Property Council calls for CBD office certainty

The Property Council of Australia has called upon the New South Wales Government to support their CBDs by not reintroducing work-from-home or mask mandates.

Property Council’s NSW Executive Director Luke Achterstraat said now was not the time to have any knee jerk reactions in response to recent reporting surrounding work from home advice.

“People simply want to get on with their lives, any returns to earlier pandemic responses are a step in the wrong direction” Mr Achterstraat said.

“This is evident through people opting to return to the office and be with their friends and colleagues.

“We saw an eight-fold increase from 7 per cent office occupancy in January to 55 per cent in May and over the weekend almost 50,000 people sat next to each other watching the Wallabies at the SCG.

“We are one of the highest vaccinated countries in the world along with freely available third and fourth booster doses as well as one of the lowest COVID death rates in the world.”

Mr Achterstraat said employers and office owners continue to invest in COVID-safe plans and prioritise the safety of their employees.

“However, a one-size-fits-all approach to working arrangements isn’t the answer and individual businesses and their employees should set the arrangements which work for them,” he said.

“We simply can’t afford to have history repeat itself, not when our CBDs are our economic engine rooms and are crying out for reinvigoration.

“Now is the time to hold our nerve and truly learn to live with COVID which has been promised by our government time and time again.”

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