Gold Coasters brace for ‘disaster’ once JobKeeper payments stop in September

Helloworld travel agent Rhiannon Keath said the business would likely go under if the Federal Government pulled the pin on the financial lifeline. Melanie Hart, of TravelManagers Australia, had been in the travel industry for 25 years and said the effects on the sector had been “completely forgotten about”. “There have been shout outs to tourism operators to book direct, support local etc, which is great,” she said.

Vicky Rose, of Nerang Neighbourhood Centre, expected demand for food boxes would soar once JobKeeper was cut. “It’s going to affect the ‘working poor’, those who work two or three jobs to stay afloat,’’ she said. Self-employed singing school owner Tiff Wood lost 50 per cent of her customers because of the COVID-19 pandemic but said JobKeeper had been one of the best things to happen to her. “It’s allowed me, by the end of September, to have paid off all my debts or loans that my business had,” she said.

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