'It will now take years if not decades to recover.'
This year hasn’t exactly kicked off as many had hoped, with events continuing to be cancelled across the country due to COVID restrictions.
The latest victim is Adelaide’s HomeBrewed Festival, which was scheduled to go down later this month with Bad Dreems, Peter Combe, Teenage Joans and more, but has been axed due to the state’s new COVID restrictions.
In a statement released today, organisers have revealed a negative economic impact of almost $5 million.
"Our event was quashed when heavy restrictions for South Australian events were indefinitely (at least until January 27th) re-introduced on December 26th, which includes a ban on ‘vertical consumption’ and dancing (amongst other things) – even at fully-vaccinated events,” Event Director Gareth Lewis said.
"South Australia is the only state or territory in Australia with these restrictions in place that will not allow our event to safely proceed.
"We simply can't run HomeBrewed in a seated format, and a postponement into a time where we would be competing with the beasts that are Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Fringe and WOMADelaide is simply not viable.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
"We're so proud of the team and the event line-up for what would have been a great celebration of South Australian food, beverages and artists after a shocker of a year in 2021, and we're even more disappointed that punters will miss out on yet another event in SA.
“Whilst we welcome the government assistance that is available to our business to cover sunk costs that the festival has incurred to date (up to $100,000), by imposing the harshest restrictions on trade since June 2020 and by far the most restrictive in the country currently, the forced cancellation of just HomeBrewed Festival is much further reaching.”
Organisers of the event have released a snapshot of the overall losses:
Lewis added: “Our industry desperately wants to get back to work in a safe format but the constantly changing goalposts and inconsistency of any real financial support coupled with total lack of empathy or respect has lead to the destruction of businesses and livelihoods, the degradation of mental health to the point of costing lives and will now take years if not decades to recover.
“We call on the government to engage with the events and hospitality industries, end the state of emergency, develop a proper events insurance scheme as other states have, give us a clear roadmap and stick to it so we can plan for the future.”