By Alesha Capone
Wyndham’s business leaders have welcomed the federal government’s decision to extend JobKeeper payments beyond the end of September.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg yesterday announced that the JobKeeper program would be extended for six months until March 28, 2021 with renewed eligibility criteria.
Committee for Wyndham chief executive Barbara McClure said the move would “give businesses some breathing space to look to the future”.
Ms McClure said that without JobKeeper “many businesses would really be in trouble”.
Earlier this year, Star Weekly reported that businesses in the 3030 and 3029 postcodes had lodged the highest number of JobKeeper applications in the state, outside of the Melbourne CBD.
This included 3681 businesses in the 3029 postcode (Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit and Truganina) and 3277 businesses from the 3030 postcode (Werribee, Werribee South, Point Cook and Derrimut).
Mr Morrison yesterday said the JobKeeper program had been effective in stemming the loss of jobs and businesses as Australia battled the COVID-19 pandemic on a health and economic front.
He said the changes for JobKeeper 2.0 were “designed to reflect where businesses are hurting the most”.
From September 28, the fortnightly JobKeeper payment would be reduced to $1200 for full-time workers and $750, for people working less than 20 hours per week.
From January, the payments will come down again, to $1000 per fortnight for full-time workers and $650 for people working less than 20 hours per week.
Businesses will have to prove they remain in financial distress each quarter, with a reduction of least 30 per cent in earnings compared to pre-pandemic levels, to remain eligible for the JobKeeper program after September.
Committee for Wyndham chairman Peter Mayall said the federal government seemed to be taking a “targeted approach” to helping businesses rather than a “blanketed approach”.
“There is no doubt, in my opinion and the Committee for Wyndham’s collectively, that there are businesses that are going to need assistance post-28 September, when JobKeeper was due to end, and the announcement by the Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg is whole-heartedly welcomed,” he said.
A Werribee Business & Tourism Association (WBTA) spokesperson said: “It’s good to hear that JobKeeper has been extended, especially with the challenges local businesses have been facing.”
Lalor MP Joanne Ryan said the Opposition would “carefully assess” the new JobKeeper rates “and see who has been included and excluded in the new arrangements”.
“We’ll be as responsible and constructive as we can be, and as we have been throughout, and look for solutions not arguments,” she said.
