Staff of Gold Coast firm Newstart Homes owed up to $160,000 in entitlements

STAFF of Gold Coast firm Newstart Homes were called into a meeting while their boss took a phone called from then-Senator Bob Day. An hour later, they were shocked, crying and unemployed.

The now-former Senator Bob Day. Photo: AAP

AFTER weeks of being assured they were insulated from the problems faced by interstate branches of Home Australia, staff of Gold Coast firm Newstart Homes were called into a meeting room while their boss took a mystery phone called from then-Senator Bob Day.

An hour later, they were shocked, crying and unemployed.

Some of the 13 permanent staff members are owed more than $160,000 in entitlements which they fear they may never see.

Karen Smith has had to have tiles ripped up four times in her family's brand new home, built by Newstart Homes.

Sales consultants are unsure if they are eligible to claim under legislated employee entitlement schemes as the company insisted on hiring them as contractors — meaning they may instead have to join the queue of creditors hoping to make back some of what they’re owed.

Bosses had assured staff since June they would not be affected by trouble in other branches of Mr Day’s Home Australia group.

But at 11am on Tuesday, their manager called them together.

“Something’s happening,” he told them.

“I don’t know what’s going on.” But then he took the call from Mr Day; staff were to forbidden from leaving; liquidators from McGrathNicol arrived and took over.

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“The liquidators came and stripped us of any Newstart assets we had — keys to the place, things like that,” said one consultant, who did not want to be named.

‘They interviewed us individually — then we were terminated at 12.

“It was pretty sombre — the admin staff burst into tears.”

Mr Day announced his resignation from the Senate on Monday as Home Australia went into liquidation.

Karen Smith, of Mundoolun west of the Gold Coast, is furious at the results of work on her house built by Newstart Homes.

“Bob Day has strongly advocated against unions and sham contracts — yet all his sales staff were individual contractors — we are in fact employees,” the staffer said.

“It’s entirely contradictory to his entire stance as a politician.”

Meanwhile, clients of Newstart knew something was wrong with the company long before this week — Karen Smith and her family are $30,000 out of pocket for furniture storage, and have had their brand new floor ripped up four times to rectify mistakes on their home west of the Gold Coast at Mundoolun.

“It’s gone on for nine months — the handover was four days before Christmas but we couldn’t move in because the tiles weren’t down,” she said.

“We haven’t had a reply to emails for the past three months from Newstart — I’m ready to give up.”