Council’s legion of the lost

Hundreds of stood-down workers ineligible for crisis pay

ALMOST 600 Geelong council workers indefinitely stood down this week will not be able to access the Government’s $1500-a-fortnight JobKeeper subsidy, it is feared.

City of Greater Geelong chief executive Martin Cutter and Corangamite federal Labor MP Libby Coker yesterday called on the Federal Government to change the eligibility criteria for the payment package to include city workers.

It is understood the council will be ineligible to access the JobKeeper subsidy for impacted staff, who will instead have to seek access to the JobSeeker payment — formerly Newstart — of $1100 a fortnight.

The difference for workers will amount to $200 less each week.

Mr Cutter called for the eligibility changes after the city on Tuesday indefinitely stood down 576 workers, primarily from the city’s swim, sport and leisure centres, stadiums, The Potato Shed, The National

Wool Museum and the Carousel.

“At this stage, based on the Federal Government criteria for eligibility, it is unlikely that the city meets the criteria and therefore will be ineligible to receive the JobKeeper $1500 subsidy for employees,” Mr Cutter said.

“Alongside the Municipal Association of Victoria and other municipalities, we are strongly advocating to the Federal Government for the affected services within local government to be eligible.”

Ms Coker has also urged the Government to make councils eligible for the JobKeeper scheme.

“It will give stood-down council employees a better rate of pay than JobSeeker to help sustain them through challenging times,” she said.

“It will mean they are not cast adrift and left in the unemployment queue and it will certainly go a long way to relieving the anxiety of those stood down.

“I’ve had several employees who’ve lost their jobs at the

City of Greater Geelong that have contacted me in the last few days. Their concerns are they’re worried about the future, they’re worried about their ability to get back into the workforce, and they’re anxious … their ability to be able to feed their families and pay the bills.”

The Geelong Advertiser’s questions to the Federal Government around the eligibility of council workers for the JobKeeper subsidy were directed to the Treasury this week, which did not respond before last night’s Addy deadline.

The JobKeeper subsidy is accessed directly by businesses impacted by the pandemic.

But to access the subsidy, a business with an annual turnover of less than $1 billion must see a decline in turnover of at least 30 per cent.

The City of Greater Geelong closed a series of community facilities last month, causing work to dry up for about 20 per cent of its workforce. But, the city’s turnover has not been significantly impacted.