Source : Perth Now news
WA’s hospitality sector says cuts to immigration risk devastating local pubs, restaurants and hotels, warning it could lead to slashed trading hours and reduced services for customers.
The industry holds concerns the Coalition’s hard-line stance on migration could create significant workforce pressures for hospitality businesses already facing labour shortages and other challenges like rising operating costs.
In his response to the Federal Budget last month, Liberal Leader Angus Taylor said he wanted to cap net overseas migration at the number of new homes completed in Australia, vowing to make one of the biggest cuts to immigration in the nation’s history.
Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods said there were other levers available to help increase housing supply, including homes to transition from short-term accommodations back into the long-term rental market.
He pointed to the near-10,000 homes listed on short-term rental platform Airbnb across WA.
“We have no control or influence over housing completions so why make our industry suffer,” Mr Woods said.
“If businesses cannot access enough workers, it can lead to reduced trading hours, reduced services and delayed investment, so it is important that housing policy also recognises the workforce needs of industries like hospitality and tourism.”
Last month, a Senate inquiry heard that about 40 per cent of the AHA and Accommodation Australia workforce were on some sort of visa. In some venues, the figure could be as high as 75 per cent of staff.
Mr Woods said hospitality and accommodation were one of Australia’s biggest employing industries, supporting almost a million jobs nationally and 100,000 in WA.
“Hospitality has always been a major employer of young Australians but access to international labour has become increasingly important to maintain normal operating hours and service levels,” he said.
“In regional and remote WA, migrant workers, particularly working holiday makers, fill essential roles that would otherwise not be filled by locals.”
Accommodation Australia chief executive James Goodwin said Mr Taylor’s policy would “adversely” impact his sector, which relies on migration for chefs, housekeeping as well as general managers and accountants.
“This is going to reduce our capacity, how many rooms could be offered or it would also stop longer-term investment in the economy,” he said.
“If you need to open a new hotel or do major refurbishment, if you are not confident that you can staff that property, then you’re unlikely to go ahead with that development.
“If the Opposition wants to proceed with these sorts of policies it is vital that there is a separate hotel industry labour agreement to make sure our sector is excluded from those numbers.”
The hospitality sector also slammed Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ capital gains tax overhaul, which would scrap the 50 per cent discount and impose a minimum 30 per cent tax on gains from selling shares and business assets.
There are fears owners who took financial risks to revitalise pubs or keep a hotel open will now face materially higher tax when they retire, refinance or pass the business onto the next generation.
“Measures that make people nervous about investing or make people nervous about what their household income is going to be certainly reduces the sentiment for people to have the confidence to be able to travel and stay in our properties,” Mr Goodwin said.
Mr Woods said hospitality was a highly capital-intensive industry, with operators continually investing in venue upgrades, accommodation assets, equipment and new infrastructure to remain competitive.
“There is also concern about the impact on expansion, succession planning and the ability for small and medium, or family-owned businesses to transition and continue investing in the sector,” he said.
