LOCAL businesses remain worried about the threat of snap border closures, despite the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine beginning in South Australia.
Business SA CEO Martin Haese said without a broadly vaccinated population, South Australian businesses remained at risk of border restrictions and snap lockdowns.
“We must do everything we can to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible,” he said.
“If that means opening further vaccine sites, bringing more staff online, (and) implementing innovative ways of getting the job done including through businesses, then so be it.”
Renmark Paringa Network membership and marketing co-ordinator Georgie Vermeeren said business owners had expressed some concerns with the border closures.
“I think there’s still a bit of concern, particularly with markets and businesses coming in and out of Mildura given it’s a Victorian town,” she said.
“People are wondering when trade is going to return to normal between Victoria and South Australia because we have that closeness to the border.
“We were talking about holding markets the other day but a lot of our stallholders could be from Mildura and it’s not clear whether they can still come over and do that.
“They couldn’t last year, and we missed out on lot of that last year, so is it going to be the same this year?
“Are we going to lose that connection or is it going to go back to normal? We don’t really know what to expect and how that is going to affect the economy between the two towns.
“Obviously, there are a lot of businesses in town that have contact with people and customers in Victorian towns, so that is where there is that concern.”
In a letter to the state and federal health ministers, Business SA called for greater visibility of the overall vaccine rollout to provide clear and accurate timelines to the business community.
“Both levels of government need to take a business-like approach to co-ordinating the vaccine rollout, doing everything possible to avoid ongoing financial pain for those businesses still impacted by COVID restrictions,” Mr Haese said.
“We are also calling for a joint federal-state delegate to be a single source of truth.”
Ms Vermeeren also said the end of the JobKeeper payment scheme last month may result in easier recruitment for local businesses, with junior and casual workers picking up more hours.
“I know that the ongoing payments of JobKeeper were causing problems with businesses being able to recruit,” she said.
“People were finding the JobKeeper payments meant people weren’t picking up extra hours, or they were finding that people were getting paid more to not work and stay at home instead.
“The impact it will have now that it’s gone is not something I’ve heard from local business owners.”