Now, some might scoff that not being able to get an espresso or a craft beer when you want one is a first-world problem, but hospitality and the closely linked tourism sector are vital to the wellbeing of Otago as a whole.
As the recently released Otago Regional Workforce Plan sets out, more than 12,000 people work in the sector, representing almost 10% of those in employment — nationally that percentage is about 6%.
This was why various southern business organisations clamoured for government support during the pandemic, and why the Government was prepared to stump up with expensive leave schemes and wage subsidies.
Despite that, employment in the hospitality sector still fell by 14.5% in 2021, and the contribution those once vibrant businesses made to the region’s GDP dropped from 6.43% in 2019 to 5.31% in 2021.
That last figure might seem a small percentage drop, but it represents many millions of dollars not going to those workers, their employers, the many ancillary firms which rely on hospitality for their business to survive, and into the wider economy.
Many of those workers were migrants, and that important labour pipeline is not yet operating at full flow after the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions which effectively closed the border to all but the critically needed, the determined, or the very patient.
Again, Otago has historically been an over-achiever in this area: pre-pandemic migrant workers made up about 12% of the province’s overall workforce, much higher than the national average of 5%.
That was not just pint pullers and baristas either: those migrants were building the houses on the ever-expanding subdivisions in Cromwell or Albert Town, picking the fruit in the orchards of the Teviot Valley, or keeping the healthcare system afloat.
Unsurprisingly, our local MPs have been highly vocal on this issue: in particular, National Southland MP Joseph Mooney, whose fastness includes the tourist mecca of Queenstown, has begged for immigration processes to be eased.
"I'm talking with hospitality providers in my region who are literally in tears because of the stress on them and their staff," Mr Mooney told the House in September.
"Their staff are leaving because of the stress that they're being placed under. What is the Immigration Minister doing? Nothing. It's absolutely shameful."
Earlier this month Mr Mooney — partly — got his wish when the aforementioned minister, Michael Wood, announced a range of measures targeted at the tourism and hospitality sectors, which included specific adjustments aimed at making it easier to hire a chef.
However, there can be a dark side to immigration, which has been exercising Invercargill National MP Penny Simmonds in recent months.
Just before the recess the education and workforce select committee, of which Ms Simmonds is a member, released its self-initiated report into migrant exploitation.
Building on a 2019 MBIE report on the issue, and acting as a prelude to the introduction this week of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill, the report noted that about 500 instances of alleged exploitation of migrant workers are lodged annually, and called for pro-active action to be taken to address the problem.
So far as Ms Simmonds was concerned though, the worker protection Bill would not at all meet the identified need ... even though she "very tentatively" voted for it at first reading.
"As my colleague Erica Stanford said, only about 10% of the complaints against exploitation are ever looked into ... it's going after those low-level breaches of the law, and our poor businesses that are trying to get migrants in to staff their businesses," she said.
But before any unscrupulous employer has the opportunity to exploit a migrant worker (an action which the law will quite rightly punish), they have to be able to find one and as Mr Mooney and Ms Simmonds have repeatedly pointed out, that is not as simple as it sounds.
With fruit trees blossoming, aged residential care beds closing and summer holidays looming, more than a few Otago businesses will be desperately hoping reinforcements are on their way.
Card reading
National Dunedin list MP Michael Woodhouse is leaving few avenues unexplored in his quest to detect unwarranted government expenditure, and has recently asked the Minister for ACC if the corporation had paid for tarot card readings.
If it had, it might have seen the parliamentary question coming and not have needed to search its payment records to determine that it could not find any instances where tarot card readings had been paid for by the taxpayer.
Lightning rod
There are very few degrees of separation in New Zealand, and Taieri Labour MP Ingrid Leary pointed out an unusual Parliamentary connection this week.
Sandy McKie has been appointed as Usher of the Black Rod, the Governor-General’s messenger for ceremonial communications with the House of Representatives.
A defence force veteran, Ms McKie was with the RNZAF during its post Boxing Day tsunami relief efforts, during which she offered invaluable assistance to Ms Leary, then a freelance journalist, as she covered that awful tragedy.
Hunting a headline
It turns out that there is an annual Parliamentary hunt ... who knew?
Joseph Mooney was one of several MPs who were hosted by the Game Animal Council during recess week for a day on Forest Range Merinos Station, near the Lindis Pass.
It wasn’t all hunting, shooting and fishing ... the council advised MPs about their role in conservation, food gathering and outdoor recreation, Mr Mooney said.
