By Margaret Maccoll
Much of the Noosa economy was hit hard by COVID19. Noosa Chamber of Commerce president Rob Neely spoke with Noosa Today about the impact of the pandemic, the community response and the issues moving forward.
What was the initial impact of COVID19 on the business sector?
Noosa businesses are not like any other businesses around Australia.
When COVID hit there was an immediate downturn in tourism. Accommodation and retail industries were hit hard and quickly there was a realisation staff would not be paid.
That led to a scramble of grants.
What we found was that Noosa had a two-speed economy.
Accommodation and retail was hurting very badly. They couldn’t get tourists in and there was no trade.
Hastings Street was virtually closed.
At the same time industries in Rene Street were flat out.
What initiatives were put in place to assist businesses?
Around April-May Noosa Chamber of Commerce became very concerned about their business members. They made use of the services of an intern from Southern Cross University who over 70 hours of unpaid work phoned every chamber member to find out how they were feeling and how the chamber could help them.We found businesses in the retail section were under stress, both rental and personal stress.
Many of the businesses suggested they wouldn’t make it through the year.
Everyone was so pleased we were reaching out.
Noosa Chamber of Commerce and Noosa Council started working very closely together. There were roundtable meetings weekly.
Noosa struggled more than other regional towns with 50 per cent of turnover taken away. It led to uncomfortable discussions with landlords.
Survey results that came out in November on local businesses showed about 68 per cent of businesses were still in some type of distress, some in rent distress. Some have had to change the way they do business.
In the dark period when there were no tourists they had to pivot, to change the way they do business.
For example, some found in the school holidays where people previously booked five nights accommodation people were only booking two nights. They were making some money but it meant they had to do cleaning more often so they were not making as much money.
There were 310 businesses that accessed a $10,000 grant from the Queensland Government. It helped them get through.The Council and MP Sandy Bolton did everything they could.
What have been the positives from the pandemic?
Everyone pulled together.
We now work more closely with Tourism Noosa than in the past. What we have is an open dialogue. We’re working as one.
It’s what has come out of a horrible situation.
This spirit of cooperation we’ve never known before. It’s absolutely fantastic. Everyone’s on speed dial with each other. We’re working with other business associations.
We’ve seen Cooroy Chamber of Commerce become more active. There’s a new Chamber of Commerce at Pomona.
How are businesses placed moving forward?
Since March businesses have been concerned about their staff having an income.
They did Jobkeeper, Jobseeker. But a lot of people moved away. Some businesses are struggling to get employees. The other problem is if they come back they can’t find available or affordable housing. Some rents have increased considerably so they can’t afford them. That’s concerning. Council want to assign land and get houses built. What we can do immediately is obtain the ability to provide dual occupancy in houses. The Noosa Plan doesn’t allow for it. You can’t have a second kitchen. If we wanted to do something quickly we could make a change to the Noosa Plan to allow dual occupancy. Not for short-term lettings. That’s the quickest way around it.
