Small Business Ombudsman calls for tweak to JobKeeper

JOBKEEPER is set to end in about two months’ time, but Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell wants a change to allow small businesses to replace staff and still qualify for the scheme.

Introduced by the federal Coalition in April and extended in July, the fortnightly payments have been going to businesses and not-for-profit organisations significantly affected by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Carnell said although the economy was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and more jobs were becoming available, small businesses still trying to get back on their feet were losing staff and could not hire replacement employees under the current JobKeeper rules.

“While some small businesses are doing well, there are a significant proportion of small businesses that are still doing it tough,” she said.

“JobKeeper was reduced again on January 4, and with some eligible businesses unable to afford to top up wages, they are having to reduce the hours of their staff.

“It means staff are resigning to go to jobs offering more hours and pay.”

She said the JobKeeper program was originally designed to allow businesses to keep their existing staff, but the economic recovery was presenting new challenges for some small businesses.

“Under JobKeeper rules, eligible businesses cannot replace their staff with a new staff member and still attract the government payment.

“Unfortunately, this rule has the unintended consequence of increasing the divide between the haves and have-nots in the small business sector.

“From a struggling small business perspective, this JobKeeper rule makes a bad situation worse because they are losing their staff and cannot afford to replace them.

“It’s imperative that the government changes JobKeeper so that small businesses that have been hit hardest by the COVID crisis can replace their staff to help them get their businesses back up
and running.

“Our national economic recovery will be driven by jobs growth and that’s why it’s critical to support small business employers during this difficult time to allow them to survive, grow and hire in the future.”

The federal government has repeatedly said JobKeeper will be wound up on March 28.

Speaking earlier this month in Torquay, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said JobKeeper would not be extended or altered.

“We have no plans to change the major parameters of the JobKeeper program,” he said.

“The JobKeeper program is legislated to the end of March and it’s our intention for it to end there.”