Govt warns it will act if support abused

WELLINGTON: After ushering New Zealand into lockdown, the Government will now clamp down on anyone looking to take advantage of the Covid19 crisis.

If employers do not pass on the wage subsidy scheme to their employees that is fraud, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says.

Mr Robertson urged all businesses to try to keep their staff employed throughout the crisis and said that was why the wage subsidy scheme had been put in place.

About $1.54 billion had already been paid out for 244,887 workers; 72,913 applications had been paid out, while a further 111,898 had been approved and were about to be paid, and 47,434 were being processed.

It was open to almost every business, sole trader and contractor but they had to do it honestly, Mr Robertson said.

When a business made an application to the scheme, they signed a declaration that they would make ‘‘best endeavours’’ to retain their employees and top up their pay to 80% of usual.

If a business was forced to let its staff go during the 12 weeks the subsidy covered, they had to keep paying their fulltime staff $585 a week (or parttime staff $350 a week), or refund the money to the Government.

Keeping the money was fraud, Mr Robertson said.

‘‘I’ve made very clear that if we get the name of that business, we will follow it up immediately.’’

It is understood businesses will be audited once the Covid19 crisis settles and companies have been advised to keep records.

Mr Robertson also had stern words for landlords threatening renters after property manager Quinovic told tenants they would get a 14day notice if they missed rent payments.

That was in contradiction of a new law which states a tenant could only be evicted if they did not pay rent for 60 days, and Quinovic had been informed of this.

He said there had also been feedback from the business community about commercial landlords being inflexible about rent payments, and he urged those landlords to talk to their tenants.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who announced former Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe would join the lockdown task force to coordinate the private sector, said the Government was also keeping a very close eye on allegations of price gouging.

She said supermarkets had given their assurance it was not happening and had been able to provide explanations for specific examples.

‘‘That is the effort we are going to, to protect consumers.

‘‘We will be following up on those reports. Our expectation from everyone at this time is that New Zealanders are treated fairly.’’ — The New Zealand Herald