End of JobKeeper will spell ruin on Gold Coast

DEMOGRAPHER and well respected commentator on Australia’s economy Bernard Salt, AM, makes a good point in his comments about Cairns and Port Douglas, JobKeeper is the only thing between many tourism and hospitality businesses and closure forcing thousands on to the unemployment line.

The Gold Coast has a similar challenge to Port Douglas and Cairns, the end of JobKeeper in March will send many businesses into bankruptcy and once again we’ll see long queues at Centrelink. In addition, many businesses that have hung on until now (post the holiday season) are surveying the wreckage and making informed decisions about their future operations in a reduced capacity.

The Gold Coast has five sitting government members in Canberra including two Cabinet Ministers and an Assistant Minister, the largest concentration of Government members in a tourism region and I ask, will you please be the Gold Coast’s strong advocates in Canberra for an extension of JobKeeper?

We can’t remain silent and watch years of hard work in the tourism and hospitality sector on the Gold Coast go down the drain and people’s dreams and aspirations in ruins.

The one-size-fits-all policy was always going to be difficult as sectors of the economy improved quicker than others, however this does not mean the end of JobKeeper is the right decision.

The latest Gold Coast tourism numbers to the year ending September 2020 compared to the previous year were of concern with hundreds of thousands missing from our theme parks, beachs, hotels, motels, caravan parks and restaurants and hundreds of millions missing from the city’s cash registers.