Hotel SA September 2023
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HOUSING IMPACT<br />
ON JOB SHORTAGES<br />
From the President<br />
DAVID BASHEER<br />
This column has devoted many<br />
paragraphs to the urgent need to<br />
reform our migration policies as<br />
a key trigger to ease our chronic<br />
labour shortage.<br />
Some very hard-earned migration<br />
concessions have seen an easing of<br />
our labour issues, notwithstanding<br />
there is much more to be done to<br />
restore the labour market balance.<br />
That market imbalance has<br />
meant the much-discussed lack<br />
of wage growth has not occurred in<br />
our industry.<br />
Many of our members have taken<br />
advantage of the new found<br />
availability of overseas workers.<br />
Agencies such as AHA|<strong>SA</strong><br />
Corporate partners Migration<br />
Solutions and The Kingsmenhave<br />
assisted in bringing out specialised<br />
labour, whilst the return of<br />
overseas students has been an<br />
important boost.<br />
However, stalling these gains is the<br />
scarcity of housing. A major issue in<br />
the metropolitan area and an even<br />
greater concern for many of<br />
our regions.<br />
To give credit, the Malinauskas<br />
Government has shown genuine<br />
intent to ease the housing shortage.<br />
Premier Peter Malinauskas is<br />
on the public record of backing<br />
urban growth and new houses in<br />
regional developments. We must<br />
now remove unreasonable barriers<br />
to make that happen in a timely<br />
manner. New land releases in areas<br />
such as Dry Creek and Sellicks<br />
Beach can be great drivers to ease<br />
our housing issues, but we don’t<br />
need drawn out lead times.<br />
The opportunity for more infill<br />
projects, such as converting<br />
the abandoned Franklin Street<br />
Bus Station to housing, are also<br />
great levers to move forward in a<br />
positive manner.<br />
Backing that up, a report released<br />
by the Business Council of Australia<br />
ranked South Australia as having the<br />
best planning system in the country.<br />
And after politics seemed more<br />
prevalent than policy, the Federal<br />
Government has finally passed<br />
its ambitious bill hoping to build<br />
one million homes over the next<br />
five years.<br />
Despite that, all three tiers of<br />
Government stand guilty of past and<br />
present poor decision making as<br />
outdated planning laws, strangling<br />
red tape and over caution have<br />
combined to lead us to the current<br />
social and economic failure.<br />
The housing crisis is very much<br />
part of the daily news cycle, yet it<br />
was staggering to learn builders<br />
and developers in <strong>SA</strong> are required to<br />
navigate a 5,423-page document to<br />
gain planning approvals, meaning<br />
planning applications can take<br />
months to be approved.<br />
The Advertiser reported an Urban<br />
Development Institute of <strong>SA</strong> poll<br />
local whereby councils were the<br />
biggest hinderance to efficient<br />
development delivery. Any hotelier<br />
that has tried to facilitate business<br />
with local government would<br />
identify with those sentiments. Their<br />
reflex response to any request too<br />
often is ‘No’.<br />
Master Builders <strong>SA</strong> CEO, Will<br />
Frogley ,absolutely nailed it when he<br />
said “If we have enough available<br />
land to gain a strong affordability<br />
advantage we can attract more<br />
working aged people to the state.”<br />
Frogley noted there are delays<br />
of up to 15 years from the time<br />
land is identified for housing to<br />
when people can move in. Most<br />
of our members need their sous<br />
chef relocating form interstate or<br />
overseas, or moving from the city<br />
to Port Lincoln, to start a bit quicker<br />
than that.<br />
It is critical governments stay<br />
sensitive to the current crisis and<br />
ahead of the game to increase<br />
the housing supply. Equally, in the<br />
regions where availability of land is<br />
not an issue, services are needed to<br />
ensure the people can live there.<br />
Today’s crisis is a generational<br />
failure of government.<br />
In the current environment, no policy<br />
at the three levels of government<br />
can be allowed to decrease supply.<br />
Landlord rent caps? What are they<br />
thinking?<br />
This housing crisis is a genuine<br />
social issue, but the economic<br />
impediment is very real.<br />
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