Media release

We're On The Way Up From Here

Tuesday 7 February 2022


South Australian business confidence and conditions in late 2021 reflected the challenges and difficulties businesses have lived. The South Australian Business Chamber William Buck Quarterly Survey of Expectations for the December quarter has confirmed an 80.8pts South Australian Confidence Index, down from 106.1pts in the September quarter. Surprisingly, this is not the lowest it has been, with a dire 41.0pts recorded at the start of the global pandemic in March 2020.

General business conditions saw another index fall to 86.6pts, down from 92.7 points in the September quarter. The emergence of the Omicron variant impacted the December quarter results, leading to an abrupt rewind on an eagerly awaited easing of restrictions planned for 28 December 2021.

The South Australian Business Chamber Chief Executive Martin Haese says that he had anticipated these results, especially given the timing of the South Australian Business Chamber William Buck Survey of Business Expectations survey itself.

We released the survey only a week after businesses felt bitterly disappointed that an easing of restrictions was not taking place. However, shortly after we closed our the South Australian Business Chamber William Buck Quarterly Survey of Expectations, Premier Marshall and Treasurer Lucas came out with multiple stimulus and support announcements and the easing of restrictions.

These recent announcements by Premier Marshall and Treasurer Lucas are now injecting that magic ingredient of confidence.

On behalf of our members and the broader business community, we thanked the Government of South Australia for hearing just how difficult trading conditions have been. We’ve got the evidence to back it up now, but frankly, we’re already on the way up with this recent injection of $50m, the rolling reviews of restrictions and the fact that we’re now over 90% vaccinated as a state.”

The South Australian Business Chamber Director of Policy and Advocacy Kendall Crowe is also encouraged that nearly half of all businesses surveyed are still planning to invest in new plant, equipment, or machinery over the next 18 months despite how challenging the quarter was.

Business confidence has taken a hit, but we can be buoyed by the fact that many businesses are still investing in their own operations.

There is still more work to do to get people back into their offices to support their local businesses, especially in the City of Adelaide. We will continue to push for the public sector to return to the workforce as corporates will follow suit.

The South Australian Business Chamber has been consistently strong in its advocacy for South Australians to Buy Local to Save Their Local’ as it’s vitally important that we all support our incredible South Australian businesses to come out of this stronger than before.”

Always one to call it as it is, William Buck Managing Director Jamie McKeough says that it is not the skills shortage or supply issues that are the number one concern for business right now. It is the fact that so many workers are wiped out because they’ve got COVID-19, or they are caught up in the cascading impact of close contacts that don’t even have the virus.

The latest the South Australian Business Chamber William Buck Survey of Business Expectations commentary tells the story of an increased lack of labour when businesses were already short on labour.

We feel the impact on morale and recognise the time it takes to manage this. It all adds up to this sharp dip in business confidence in the latest survey.

From the survey, we see that 67 per cent of businesses were short-staffed due to the COVID-19 restrictions and 11 per cent had to shut down. Over half of business owners saw a change in customer purchasing behaviour through cancellations, reduced people being out and about, and decreased spending.

These close contact rules are creating massive levels of uncertainty. And it is not just the rules themselves, it is the fact that they keep changing.”

See full report here >


Media Contact
Tanya Wilkins
Director, Media & Communication — the South Australian Business Chamber
tanya.​wilkins@​business-​sa.​com
0481 744 550


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