"While some Ai Group members are hopeful the three-day snap Brisbane lockdown will be enough to get on top of the spread of the current cases, others look to a possible extension of the lock-down with great trepidation," Rebecca Andrews, Queensland Head of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"The lock-down couldn't have come at a worse time for businesses facing their first day without JobKeeper. Many of these businesses in sectors such as hospitality and accommodation now fear the hoped-for boost to business from the Easter break may be lost.
"This risks becoming a devastating blow for the community and business, especially as Brisbane already has the highest metropolitan unemployment rate in the country. Three of the 10 highest unemployment rates (across the 87 labour market regions in Australia) are in the wider Brisbane lock down area (Logan, Moreton Bay and Ipswich).
"While businesses will get on with what is needed, if this lockdown goes beyond Thursday the implications for jobs and the State's economy will be even more profound. The Government should have confidence in its own testing and tracing and, in the future, deal with a relatively few COVID cases in a targeted manner without lock-downs. This has been achieved successfully in other states," Ms Andrews said.
