Key points

• Regional areas are suffering from a severe shortage of workers, worsened by a lack of affordable houses. 
• Some regional employers are offering sweeteners including accommodation and higher pay. 
• The worker shortage is hampering recovery from the pandemic for many businesses. 

Regional employers are offering accommodation, extra pay and free transport from the city to plug widespread staff shortages plaguing the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Some tourism businesses are even building accommodation onsite to house workers as regional Australia grapples with soaring house prices and a scarcity of properties.

The worker shortage is hampering the financial recovery for many businesses that cannot operate at full capacity. The school holidays will present yet another challenge but the problem is expected to worsen in the warmer months.

Trawool Estate general manager David Burrows is desperately trying to hire more staff. Credit:Justin McManus

The Trawool Estate, north of Melbourne, has resorted to transporting casual employees from the city because it cannot find enough locals to staff its two restaurants and 27 hotel rooms.

General manager David Burrows said the business was short about 15 workers.

“At points we were paying between $50 and $60 an hour, plus paying people to travel up and back from Melbourne,” he said.

The business has a cottage it provides to staff for overnight stays and will build dedicated staff quarters later this year in time for the summer rush.

Burrows said he could not have imagined going to such lengths to secure workers when the business opened in 2019.

“I don’t think we ever would have dreamed of having such issues finding staff.”

Burrows (right) with Kung-Yen Cheng who often stays on site rather than driving home to Hawthorn. Credit:Justin McManus

The business is seeking to hire two new managers and is offering extra annual leave, fuel allowances and accommodation when required.

“We’ve got cars we might potentially give out to the right people.”

One of Trawool’s workers, chef de partie Kung-Yen Cheng, commutes from Hawthorn and often stays in the cottage onsite.

In Queensland, some hotels on the Sunshine Coast are reportedly bussing in workers from Brisbane as spiralling prices push houses beyond the reach of workers in towns including Noosa.

The Noosa Council and Noosa Chamber of Commerce are preparing to introduce a billeting program in the hope of securing spare rooms or vacant houses for workers.

Chamber president Ralph Rogers said innovative solutions were required.

Noosa is suffering from a severe shortage of workers and affordable housing.

“The challenge of managing labour supply is not unique to Noosa and neither state nor federal
governments currently have answers to the glaring disconnect between average weekly wages, cost
of accommodation and labour supply,” he said.

Figures released in April showed regional Victorian house prices had skyrocketed in the previous 12 months with almost every regional council recording double-digit price growth.

On the Great Ocean Road, Lorne Central café owner Bryce Newcomb said he moved from the town because he could not afford a house big enough for his family. They now live in nearby Birregurra.

“There was nothing really affordable or practical in Lorne,” he said.

Newcomb said many other families had moved away from Lorne, denying businesses a younger generation of casual workers who would otherwise work there.

Newcomb said he was paying up to $70,000 a year for a barista to work 38 hours a week over four days, plus four weeks annual leave. Previously, he employed baristas on a casual basis.

Newcomb is also offering accommodation in two apartments he has above the café.

He estimated Lorne was about 200 workers short over the summer.

The scarcity of available housing in Lorne is exacerbating the worker shortage. Credit:Eddie Jim

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism general manager Liz Price said before the pandemic there was a shortage of 400 to 600 workers in the tourism sector across the region.

“I think now it’s easily more than doubled,” she said.

The group has been pushing for worker accommodation to be built at government-owned caravan parks at Lorne, Apollo Bay and Torquay that are operated by the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority.

The authority’s chief executive Jodie Sizer said her group was continually looking to increase accommodation capacity for seasonal workers on the Great Ocean Road, particularly in Lorne.

On the Mornington Peninsula, the consortium behind the Sorrento Hotel development, recently bought a nearby vacant nursing home it plans to convert into accommodation for workers.

The consortium, which includes the Trenerry Property Group, Victor Smorgon Group and the Kanat Group, wants to finish the rooms in time for the summer peak. But the project is being challenged in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Trenerry Group director Robert Dicintio said it was impractical for workers to travel from Melbourne to Sorrento. “It’s just not viable for a salary earner to commute three hours,” he said.

House prices have risen rapidly on the Mornington Peninsula, making it harder for local businesses to find staff. Credit:iStock

Dicintio said the workers’ rooms would be three-star and cost about $40 a night.

Regional tourism and hospitality businesses in New South Wales are grappling with the same problems. NSW Tourism Industry Council executive manager Greg Binskin said some caravan parks were putting aside cabins to house workers.

He said many hospitality businesses were unable to open throughout the week because they were so short-staffed.

“For regional areas that’s not a good customer experience,” he said.

Regional councils around Australia have been examining whether short-stay rental platforms, such as Airbnb, are denying long-term houses to permanent residents.

In New South Wales, the Byron Shire is considering a 90-day cap on short-term holiday accommodation to increase the number of long-term rental properties.

Destination Byron board member David Jones said the town was already suffering from a severe housing shortage and recent floods had only worsened the situation.

He said Byron Bay’s tourism and hospitality sectors could easily take another 500 workers.

“We don’t anticipate it’s going to get better any time soon,” he said.

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