Better Than Bureaucrats: Why Victoria's Events Industry Could Manage COVID -19
Victoria would be better placed if the state’s events industry was running the COVID-19 response.
Instead, the Victorian Government’s ‘short, sharp’ lockdowns now mean a short life for many businesses and a sharp decline in the $16.3 billion events industry.
Pre-COVID restrictions, business events alone injected $12.9 billion into the Victorian economy, major events $840 million, festivals and concerts $600 million with community and public events delivering $600 million.
The professional wedding market alone contributes $1.1 billion.
However, the findings of an industry survey by Save Victorian Events deliver a stark contrast.
They reveal that just 27 per cent of Victorian event businesses think they will survive till the end of the year.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, says it is an indictment on the Victorian Premier’s handling of the COVID-19 issue.
“The statistics are inconceivable,” Mrs McArthur said.
“From April 2020 to May 2021 Victorian Event Industry businesses earned only 19 per cent of their normal income (excluding government support).
“During the lockdowns of May-August, this number has fallen to 14 per cent on average and is forecast to be only 18 per cent of normal income for the rest of the year.
Some members of the events industry have had no work since March 2020.
“These are not my numbers, or my fiction. This is real. It’s dramatic. It’s devastating and the impact will go well beyond the calendar year,” she said.
“Anyone who has booked a wedding or an event multiple times – only to have it cancelled - will understand these numbers all too well.
“That trend is about to get worse with 34 per cent of events industry businesses having all their events and projects cancelled for the rest of the year – and 61 per cent saying most events have been cancelled.
“Businesses are down to 40 per cent of their highly skilled permanent staff and 16 per cent of contractors and casuals.
“It’s why events businesses say they’re reduced to 52 per cent of their ability to deliver events.”
47 per cent of businesses are not sure if they’ll survive to the end of the year.
26 per cent think it is unlikely they will survive till then.
Led by Simon Thewlis, Save Victorian Events released its first survey on the industry in February, delivering a set of results that Mr Thewlis said “painted a dire picture”.
“Sadly, today’s results are very consistent with the February results, but the current outlook is far worse,” he said.
The current event cancellations include Agricultural Shows across the state including Melbourne, Geelong, Colac, Ballarat and Camperdown. The Avalon Airshow, the F1 Grand Prix and the Bells Beach Surfing Classic (now known as the Rip Curl Pro) are among the hugely popular events forced shut.
“It looks like the AFL Grand final will spend another year interstate – and with it goes all the celebratory events that happen around that day right across the state.
“The long lead-times for events cannot be sustained by the unpredictable nature of the Premier’s on-again off-again lockdowns. It gazumps the ability to plan.
“Events cannot get insurance for COVID-19 cancellations - exposing organisers and not-for-profit organisations to the loss of $50,000 or $100,000 or more should the Premier click his fingers and impose a lockdown. It means organisations can go broke before an event has happened.
“Under Premier Andrews, Victoria has gone from the Event Capital of Australia to the Lockdown and Curfew Capital.
“We are observing the demise of our best and brightest businesses, while overseas nations have seen the light, dropped the shackles and are living with this virus, building businesses not breaking them.
“Had this pandemic been managed by the events industry, then I have no doubt we would be in a different position right now,” Mrs McArthur said.
This was made clear in the evidence provided to the Inquiry into The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Victoria’s Events Sector earlier this year, and tabled on 3rd August 2021.
“As a member of the Economic and Infrastructure Committee I asked on 14 April: “Could you have managed hotel quarantine, testing and tracing, the lockdown of the towers. How would you have been employed and deployed in managing this state and its pandemic better with the skills and expertise that you offer?”
“The answers made it very clear that the industry – expert at logistics and management – could have handled Hotel Quarantine, QR codes, contact tracing, vaccine rollouts and event QR management with supremacy.
“It could handle airport arrivals, transfers and hotel registrations.
“It is what this industry does: manage events.
“As Mr Thewlis told the Inquiry: ‘we have serious risk-management skills, we have serious contingency planning skills, we have amazing logistics skills…that is what we do.’
“Instead, the Premier who gloats about his global supremacy over COVID-19, tweets about hitting zero and shuts down the Parliament – has pushed the industry aside and stomped on its future.
“This is the same premier who, in September last year said his plan is “not an academic exercise” and that “data trumps modelling every time. Actual numbers”.
“Well, these are actual numbers and the loss of the events industry is ‘not an academic exercise’.
“The damage is real and it must end,” Mrs McArthur said.
31 August 2021