Gold Coast pub workers unable to access JobKeeper welfare due to Queensland-only loophole

A loophole in the new JobKeeper scheme means hundreds of Gold Coast pub workers can’t access the welfare, and it’s due to legislation that only exists in Queensland.

A LOOPHOLE in the new JobKeeper welfare scheme means hundreds of Gold Coast pub workers won’t get it because their venue is tied to bottle shops doing a roaring trade.

The Wallaby Hotel at Mudgeeraba is one of 12 pubs on the Gold Coast owned by Australian Venue Co, a joint operation with grocery giant Coles.

Because of a Queensland liquor licensing law that says a bottle shop can only be operated if it is linked to a hotel, AVC manages taverns while Coles operates bottle shops including Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor.

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The Wallaby Hotel manager Mark Westaway with staff member Michelle Slattery. Picture: Jerad Williams

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The major supermarkets are enjoying a surge in trade as are bottle shops but pubs have taken a big hit because of lockdowns - however their shared bottomline means no JobKeeper.

“It’s bloody heartbreaking,’’ Wallaby Hotel manager Mark Westaway said. “We’re not Coles, we just share an ABN number. The liquor side of Coles is a completely separate entity.”

A Treasury factsheet on the $1500-a-fortnight JobKeeper says eligibility applies if an employer’s business has an aggregated turnover of less than $1 billion (for income tax purposes) and it estimates GST turnover has fallen or will likely fall by 30 per cent or more; or a business has an aggregated turnover of $1 billion or more (for income tax purposes) and it is estimated GST turnover has fallen or will likely fall by 50 per cent or more.

Coles profits have soared in recent weeks but Mr Westaway said by association his 36 staff had suffered enormously and had no job security.

“With the liquor and Coles businesses not having that downturn in sales, because booze and toilet paper sales have gone through the roof, it’s not fair.

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The Wallaby Hotel in Mudgeeraba is one of dozens of hotels ineligible for JobKeeper. Picture: Jerad Williams

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“We stood down 36 team members (from the Wallaby Hotel). I’m having honest conversations with staff. They don’t know where they’re going to get money to put their next meal on the table.

“AVC has got 12 hotels on the Gold Coast and 87 in Queensland. There’s just under 1500 team members that should be eligible for JobKeeper that aren’t getting it. That’s 1500 families and people without support.’’

Mr Westaway said AVC had been lobbying Federal Government to reassess JobKeeper.

He had been encouraging his staff to write to local MPs.

Mr Westaway said a handful of staff had been given occasional shifts in the nearby First Choice bottle shop, but shifts were getting cancelled regularly.

He said AVC had lost $2 million overall in paying permanent employees their wages.

“There’s so many rumours that pubs will be open in four weeks, then some say it’s July, and then September,” Mr Westaway said.

“The hardest thing is staff don’t have that income any more and they don’t know when this is going to end.

“I want nothing more than to get back into that pub. We should be pouring schooners and serving parmies.”