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Hospitality businesses which have experienced revenue drops of nearly a third or more should be given an emergency cash grant to keep the businesses running, the territory’s opposition says. Meanwhile, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has written to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan requesting a nationally consistent approach to support the tourism and hospitality sectors. Leanne Castley, the opposition spokeswoman on business, will on Wednesday move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the ACT government to introduce a hospitality support package. The proposed package includes cash grants for businesses with revenue drops of 30 per cent or more, rebates fixed utility costs, waived fees and extended takeaway alcohol licences. “I have spoken to many restaurants, bars and cafes in Canberra, and they are crying out for help,” Ms Castley said. Govinder Toor, the owner of Belconnen bar The Pot Belly, said he would welcome assistance that would reduce the operating costs for the business. “If we look at the conditions prior to Covid, and prior to the public servants working from home, the business was thriving. We’ve really been smashed by those two events,” Mr Toor said. Mr Toor said he had let most staff go and was now running the bar with his family, including his wife Amreesh. “The downturn has been catastrophic for us,” he said. The opposition also pointed to the ACT’s weak job market, where the unemployment rose from 3.6 per cent to 4.9 per cent last month, as a reason the government needed to provide support to the hospitality sector. “The Labor-Greens government must urgently throw a lifeline to Canberra’s hospitality businesses, or risk losing the vibrancy of our night-time economy,” Ms Castley, a Liberal member for Yerrabi, said. The Canberra Times understands Labor and the Greens will combine to amend the motion in the Legislative Assembly. MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS: Mr Barr wrote to Mr Frydenberg and Mr Tehan on Tuesday, calling for an extension of the COVID-19 Disaster Payment to employees in the tourism and hospitality sectors who have lost work due to Covid outbreaks in other jurisdictions. “Without additional support .. to the tourism and hospitality sectors more broadly it will mean that once the country re-opens after this wave, businesses simply won’t be able to bounce back like they have previously,” Mr Barr wrote. The ACT government allowed pubs, bars and restaurants to sell takeaway alcohol in July, after Business and Better Regulation Minister Tara Cheyne moved to reintroduce a coronavirus stimulus measure from March 2020. The move came after a mask-wearing mandate in the territory prompted a significant downturn in the hospitality trade, which has experienced difficult conditions since Sydney was locked down. Some businesses felt a rapid 90 per cent drop in bookings, as school holiday tourism evaporated after travel restrictions were imposed. In the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, the ACT government developed a $6.2 million support package for the hospitality sector, which included electricity rebates and further loosening of liquor laws. Cafes and restaurants received a rebate of $1000 on their electricity bills in the first quarter of 2020-21. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
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Hospitality businesses which have experienced revenue drops of nearly a third or more should be given an emergency cash grant to keep the businesses running, the territory’s opposition says.
Meanwhile, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has written to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan requesting a nationally consistent approach to support the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Leanne Castley, the opposition spokeswoman on business, will on Wednesday move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the ACT government to introduce a hospitality support package.
The proposed package includes cash grants for businesses with revenue drops of 30 per cent or more, rebates fixed utility costs, waived fees and extended takeaway alcohol licences.
“I have spoken to many restaurants, bars and cafes in Canberra, and they are crying out for help,” Ms Castley said.
Govinder Toor, the owner of Belconnen bar The Pot Belly, said he would welcome assistance that would reduce the operating costs for the business.
“If we look at the conditions prior to Covid, and prior to the public servants working from home, the business was thriving. We’ve really been smashed by those two events,” Mr Toor said.
Mr Toor said he had let most staff go and was now running the bar with his family, including his wife Amreesh.
“The downturn has been catastrophic for us,” he said.
The opposition also pointed to the ACT’s weak job market, where the unemployment rose from 3.6 per cent to 4.9 per cent last month, as a reason the government needed to provide support to the hospitality sector.
“The Labor-Greens government must urgently throw a lifeline to Canberra’s hospitality businesses, or risk losing the vibrancy of our night-time economy,” Ms Castley, a Liberal member for Yerrabi, said.
The Canberra Times understands Labor and the Greens will combine to amend the motion in the Legislative Assembly.
MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS:
Mr Barr wrote to Mr Frydenberg and Mr Tehan on Tuesday, calling for an extension of the COVID-19 Disaster Payment to employees in the tourism and hospitality sectors who have lost work due to Covid outbreaks in other jurisdictions.
“Without additional support .. to the tourism and hospitality sectors more broadly it will mean that once the country re-opens after this wave, businesses simply won’t be able to bounce back like they have previously,” Mr Barr wrote.
The move came after a mask-wearing mandate in the territory prompted a significant downturn in the hospitality trade, which has experienced difficult conditions since Sydney was locked down.
Cafes and restaurants received a rebate of $1000 on their electricity bills in the first quarter of 2020-21.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
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