In this special joint letter to the Prime Minister, the Australian Retailers Association and Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association lobby for support.
Dear Prime Minister,
URGENT: AN AUSTRALIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY RESCUE PACKAGE
We write on behalf of the Nation’s retail industry which is Australia’s largest private employer with more than 1.3 million people employed across more than 180,000 businesses around the country.
The turnover of the retail industry in Australia is over $325 billion annually, representing 65% of overall consumer spending, and is responsible for 4.1% of gross domestic product.
The COVID-19 crisis currently gripping Australia has created the most challenging trading conditions ever faced by retailers in our country’s history.
Consumer confidence has plummeted across the clothing, footwear, household goods, personal accessories and café sectors.
This problem is compounded by already soft market conditions. The ARA has been advised by some retailers that trade is down 20% to 30% in March on a year-on-year basis. Further reports to the ARA now advise these figures have dropped significantly further.
Employers and employees alike are now staring down the barrel of mass unemployment and face the terrifying prospect of being unable to pay mortgages, rent and put food on the table for their kids.
Should this eventuate, the consequences will be catastrophic, resulting in the decimation of the retail industry and the loss of hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs.
For these reasons, the SDA and the ARA have put their differences aside in the interests of saving Australia’s retail sector, and are writing to propose that the federal government urgently establish an Australian Retail Industry Rescue Package so the industry has the support it needs to survive for the next six months and beyond.
We propose that a multi-billion dollar Australian Retail Industry Rescue Package should include the following urgent measures:
A wage subsidy for retail workers, to protect their income and their jobs;
Underwriting a line of credit for retailers (subject to criteria to be determined), to ensure they can continue to trade without being insolvent; and
A government guarantee of rent payments from retailers to landlords, or the federal government identifying rent reduction measures in conjunction with landlords, with all consequent rent savings to be used by retailers to help pay for employees wages.
We also urge the government to establish an Australian Retail Industry Rescue Package Taskforce with the SDA, the ARA, government, and other relevant stakeholders to help implement the Australian Retail Industry Rescue Package and act as a clearing house for current issues facing the retail sector.
While the stimulus package announced by the Federal government today is positive for the small business community, the measures it contains will not save many retailers -large, medium and small -whose trade is dependent on discretionary spending and which constitute the bulk of the Australian retail industry. Unless swift action is taken by the federal government to support retailers and their employees, many businesses will declare insolvency and hundreds of thousands of Australians will lose their jobs.
We request an urgent meeting with you and your Ministerial colleagues to discuss this proposal.
Yours sincerely,
Gerard Dwyer
SDA National Secretary
Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association
Russell Zimmerman
Executive Director
Australian Retailers Association