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In the last few months there has been activity on a range of policy issues , with action on Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) remaining top of the list, with NSW being front and centre this time. Earlier this year, the NSW Government issued a discussion paper which identified options for increasing the regulation on STRA so as to return properties to the long-term rental market. AA NSW made a submission which included useful evidence from a significant study of the effectiveness of European STRA regulation and advocated for a multifaceted approach incorporating state-wide day caps and strong enforcement of the registration and cap requirements.
AirBNB and Stayz in their submission supported a levy of 3 - 5% on all accommodation, including hotels and motels, and opposed increasing restrictions. Their advocacy reflects the international experience that a levy does little to impact the number of listings on STRA platforms given that the levy is passed on to the customer. AA opposes a levy on any accommodation as it makes tourism less attractive and competitive, and certainly pushed back on any levy on our sector, in the same way that we successfully knocked a levy on members off the Victorian government’s agenda.
This month we also saw the passing of STRA legislation through the WA parliament. This legislation imposes a registration process for STRA and lays the groundwork for a 90-day cap to be imposed on STRA in most regions.
In late January, AA also completed a major submission to Federal Treasury to advocate for issues which need to be addressed in the forthcoming Federal Budget. The key matters raised included migration, access to training, apprenticeships, funding for tourism and event marketing, and the importance of a national framework for STRA regulation.
In the last month, AA has held consultation sessions with members to provide industry input into two significant national inquiries and consultations processes currently occurring to which Accommodation Australia will be making important submissions on your behalf.
The first inquiry is into apprenticeships and traineeships and specifically the incentives needed for apprentices and employers to encourage commencement and retention of apprentices and trainees. AA has major concerns that traineeship employer incentives for our industry will be discontinued on 1 July 2024. Already the number of trainees and apprentices in our sector has been dropping dramatically, and the pipeline of apprentice chefs was also impacted during the COVID period.
The second inquiry relates to a migration draft Core Skills List recently released by Jobs & Skills Australia (JSA). This List is critically important to the sponsorship of temporary and permanent skilled migrants under the new migration program which commences at the end of the year. JSA has classified our key occupations into either a category that requires further consultation (including cooks, chefs, hotel & motel managers, finance managers), or a category that indicates that JSA is confident that the job roles will not be included on the final list (such as cafe & restaurant manager). Occupations not on the final core skills list will not be eligible for migration sponsorship unless the salary level is over $135,000. In our submission we will need to present further evidence that these occupations are in shortage so that we can sponsor migrants for those job roles.
Also relating to workforce and skills, AA has held three follow up meetings with the Australia Bureau of Statistics covering issues raised in our December submission on the job classifications of relevance to our industry. We understand that some of the recommendations we have made, including Sommelier, Bar Supervisor and a splitting of senior chefs from junior chefs are going forward into ABS’s final recommendations, but more work was needed for others, and a supplementary submission was forwarded in March following the gathering of job descriptions supplied by members.
Finally, this month the AHA and AA appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia in Cairns. We highlighted key issues impacting the development of our workforce in Northern Australia, including training, apprenticeships, migration, and the difficulty attracting a workforce into regional north Australia. Specifically we stressed the importance of sponsorship of key occupations including chefs and hotel managers as well as the need to retain the 88-day rule for second and third-year working holiday makers.
Regards
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