CONSTRUCTION SHUTDOWN WILL COST VICTORIAN ECONOMY $1.1 BILLION PER WEEK
The Property Council of Australia is disappointed by the Victorian Government’s decision to close the construction industry for two weeks at a cost of over $1 billion each week to the Victorian economy and at immense personal cost to many thousands of Victorian workers and property and construction businesses.
Victorian Executive Director Danni Hunter said: “The property and construction industry employs over 300,000 Victorians. It is the largest single employer in the state and has worked productively throughout the pandemic, keeping Victorians employed and essential projects progressing.
“With so many Victorians employed in the sector, its essential status has been recognised through the pandemic and we’ve been fortunate to be able to keep working even at a reduced capacity.
“It is critical that the Government and the Public Health team work extremely closely with the industry to immediately lay out a plan for reopening as soon as possible and get Victorians back to work on site and projects back up and running.
“We condemn the actions of rogue protesters we’ve seen in Melbourne in recent days, and they do not represent the industry or its workforce. The majority of construction sites and construction workers are doing everything required of them to meet the highest standards of COVID safety and have done so since the pandemic started.
“Construction industry workers are stepping up and getting vaccinated. Closing the industry will prevent them going to work and getting paid and it will stall projects causing immensely costly delays, putting projects and Victorian jobs at risk.
“We will continue to work with the Government to improve compliance on construction sites and the industry takes very seriously its responsibility to its people and to the broader Victorian community to do everything it can to prevent any COVID outbreaks.
“The property and construction industry is resilient. The industry will work to enforce the highest standards of compliance and ensure vaccination rates continue to increase so it can eventually reopen at full capacity.
“We will work extremely hard over the next two weeks to lock in a clear reopening plan with the Chief Health Officer’s team and the industry.
“We want to get our workforce back to work and our projects back online. We urge all workers to get vaccinated and all projects to get their COVID-safe compliance in order so that the industry can open again.”
Media contact: Eric Allilomou M: 0448 291 236 E: [email protected]