Toowoomba business owner saved by new stimulus package
LONG-time business owner Gary Love was facing the prospect of closing his 27-year business and laying off his staff before this week.
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LONG-time business owner Gary Love was facing the prospect of closing his 27-year business and laying off his staff before this week.
But the hire managing director of GC Event Hire said he has been saved by the Federal Government's latest stimulus package, which will allow him to keep his nine permanent workers on the books for the near future.
The new $130 billion package, designed to help the economy recover after the coronavirus outbreak is over, will give businesses up to $1500 a fortnight per employee in the form of a "JobKeeper" payment, which is to be spent on keeping workers on the payroll.
Mr Love said the loss of nearly all his upcoming work due to event cancellations within the span of a few days left him in a difficult position last month.
"We lost 90 per cent of our work on the first day (Friday March 20), then that number went up to 99 per cent a few days later," he said.
"We were astronomically falling, we were falling from a great height.
"Our permanent employees, many of us who have been with us for 10-20 years, they have a lifetime of experience in the event hire industry.
"For us to open our doors at the end of the armageddon, we needed to retain them."
The timing of the outbreak was particularly poor for the business, with the majority of event work happening between March and December.
Mr Love said without the new assistance from the Federal Government, his future in the region was looking bleak.
"It is the one single thing that will help us limp through this crisis," he said.
"It'll help us to retain our permanent staff as much as humanly possible.
"The reality was there was no chance we would've survived without the stimulus package.
"We're in contact constantly with our accountant to find out the intricacies of this plan."
The package also included changes to the income test for the JobSeekers scheme, raising the partners' annual wage limit to nearly $80,000.
The JobKeepers scheme, which is similar in strategy to the UK Government's wage guarantee, has been praised by Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Rohl.
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