Religious Groups Urged Pay Back JobKeeper If They Made A Profit In 2020

There are calls for churches or religious groups who ended up in the black last year as a result of JobKeeper to pay back the money.

The federal government gave a financial handout to businesses who were struggling to pay staff during the pandemic.

Church groups and religious organisations were eligible for that money to keep themselves afloat, however questions have been raised about what they should do now.

The ABC reports $627 million in JobKeeper payments was paid out to 3,500 religious entities until the scheme ended in March earlier this year.

Religious organisations had to prove they were forecasting a 15 per cent decline in revenue between March and September last year in order to get the payment.

While these groups would have no doubt been affected by the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, it didn't seem to affect some of their financial books by the end of the year.

For example, the Scripture Union of Queensland received more than $15 million in JobKeeper, which was totally above board and legitimate, but it ended up posting an $11.7 million surplus.

The organisation told the ABC: "Scripture Union QLD met the statutory decline-in-revenue tests for charities to qualify for JobKeeper support.

"We are grateful for JobKeeper as it meant we maintained employment for all of our staff despite the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic."

The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide similarly posted a more than $7 million surplus for 2020 after getting $13 million in JobKeeper.

Many religious groups are able to funnel their profits back into their coffers because they're listed as a charity.

Labor MP Andrew Leigh is now calling on these groups to consider paying the money back to the government if they made a profit during the pandemic.

He said: "I also think that the Morrison government needs to be held to account for running a scheme which continued to hand out money to firms with rising earnings."

The federal government has avoided commenting directly on the concept of religious groups posting a profit as a result of the financial subsidy.

However, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the ABC that he would welcome any decision from an organisation to pay back JobKeeper.

He said in a statement: "These organisations perform vitally important work. That's why the Morrison government provided them with unprecedented support to ensure they could continue to help those Australians in need of their services during this once-in-a-century pandemic."

When the government first rolled out the JobKeeper scheme, it deliberately left people like priests, nuns, imams and rabbis off the eligibility list.

It was deemed they weren't technically employees and, as a result, weren't entitled to the payment.

However, the government amended the criteria two months after it was launched and offered it to religious practitioners.

Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie