‘Bloody mess’: Pilbara businesses react to border delay as staff shortages cause havoc to hospitality industry

Business leaders in the Pilbara have reacted cautiously to the State Governments decision to indefinitely delay the opening of WA’s hard border while a local publican described the situation as a “bloody mess.” The Premier announced on Thursday evening he would not be opening the border just 16 days before the border controls were due to be removed because of the State’s low third dose rate and the surge in hospitalisations and deaths from Omicron cases over east. It comes as Pilbara vaccine rates remain the lowest in the nation and are unlikely to hit 80 per cent double dosed until June. As of January 16, 54.8 per cent of West Pilbara residents older than 15 were fully vaccinated and 60 per cent had had one jab. This was a 0.9 per cent jump from the previous week which — if the uptake remains consistent — would have the West Pilbara reach the 80 per cent target set by the State Government by June or four months after the border re-opens. In the East Pilbara, 56.9 per cent of residents had been doubled jabbed, a 1.3 per cent increase over the previous week. Premier Mark McGowan said it would be irresponsible and reckless for the State Government to ignore the spread of the omicron variant on the east coast. “Allowing a wave of Omicron cases to fly straight into Perth from February 5, with no testing, no quarantine and no public health measures would cause a flood of the disease across our State,” he said. Under the new border controls exemption criteria has been expanded to allow for workers with specialist skills not available in WA, such as health services and emergency service workers to enter the State. The Pilbara has been hit by staffing shortages with hospitality and tourism industries struggling to attract workers to the region. Port Hedland’s Dome cafe closed it’s doors is March 2020 due to the pandemic, reopening over a year later in June 2021 with greatly reduced opening hours due to a lack of staff. In September 2021, the cafe announced it would be closing it’s kitchen until further notice after being unable to find a chef. South Hedland’s Last Chance Tavern owner Frank Pileggi described the situation as “an absolute bloody mess.” “We had two chefs, two staff for our sports bar and one drive through bottleshop attendant due to fly over on the fifth, and now they can’t,” he said. “I’m not kicking McGowan, but what about us? “I don’t want to close down, I’ve spent a fortune upgrading the place, but if I can’t get a cook or get my current chef who is leaving to stick around a bit longer, I don’t know how we can keep going.” Business leaders in the region have reacted cautiously to the announcement with Regional Development Association Pilbara chief executive Tony Simpson saying it felt the State was now in a holding pattern. “I understand the issue but thought we could have had a better way out,” he said. “It feels now that were you now still in this holding pattern and without any sort of way out. Mr Simpson said one of the key issues for WA business was getting enough skilled labour and labour in general into the state. “With the lowest unemployment in the nation, with low numbers we need to get more people in and now we seem to still have a barrier which we all thought would be a way out of it,” he said. Border restrictions are also having an impact on community facilities in Port Hedland with the local government announcing on Friday the Gratwick Aquatic Centre Pool will close early for the season due to ongoing challenges with staffing the facility due to the impacts of COVID-19. “Due to the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, aquatic facilities right across WA are facing challenges when it comes to securing safe staffing levels,” Town of Port Hedland Mayor Peter Carter said. “The safety of the community is our highest priority; therefore, we’ve made the decision to close Gratwick Aquatic Centre Pool earlier in the season than planned due to a shortage of critical aquatics staff.” Mr McGowan previously announced the expansion of proof of vaccine laws across the State on January 31 which would require people being fully vaccinated to enter a swathe of venues. The restrictions include barring the unvaccinated from pubs, restaurants, gyms and bottle shops. But businesses in the Pilbara are wary of the impact new restrictions could have on already short-staffed venues. Stardeck Group owner Bart Parsons said the requirements placed an extra burden on business owners. “It’s obviously going to be immensely hard to run a business depending on the level of policing and the level of onus on the customer as well as the owner of the business or the staff,” he said.