Covid-19 Inquiry: Business leaders detail struggle with vaccine mandates and finances

RNZ News

3 days ago

Auckland CBD during the level 4 lockdown.
Photo:
RNZ / Robert Smith
Business leaders from Auckland and Northland have spoken about the profound impacts on small to medium businesses coping with public health restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They spoke at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the government's response to Covid-19, with one leader saying they didn't think vaccine mandates would work in the future.
The legal challenges for businesses to implement the mandates, and the enduring financial repercussions that are still felt today were among some of the issues raised.
These are the first public hearings of the inquiry's second phase, which was called for by the coalition government last year.
The hearings concentrate on the impact of the extended lockdown in Auckland and Northland in 2021, vaccine mandates and safety, and the effects of the public health measures on social division, isolation, health, education, and business activity.
Auckland was in lockdown for 17 weeks, and Northland and parts of Waikato for 12 weeks, after community transmission of the Delta strain in August 2021.
Auckland's Heart of the City's CEO Viv Beck said the pandemic was the "perfect storm" for CBD businesses, with the loss of tourists, international students, large events, and leaving many working from home.
She said this left businesses dealing with the "eye of the storm" - particularly for the 1300 consumer facing businesses facing a 95 percent drop in sales during the level four lockdowns.
Beck cited data from banks which also showed a 38 percent drop in spending at CBD businesses during alert level two, and a 19 percent drop under alert level 1 restrictions.
She said many are still trading below pre-Covid levels as of today.
Beck said wage subsidies at the time had helped, but didn't cover businesses' operating costs and rent.
Meanwhile, the Employers and Manufacturers Association's (EMA) employment relations and safety manager Paul Jarvie told the inquiry that vaccine mandates had created legal challenges for businesses.
"You've got conditions of employment, running in parallel to that you got the Bill of Rights, so people to have the right to say yes or no to treatment, and treatment includes injections. Those businesses that were mandated to have vaccines, that immediately creates employment law issues, if someone doesn't get mandated [sic] what do you do with them?" he said.
When asked by the chairperson of the inquiry, Grant Illingworth KC, whether employment legislation during the Pandemic was adequate, Jarvie said it was "fit for purpose" at the time, but added that it would be helpful if there was a caveat under the employment law which allowed for certain public health measures under exceptional circumstances.
Both Jarvie and Beck told the commissioners that if there was another similar event, they hope businesses can be involved from the very beginning.
Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic response chair Grant Illingworth KC.
Photo:
Screengrab / Covid 19 Inquiry
Beck said while she'd liaised with central government agencies from February 2020, she pointed out that being given information was different from being able to participate in decision making.
"We got to a point where we were actually getting asked about a decision about to be made, often at the last minute, but that's the point, if it happens from the start, businesses have to be a trusted voice in decision making," she said.
A manager from the National Field Days Society also in her evidence spoke of feeling of the events industry not being listened to by decision makers during the pandemic.
Its head of customer and strategic engagement Taryn Storey said they'd spoken to government agencies multiple times about how they could host field days safely, but felt ignored.
She said they were willing to integrate vaccine passports into its ticketing system, and thought their venue was well equipped to support the pandemic response.
However, Storey said multiple visits by decision makers to their venue - including by district health officials - had led nowhere.
Storey said while they felt they had weathered the pandemic, the impacts were "exceptionally profound" and they're still financially trying to claw their way back.
Representatives from Northland's Chamber of Commerce said in their evidence on Monday that a community based approach would've worked better than the hard handed vaccine mandates, in persuading people to get vaccinated.
Its president ,Tim Robinson, said rather than the "authoritarian" mandate path, he felt it would've been more effective to engage with Whānau Ora providers to talk to Northland communities and businesses about the vaccine.
"Anybody that I dealt with or worked with during that whole period, said look, I got a much better chance of convincing somebody that the vaccination's a good idea, if there's no threat attached to it," he said.
A worker on the frontline of Auckland's Jet Park Hotel quarantine facility being vaccinated against Covid-19 on 20 February 2021.
Photo:
Supplied / Ministry of Health
Robinson said the mandates made businesses feel that they were not trusted.
When asked by commissioner Anthony Hill whether vaccine mandates would ever be a valid tool in future events from a business perspective, Robinson said no.
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