Wage subsidy there ‘just to soften the blow’ – Davis

13th May 2020 By Staff Reporter | news@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker

“The wage subsidy scheme and the business support packages were just there to soften the blow…,” tourism minister Kelvin Davis told the Epidemic Response Committee yesterday.

Continuation of the wage subsidy was the first query from committee deputy chairman and National Party list MP David Woodhouse.

Kelvin Davis presenting to the Economic Response Committee

Davis said: “We have been open and honest from the outset that we will not be able to save every business and every job… [but] it’s given people time to think about what it means for their particular business.”

His appearance at the ERC yesterday was more an opportunity for opposition politicians and industry leaders to express their concerns than extract any new information.

Davis was speaking ahead of announcements of further business support to be announced on Thursday.

Woodhouse said the subsidy had delayed the inevitable but redundancy notices were being issued “as we speak”.

Davis responded that under alert levels 3 and 4 there was no tourism at all.

“That has been really hard for businesses. We acknowledge that and under level 2 domestic tourism can start,” he said.

Woodhouse said that having a job was a massive factor for health and wellbeing and asked how the Government had balanced those things with the lockdown.

“We believe a strong health response was also our best economic response. What we’ve done has worked. We went fast and hard and our recovery is starting sooner than other comparable countries. It’s been effective and businesses can start,” Davis said.

National’s Todd McClay asked how many more jobs would be lost, and why hadn’t the wage subsidy been extended two weeks ago.

Davis responded that it was hard to gauge and would become apparent when statistics were released in August.

But he couldn’t pre-empt cabinet decisions to be announced tomorrow.

McClay said that NZ First leader Winston Peters had seen fit to reveal the $72m support package for horse racing, which was a $16bn industry compared with the $42bn tourism industry, so he hoped the response for tourism would be proportionate.

Hamish Walker, MP for Clutha-Southland was concerned about ski fields that he said were being held up by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment over procedures that had to be signed off before they could open, which was only two weeks away. He also asked what distancing rules looked liked for the SS Earnslaw boat on Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown.

Iain Cossar, general manager of tourism at MBIE, said officials were working through the details over the next 36 hours.

The minister also clarified the 100-person limit rule for businesses such as restaurants, compared with the 10-people rule for social gatherings.

Government departments would be complying with the same rules for meetings and conferences, and was working with industry to develop and clarify rules, Davis said.

Act Party MP David Seymour asked Davis for a definition of tourism, and asked whether a petrol station in Kaikoura was part of the industry.

Davis said it was a good point that illustrated how dispersed the industry was, and there would be a criteria developed for people to obtain access to the business support package to be announced tomorrow.

Green Party MP Marama Davis asked about work to support Māori tourism, and Davis said they had been and would be involved in discussions to help “pivot” business and redeploy workers.

Labour MP Tamati Coffey asked about the re-imagining of tourism, and Davis said sustainability was a focus for the future.