming, along with public pools, libraries and places of worship.
Indoor dining will go ahead in Stage Two from 8 June. Venues will be allowed to serve alcohol and host up to 20 people, with social distancing provisions.
But negotiating with the hospitality sector, Premier Stephen Marshall suggests pubs and other venues may be allowed to go beyond the stated limit as many insist 10 patrons will not be enough.
“We’re sitting down with the industry to work out how we might go even more than that when they open because we want to get them back to being viable,” the Premier told reporters Monday.
Any increase will still come with suitable cautionary measures, lest newly reopened businesses find themselves shutting down again a few weeks later, which Marshall admits “would be disastrous for small business in South Australia”.
The Australian Hotels Association SA CEO Ian Horne believes government should consider allowing up to 50 people in venues, so long as social distancing was maintained.
In NSW dining venues will be able to host ten patrons from Friday, but many pubs echo the fact that this level of trade will not even cover costs.
Many businesses are gearing up for the inevitable changes in both trading regulation and public expectation, flagging potential preventative and cleaning measures such as spraying customers with hand sanitiser upon arrival.
Australia’s Federal Government has largely been seen as having played a good game in the fight against the coronavirus, but as socialist policies find new voice in die-hard capitalist economies such as the United States, many, including opposition leader Anthony Albanese, sombrely note the renewed relevance of social safety nets, specifically the need to increase unemployment payments, the role of unions, investment in fast and reliable broadband, and the importance of self-reliance on essential services.