Good News Stories

The last few months have been really tough for Australians, and sometimes good news has been few and far between, so it's my pleasure to share with you all today some good news stories from my community on the north side of Brisbane. The Lilley team were able to achieve a great result for the Queensland Stoma Association in Chermside, who contacted us asking for help with a loophole they were caught in that prevented them receiving JobKeeper. After working with the Queensland Stoma Association, Treasury decided to exclude government revenue from the turnover calculations so Kylie and her team were eligible for JobKeeper.

Mark from Taigum had his NDIS appeal approved after working with my team. Mark now has the green light to install an access ramp in his home. Patricia from Chermside was finally able to get her Centrelink carers allowance claim approved after we worked with Centrelink a good seven months after she initially applied.

We were also able to secure JobKeeper for Tim and his team at Harvest Rain, an amazing youth arts organisation in Stafford. Tim applied for JobKeeper for 22 of his workers in April. One month after the reimbursements were supposed to start rolling out, Harvest Rain had not received a cent. By that time, Tim had spent over $130,000 in wages in April and May and the Harvest Rain bank account was empty. So we called the tax office to let them know that he would have to stand down 22 workers without pay if he didn't receive JobKeeper that week, and, after six weeks of waiting, the claim was processed and the money was put in Tim's bank account. I want to congratulate Tim for his advocacy, both for his workers and being a good boss, and for his work for the northside and broader Queensland arts industry.

We were also able to help out Shorncliffe Outside School Hours Care, who had applied for JobKeeper but had been incorrectly classified by the ATO, resulting in very long delays paying the subsidy. We were able to work with the ATO to change their classification and get them their subsidy. We worked with the Department of Home Affairs to help get Yaping Shier's travel application approved so she was able to fly to Taiwan for her sister's funeral.

Thank you to all of these northsiders who trusted me and my office to help them when they were going through a rough patch. It was my pleasure to help you as your federal member and it is something I will do every single day that you entrust me with the role of being your federal representative. These have been very tough times for us. We have worked together on the northside. We have highlighted where there are gaps in the system, and these are some examples of how, when we work together constructively and effectively, we can get really good results.

I will endeavour to continue to do this for you in the months and, hopefully, years to come. Again, I thank you very much for working with my team. Please sing out if we can do anything for you. My office number is (07)32668244. I'm 'Anika Wells MP' on all social media platforms, including TikTok,