Australian Universities Angry at ‘Final Twist of the Knife’ excluding them from Jobkeeper – ryan

Universities are incensed by the third set of changes in a month designed to exclude them from the $ 130bn Jobkeeper WAGS subsidy program, labeling them the “final twist of the knife” that will ensure none qualify.

New rules for the program, released late on Friday, specify universities must count six months of revenue when calculating their projected downturn, a tweak that puts $ 1,500 fortnightly payments per worker out of their reach.

On Monday, the University of Sydney, one of the last institutions still in contention for the funding, announced it is no longer eligible.

The move follows a decision in April to exclude universities from the more generous threshold for charities to access the program, meaning they must show a full 50% drop in revenue or 30% for those with revenue of less than $ 1bn a year to qualify.

On April 24 The Government Clarified That Universities Must Count Their Commonwealth Grants Funding Towards Their Revenue, Despite A Change Allowing Other Charities to Leave Out Government Grants.

Under the new rules, while other organizations such as businesses and charities can calculate their losses over one month or one quarter in order to qualify, universities must show the required decline from 1 January to 30 June.

The Innovative Research Universities Executive Director, Conor King, Said After Successive Changes to Jobkeeper It Now appears “No University Can Claim It”.

“Universities have turned with every twist of the knife, only to be left to heal ourselves each time,” he said. “This seems to be the final twist of the knife.”

“The lack of support will impact how well universities will function in 2021 and beyond.”

The University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor, Michael Spence, Told staff on Monday he believes it qualified and applied on the basis of “the significant loss of revenue from student suspensions and withdrawals in March for semester 1”.

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“The government has changed this rule for universities and extended the period in which to demonstrate revenue loss… this means we will no longer be eligible to receive jobkeeper funding,” he said.

Spence reassured staff that anyone who was paid a salary top-up in April in anticipation of receiving jobkeeper funding in may will be allowed to keep the payment.

A spokeswoman for la trobe said the university believed it was eligible for jobkeeper based on a declin in projected gst turnover of more than 30% when comparing march 2020 with march 2019. But the university was then disqualified by the inclusion of commonwealth grant scheme.

“By applying for jobkeeper, we acted in good faith by following the published ato guidelines,” she said. “We are very disappointed that the application criteria have changed again.”

In April The Education Minister, Dan Tehan, Announced a Support Package including a Guarantee on $ 18bn of Projected University Funding and $ 100m of regulator fairy relief, shared with the rest of the tertiary sector.

Universities welcomed the package as a first step but warned it would not be enough to prevent an estimated 21,000 job cuts in the next six months in Australia’s third largest sector.

Labor’s Education Spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, said the Government “Seems Determined to Do Nothing While Universities suffer Big Job Losses and Campus Closures”.

“That will hurt families and communities right across Australia, including in regional areas.”

A Spokesperson for the Education Department said the rules were changed the monthly measurement of revenue applied through the “normal test” was “potentially subject to larger variations due to timing issues than underlying economic drivers would suggest”.

“According to the six month test is designed to smooth out any timing variations.”