Qld tourism, hospitality giants sign up to save jobs

Village Roadshow and Star Entertainment are among over 600,000 businesses who have signed up for the Federal Government’s JobKeeper program in a bid to see thousands of stood down staff one day back at work

VILLAGE Roadshow and Star Entertainment are among the Queensland companies preparing to access the Federal Government’s JobKeeper scheme to rehire some of the thousands of staff laid off since the start of coronavirus crisis.

The iconic tourism and hospitality operators are among the 613, 770 Australian businesses that have already registered for the scheme which will pay a wage subsidy of $1500 a fortnight for each employee.

Village Roadshow chief executive Clark Kirby said the theme park operator, which last week closed its Movie World, Sea World, Wet’n’Wild, Paradise Country and Topgolf attractions, was working with the government to implement the program.

“Our team members are our family, and this will give us an incredible opportunity to keep our family together and retain the unique skill sets we will need to reopen on the other side of this situation,” Mr Kirby said.

A Star Entertainment spokesperson said the company had registered for the JobKeeper program and was awaiting further advice from the Australian Taxation Office.

The Star was forced to close its properties in Queensland and Sydney due to tightened restrictions around social distancing and social gathering , leading to the standing down of more than 8000 workers.

Village Roadshow’s Clark Kirby

Bar and restaurant operators in Brisbane were quick to sign up for the JobKeeper scheme after earlier being forced to close their doors due to strict social distancing rules.

“It’s a big boost for small business’’ said Phil Hogan, co-owner of the Jade Buddha bar in the CBD. “On the face of it, it’s a great help because you’re trying to keep your keep people and many in hospitality are casual.

“We were talking to our accountants about it yesterday and we’ve already contacted a lot of our staff today. It gives people hope.’’

James Power, owner of The Norman Hotel at Woolloongabba, said his group was also in the process of signing up for the assistance. “This is very welcome news and we’re delighted to be able to take advantage of it,’’ he said.

Mr Power said his venue employed eight full-time staff and about 50 casuals, with well over half the casuals being eligible for the payments.

Star employee Lewis Hopkins, 24, is Australasia's best Croupier. He was crowned the '2019 Australasian Croupier Champion' in November after a three-day competition in Perth. Picture Glenn Hampson

Virgin Australia Group said it welcomed the JobKeeper Program and was urgently exploring the eligibility criteria for its business and impacted team members.

Hutchinson Builders chairman Scott Hutchinson said it had been forced to put people off but with almost $3 billion worth of revenue still on its books from construction projects underway it was not eligible for the government's job-saving wages subsidy.

“Nobody is going to help Hutchies,” he said. “We know the government’s not going to help us. We know no one’s going to help us.

“We’re too big for them to worry about and we’ve got to look after ourselves.

“We’ve got $2.9 billion worth of work to finish so we’ve got to keep that on the go.

”Luckily we’ve got cash.

“We’ve got massive entitlements because we’ve had people working for us for so long. They’ve accumulated sick and long service leave that we’re using. We’ve got $20 million-plus of that to pay out but it’s all covered.”

Kenton Campbell

Zarraffa’s Coffee founder and CEO Kenton Campbell said the wage subsidy offered a real chance for its franchisees that are struggling as well as other small businesses to “make it through to the other side”.

“As an overall business we’re not there yet and, to honest with you, I hope we don’t get there,” he said. “I don’t want to lose 30 per cent (of revenue) in order to do it, so we’re trying everything we can not to.

“But we’re an umbrella over a bunch of small businesses and there’s probably already between 10 and 15 franchise stores that have absolutely downturned 30 per cent or more.”

Combined with rent relief and franchise fee relief, the job-saving wage subsidy together with “the banks being pretty damn good...we might actually get some of these stores through to the other side”.

“The big thing with this is that businesses have the ability to claim for casual workers who have been working for them for a year or more,” Mr Campbell said.

“We’re casuals run…80 to 90 percent of our hours are casual so that’s crazy good and will be the difference for some of these people to stay open.”