Coronavirus: Retail giants use government welfare to get through crisis

Tuesday, 7 April 2020

The New Zealand Government has paid out millions to the giants of retail as part of the wage subsidy scheme.

Kathmandu, Kmart, Harvey Norman and others have received payouts to cover staff wages during the alert level four lockdown.

Of the nationwide retailers, Harvey Norman received one of the largest payouts at $12.7 million for its 1850 staff.

Over $7 billion has been paid out in the last two weeks, more than is usually paid out in unemployment and sole-parent benefits in an entire year.

Harvey Norman and Kmart, among others, have received millions in wage subsidy payments.

The homeware and appliance company was closely followed by Kmart, which received $11.97m for its 2077 staff nationwide.

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Auction site Trade Me received $4.1m for their 591 staff, and outdoor retailer Kathmandu received $3.6m for 601 staff.

Auckland International Airport has received $4.3m from the scheme, and TV3 broadcaster Mediaworks received $3.6m.

Supermarkets and pharmacies, even though they have been allowed to stay open during the lockdown, have claimed from the scheme.

Applicants must show a decline in revenue of 30 per cent.

Five Unichem pharmacies claimed a total $366,000 from the scheme, subsidising 59 jobs, and two New World supermarkets claimed $622,000 to subsidise the jobs of 91 employees. On Tuesday afternoon, New World reversed its decision.

The Government earlier announced it would name the companies who applied for the coronavirus wage subsidy scheme.

The Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Employer Search launched on Monday night allows employees to search whether their employer has applied for the wage subsidy on their behalf.

Ministry of Social Development general manager Jayne Russell said the list wasn't complete.

'Due to the volume of data needing to be uploaded we have needed to do it in stages. As a first stage we have published employers with more than five employees and a trading name,' she said.

The ministry was working to update the list continuously to include other businesses, she said.

In the next two weeks sole traders and the self-employed who have claimed will also be named in a public register.

Pressure is on the government to start relaxing lockdown rules and let struggling business open again before it is too late.

Employees must be paid at least the full subsidy amount ($585 a week for a fulltime worker) or their total pay if it is less than that.

The wage subsidy is available to all New Zealand businesses in the hope the government can cushion the blow of the four week shutdown.

Last week Stuff reported Harvey Norman had written to landlords in New Zealand telling them that it would not pay rent while its stores were closed.

The letter, provided to Stuff, told landlords they had 24-hours to respond otherwise Harvey Norman would consider the matter settled.

The company has been approached for comment.