Businesses in Auckland's CBD have reached crisis point, with the Government’s Covid-19 “roadmap” for the city doing little to give them hope, a business association says.
Heart of the City estimates that since the start of last year, the central city’s businesses had lost about $850 million in consumer spending.
“Our businesses deserve better,” Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said.
“The roadmap announced on Monday has left businesses gobsmacked. This has reached crisis point for many businesses and Monday’s announcement has crushed hope and left a lot of people angry.”
Beck said businesses had a “desperate need” for certainty and confidence.
Grant Robertson answers questions around what Aucklanders can and can't do in the three-phase plan.
However, the Government had failed to give clarity about when businesses can trade safely, she said.
That was in addition to “no clear border policy, no clear vaccination policy, no commitment to additional financial support and no timeframes to work with”, Beck said.
“The biggest hurdle to recovery right now is that Government is not listening and acting on feedback from the business sector.
“It feels like we are banging our heads against a brick wall, week after week.”
Heart of the City wanted clear targets for vaccination levels, a policy on mandating vaccination passports, and for businesses to be involved in decision making.
They also wanted clear timeframes on when businesses and borders could open, and that the wage subsidy and Resurgence Support Payment (RSP) continue into Alert Level 2. They wanted the latter to be paid weekly.
It comes as the applications for the third round of the RSP opened today . The payments are intended to help businesses with fixed costs, like rent.
So far, more than $947 million had been paid to businesses through the RSP.
“Coupled with the Wage Subsidy Scheme, the Government has supported businesses and workers to the tune of $3.9 billion since the Delta outbreak began,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said.
However, hard-hit businesses say the funds available through the RSP was merely a “drop in the ocean” and wasn’t enough to meet their needs.
The Government said in September it was considering changes to the RSP.
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