Merivale’s Justin Hemmes calls for a relaxing of restrictions

CEO of Merivale Group Justin Hemmes, is calling for Sydney to open up on a larger scale.

While NSW is not facing as tight restrictions as Victoria, it is still not “business as usual”. 

Hemmes’ venues have adhered to all COVID-safe regulations, from appropriate spacing of people to sterilising, sanitising and all other compliance processes.

As most hospitality venues in Sydney have created safe spaces, the Australian businessman feels it is now time to relax restrictions further.

“My mantra has been employment, employment, employment,” said Hemmes, whose venues are doing what they can to operate to keep over 2000 people in jobs. 

Hemmes’ fear is that once JobKeeper runs out, operating under current restrictions will not be sustainable. 

“At best, it’s a solid base from which we can further reopen, but only if we have a plan to ease restrictions as much as possible while still keeping the community safe,” he said. 

With NSW curve remaining flat for months, NSW looks to have been successful in keeping COVID numbers under control, apart from a few exceptions where venues had broken the rules. 

Mr Hemmes acknowledges that the health impact of COVID has been devastating and that everyone wants to keep the numbers low. However, he believes everyone needs to keep perspective. 

“It is worth reflecting that when more than 800 Australians died from influenza last year, and more than 1100 people died on our roads, we did not respond to those equally tragic losses of life with lockdowns or equivalent measures.”

He is calling for a response to the virus to be a well-informed one “balancing the health risk with the cost of shutting down people’s livelihoods. 

“Balance means our response can’t be just about medical issues, or just about the economy,” he says, stating that both the medical and economic aspects need to be taken into consideration when deciding on how to proceed.

Mr Hemmes refers to the positive response in NSW due to tracing capabilities and thinks restriction can be eased even further with these proven techniques in place.

“Given that many retail and service businesses are already operating with far less onerous restrictions, including no requirement for contact tracing, these are changes I believe hospitality venues could operate with safely, while still recording every customer to enable rapid tracing.” 

Hemmes says making small changes like increasing venue caps could lead to more jobs as those venues could employ more staff: this would have a roll on effect on suppliers, growers and manufacturers. 

“Big employers have an important role to play, making their workplaces safe, and bringing their people back to work in the city. 

“We can’t live in fear indefinitely, and I hope the Summer Summit leads to concrete outcomes that give the people of Sydney the positive boost they need.”