From the General Manager IAN HORNE – AHA|SA GENERAL MANAGER
Needs to be a Better Way The Transition Committee approved the removal of a number of restrictions for Monday 14 December that included: • Restoration of stand-up drinking • Increased capacity of private functions including weddings and funerals to 200 • Home gatherings up from 10 to 50 people • A return to work from Monday 14th December • Expansion of QR codes to all retail. The AHA|SA had made representation to the Transition Committee to bring the stand-up drinking component into place on Friday 11 December. There seemed no medical reason not to. That request had fallen on deaf ears, despite SA Health declaring on Tuesday 8 December that South Australia was virus free, despite more than 25,000 hospitality workers having completed COVID Marshal training and despite the widespread introduction of QR scanning including all retail – a strategy only enacted in South Australia. This is, sadly, a characteristic of the Transition Committee model and their inability to grab opportunities to improve the lot of businesses and employees when it’s obvious there is no risk. There is no urgency from their perspective! What has also become clear, and was reported in the media, is that SA Health have acknowledged that no transmission of the virus has been associated with any hotel or hospitality facility in South Australia…. not one and never!
6 | Hotel SA | W W W . A H A S A . A S N . A U
“What has also become clear... is that SA Health have acknowledged that no transmission of the virus has been associated with any hotel or hospitality facility...” Yet the industry - be it food and beverage, gambling, accommodation or entertainment - has carried a disproportionate burden of the lock down restrictions. Adding to the misery of the situation was, as one national journalist observed, South Australia “accidentally put ourselves in lockdown” and as a result, all other states locked their borders to us! We went from the safest state to a pariah next only to Victoria. We trashed any marketing and promotional advantage we had as the cleanest, safest state. The obvious home goal was made worse by the calling off the lockdown after just one-and-half days, with the lifting in three, but leaving in place a harsh regime of restrictions that capped all venues at 100!
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