Top ten priorities to strengthen the Sunshine Coast hospitality sector

Senator Jacinta Nampijimpa Price & Federal Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien MP met with local business leaders to discuss the Sunshine Coast hospitality sector on April 21.

Sunshine Coast small business leaders have identified ten priorities they want addressed to strengthen the local hospitality sector, following extensive engagement led by Federal Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien MP.

This was the outcome from a forum hosted by Mr O’Brien and attended by 45 local business leaders in Maroochydore, alongside Shadow Minister for Small Business Senator Jacinta Nampijimpa Price.

As part of Mr O’Brien’s “Save our Venues” campaign, the forum followed a comprehensive engagement program with the hospitality sector: including public surveys, over 25 business visits, submissions from key businesses organisations, and mobile office consultations across his electorate of Fairfax.

The top ten priorities were to: improve transportation; make planning rules easier; lower taxes; get inflation down; consult more; make approvals & processes easier; fix the energy problem; solve for labour shortages; support live music; and modernise trading restrictions.

The sector is calling for a shift in thinking by governments where they less as ‘big brother’ enforcers and instead work in cooperation with venue operators.

A transition is underway as younger generations socialise and consume differently and this is putting pressure on the operating models of nightlife operators.

“Our hospitality sector is vitally important to the Sunshine Coast, both economically and culturally, and it deserves our support,” Mr O’Brien said.

“It’s important that we listen carefully to the priorities identified by the sector, because governments work best when they deliver outcomes the people they serve really need.”

Shadow Minister for Small Business Jacinta Nampijimpa Price said the forum reinforced the real pressures facing Sunshine Coast small businesses.

“This is a wonderful part of our country, and these businesses shouldn’t suffer, they should be enabled to grow, prosper and support local artists and live music, which I’m very passionate about,” Ms Price said.

Mr O’Brien will communicate the ten priorities to local, state and federal governments, as he continues working with the hospitality sector to give it voice and support.