Coronavirus impact sees Dreamworld make 50 positions redundant

The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic has forced Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld to make dozens of jobs redundant.

With reports suggesting Dreamworld will not reopen until the September school holidays, Brisbane newspaper, The Courier-Mail has reported that the Ardent Leisure-owned attraction has this week advised about 50 staff member that their positions were being made redundant.

Dreamworld and its adjacent WhiteWater World waterpark have been closed since March and are yet to announce a reopening date, despite Village Roadshow beginning the reopening of its Gold Coast attractions.

However, the Ardent Leisure managed SkyPoint at Surfers Paradise will reopen on Friday.

With almost 900 full-time team member, Dreamworld is one of the Queensland tourism industry’s largest employers.

News of the redundancies comes after The Courier-Mail last month revealed the collapse of a rescue package from the Federal Government in the form of loans to help manage costs for theme parks during the shutdown.

Parks harbouring animals have been given grants to help cover the cost of feeding their menageries, while theme parks have also shared in Queensland Government funds set aside for tourism businesses.

In a statement, a spokesman said the job cuts were a reflection of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

The spokesman advised “the adverse economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many businesses around Australia with the tourism and leisure sector being affected more than most.

“Like many businesses in the sector we have had to make the very difficult decision to adjust our cost base which has resulted in approximately 50 salaried roles at Dreamworld being made redundant.

“We believe this decision was necessary to preserve the overwhelming majority of jobs for the future.”