SA Business Journal

The South Australian Business Chamber: Our COVID-19 Journey

South Australian Business Journal — Martin Haese

It has happened like we knew it would. Our state borders have reopened, and we’ve begun to see the reality of what it means to live with COVID-19. For some of my South Australian Business Chamber team, including myself and over 30 others, this is a lived experience as a COVID-19 positive guest attended a private event at our office last Tuesday night. Many were classified as close contacts’ and therefore required to quarantine at home awaiting the all important day six COVID-19 tests to see if any of us have been infected.

Am I enjoying being in quarantine for seven days? Absolutely not, but as the peak body for business in South Australia, I’m quietly pleased that we have experienced this so early after the state borders have reopened so we can share our learnings with our members and the business community. As one of the first organisations identified as an exposure site, the attention has been greater than perhaps those identified over subsequent days. But it has given us some unique insights into how conservatively the exposure sites are being managed, particularly in comparison to how the eastern states are now normalising things and living with COVID-19.

Firstly, we must accept living with COVID-19 now that we have reopened the borders. And indeed, this is what we advocated for on behalf of the business community. South Australia needs to bring back workers who work on our farms and fill our hospitality and retail rosters, and we want our friends, family and tourists to come back to this great state of ours. And most importantly, businesses need strong trade in the lead up to Christmas and the New Year. We need people here for that to happen.

My team at the South Australian Business Chamber is working through our experience in real-time, and we see a need for a dedicated SA Health business helpline. The business community can ring our Business Advice Hotline to work through why they need a vaccination policy and what it might look like. However, if they are an exposure site, they need a dedicated line to SA Health to help them know what to do as soon as possible to keep their staff and customers safe.

The business community needs to know how they can be on the front foot, as they don’t want to wait for someone else to tell them that they’re an exposure site. The number one recommendation we can make here is for businesses to check the SA Health exposure site web page proactively. Do this a couple of times a day, and have it form part of your daily COVID-19 management plan. Where you can, know the movements of your staff as much as practicable. I know this is not possible for some businesses, however, we found that it was valuable to have this understanding of our own situation to best respond to the SA Health investigations.

Ultimately, COVID-19 doesn’t care which state it is in or that South Australian businesses have endured a disproportionate financial burden during this global pandemic. For this very reason, we don’t want this burden to continue. We now advocate for a reasonable interpretation of all the guidelines issued by the Government of South Australia so that businesses can continue to operate.

Let’s take stock of where we are here in South Australia — we’ve currently got over 90% of our population (12+) having had their first vaccination dose. This puts us on the home stretch to the loosening of restrictions once those waiting for their second dose get that jab. It also puts us on the home stretch to businesses being able to do what they do best!

The South Australian Business Chamber commends Premier Marshall and the Transition Committee for keeping the borders open and encourages the state government to keep the interests of South Australia’s large and diverse business community firmly in mind over the coming weeks and months. After all, small to medium businesses are the largest employer in South Australia. Everyone depends on them in some way.

Originally published in The Advertiser’s South Australian Business Journal on Tuesday 7 December 2021

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