By Luke Voogt
Geelong charities and emergency relief providers are bracing for an influx of demand with JobKeeper and the Coronavirus Supplement set to end in coming days.
Calls for help have already increased at the Salvation Army’s Geelong Doorways site, according to centre manager Josie Taylor.
About 30 to 40 per cent of the centre’s clients ceased using its services when federal government introduced the JobKeeper wage subsidy and the Coronavirus Supplement for those on JobSeeker and other payments, she explained.
“Half of them have come back since [federal government began rolling back the payments] so we’re at 80 per cent of what we were pre-COVID-19,” she said.
“About 60 to 70 per cent remained with us throughout COVID-19. A lot of those people are rough sleepers, so they’re having contact day-to-day with us for frozen meals and pantry and hygiene items.”
With a few new clients also attending the centre each day, Ms Taylor expected demand to exceed pre-COVID levels when the payments cease.
“We are definitely anticipating it will go beyond,” she said.
Geelong Food Relief Centre chief executive Collin Peebles expected a “significant” increase in pleas for help.
“We’ve seen an increase over the last couple of months as the payments have been gradually retracted,” he said.
“Over the next couple of weeks we’ll start to see that fallout of people suffering food insecurity as the payments are retracted completely.”
Representatives from organisations across Geelong also raised concerns over the payments ending in the Geelong Food Assistance Network’s regular quarterly meeting on Wednesday.
About 24,000 Geelong and Surf Coast residents could lose up to $150 a fortnight when the coronavirus supplement ends on March 31.
People on parenting payments, Youth Allowance, Austudy or JobSeeker will receive a $50 per fortnight increase beginning April 1, meaning they will effectively lose $100 a fortnight.
As of January 29 Geelong had 10575 residents on JobSeeker, 52.8 per cent higher than 6921 in March 2020, according to Department of Social Services data.
On the Bellarine Peninsula, 2237 residents were on JobSeeker, 74 per cent higher than 1282 in March 2020.
The number of Geelong and Bellarine businesses receiving JobKeeper fell from 9158 in September 2020 to 4904 in December 2020, according to the latest Treasury figures.
