Articles published under the media release byline are news produced by the relevant business and remain unedited by Brews News.

This media release was circulated by the Night Time Industries Association.

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), launched the campaign Keep Our Venues Alive (KOVA) on 18 March seeking to support businesses in the hospitality sector through the Covid-19 shut down crisis. Since its successful petition results, the NTIA has gone on to define a clear mission to continue this campaign.

In March 2020, after it became apparent that the Covid-19 crisis was having a major impact on the hospitality sector, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), pivoted like many others to address this issue front on. The campaign is going national and diversifying the focus to all independent hospitality businesses.

Chair of the Night Time Industries Association, Michael Rodrigues said, “ It is clear that following the Government’s physical distancing measures, many businesses in the hospitality sector were on the verge of collapse and mass staff redundancies were becoming increasingly common.”

The NTIA were able to highlight to the Government the plight of the independent hospitality sector by obtaining a petition that attracted over 15,000 signatures.

“We are pleased to have campaigned together alongside other industry groups resulting in the JobKeeper policy announcement earlier this week,” said Rodrigues.

To continue to keep the hospitality sector at the forefront of Government consideration the NTIA has defined a clear mission for the KOVA campaign, which it intends to execute in the coming months.

KOVA seeks to:

• mitigate the human impact on the hospitality sector (including venues and their supply chains) across:
  • all employees whether full, part-time or casual, whether resident or foreign; and;
  • self employed business owners;
• help businesses in the sector trade to the best of their ability for so long as physical distancing measures prevail; and
• otherwise protect the sector so that it can ramp up quickly after the crisis and as part of Australia’s economic recovery

To achieve these aims, KOVA:

(a) works with government to advocate for the sector and better inform policy decisions;

(b) provides industry-specific analysis and commentary on any crisis related Government support packages, measures, rules or restrictions that may help or hinder businesses, consolidating information into one accessible point of distribution; and

(c) harnesses the power of our collaborative industry into a force for good, cultivating new relationships between stakeholders and facilitating opportunities for innovation and creative approaches that will improve sector output and resilience in the medium to long term.

While KOVA is open to sector wide participation the NTIA recognises that many of KOVA’s actively engaged stakeholders are either (i) small to medium hospitality businesses, or (ii) large operating groups whose primary focus is food and beverage, and (iii) suppliers to these businesses.

Utilising the KOVA campaign to do so, the NTIA will continue to liaise with industry members including small business owners, employees and the supply chain to seek commentary and feedback on any Government initiatives as well as the overall sentiment of the broader sector.

The KOVA management team, backed by the NTIA is available for comment, supported by a range of industry spokespeople from across Sydney and Melbourne’s hospitality scene.

More information can be found at www.keepourvenuesalive.com