Changes to the Federal Government's JobKeeper scheme have been slammed as "frustrating" and "stupid" by one of Ballarat's top business representatives.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Commerce Ballarat chief executive Jodie Gillett panned the government's decision not to change the criteria for staff qualification for the scheme.
"It's so frustrating," she said.
We've been asking, and a lot of people around the country have been asking for changes, and these aren't it.
- Commerce Ballarat chief executive Jodie Gillett
"There's a whole lot of Victorian businesses where JobKeeper is going to be useless because they're not going to be able to afford to open."
The changes brought in by Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday state that businesses would need to show their actual GST turnover had fallen in the September quarter for the first extension period, demonstrate a significant downturn in the three months before December for the second extension period and pushed back the eligibility date for workers to July 1.
Ms Gillett said these changes do not account for people that have moved jobs during the pandemic, and hurts businesses aiming to get back on their feet by bringing in new staff.
READ MORE:
She suggested an update so businesses retained the same amount of JobKeeper payments as they had in March.
"(The pandemic) started at the end of March and now we're in August... people are leaving, people are changing jobs," she said.
"I've seen a cafe and a caravan park where they've lost full-time staff in the last week and they can't replace them because they can't bring new staff in on JobKeeper.
"What we're asking for is for the government to change the criteria so that if a business qualified to pay 10 staff on JobKeeper in March, they should be allowed to do the same now. We need to give businesses that certainty.
"It's stupid to have this grand JobKeeper scheme and not actually make the few tweaks that people have been asking for."
The Government expects the number of JobKeeper recipients in Victoria to increase by 530,000, to 1.5 million people in the September quarter.
If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.
