Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Charities and not-for-profits which rely on donations were hit as hard as anyone in the wake of the pandemic. They are used to getting by on the smell of an oily rag, but when belts tightened it was donations that were cut from the family budget first. JobKeeper kept the doors of vital community services open.

Hope Reins in Gympie, a service which helps people through any number of different challenges that life presents them, while rehabilitating neglected horses, was one such place. Ruth and Kylie wrote to me to express their thanks to the Morrison government for the JobKeeper program, because without it they might have had to close their doors for good. They said they lost many donors, which could have been devastating, and the consequences to the program would have been dire. They wrote: 'JobKeeper enables us to maintain our employees and more than 60 volunteers. We were given hope and took heart that we were not only able to survive, as an organisation, but indeed we were able to thrive.' Hope Reins changes lives, and JobKeeper has helped them and 5,900 small businesses in Wide Bay through these very troubled times.