‘No income’: Australian businesses plea for support as JobKeeper ends

As the flow of cash coming from the wage subsidy dries up, businesses across the country are feeling the impact with some fearful for their future.

Sydney travel agent owner Maria Xylas is facing uncertainty and a debt-laden future without JobKeeper support. Picture: Jane Dempster

The Morrison government closed the cheque book on Sunday as JobKeeper came to an end, leaving hard-hit businesses struggling to survive — or shutting their doors.

The $90bn welfare subsidy acted as a lifeline for 500,000 businesses since it was introduced in March last year.

One of those businesses was family-run south Sydney travel agent Travella Travel, which is battling a $36,000 mountain of debt and trying to keep its head above water.

“Now that JobKeeper is done, we have absolutely no income coming in and no idea when we will get paying customers again,” owner Maria Xylas said.

“My parents are giving me some of their pension to help keep the office open, but I don’t know when I will ever be able to pay them back.”

The company’s debt is expected to climb to $75,000 by October due to rent payments and fees to parent-company HelloWorld.

Ms Xylas received her final JobKeeper payment on Friday.

“I’ve been paid for the last time, and now I have no more money coming in until international travel resumes … and who on earth knows when that will be,” she said.

Ms Xylas was forced to let go of her two employees in September, leaving her alone in the Kingsgrove office to keep processing ­refunds for customers with cancelled travel plans. More than $1.2m in refunds have been issued to customers, including the cut the business would usually ­receive from the booking, she said.

Although she has been given a 25 per cent rent reduction since March last year, despite Ms Xylas’ pleas, her landlord has said he “can’t help anymore”.

Venue 505, a theatre in Sydney’s inner west, made the heart-wrenching decision back in January to shut up shop when JobKeeper ended.

“You can’t make a decision to close down overnight, you have to get out of leases and contracts and let your staff know,” founder Kerri Glasscock said.

“For us, it was the end of JobKeeper coming that forced us to make a call ahead of that cliff.”