Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's times of crisis like this that require bold and decisive action. They require leadership. They require the vision to see that solutions which would in ordinary times be unthinkable are exactly what the situation demands. That is what this country needed as the double economic and health crisis from coronavirus began to bite, and it is what the Treasurer and Prime Minister delivered in April when they announced the single largest stimulus package ever undertaken by the Commonwealth of Australia. The impact of the Morrison government's JobKeeper program all over the country was dramatic and immediate. It's no exaggeration to say that this one bold decision, then worth $70 billion, rescued hundreds of thousands of jobs overnight and kept money coming in for thousands of families who were facing financial ruin. JobKeeper has kept almost a million businesses afloat. It has helped pay the wages of some 3½ million people. It's directly touched the lives of perhaps as many as a quarter of all Australians and indirectly underpinned the future for all of us.

On the Sunshine Coast, where I live and where my electorate is, we have felt its effects more than many. I've spoken to dozens of businesses large and small in Fisher over the past four months, and they've asked me to pass on their thanks to the Treasurer and to the Prime Minister as they've told me their stories—stories like that of Scott Armstrong, who owns the Parklands Tavern in Meridan Plains and the brand-new Baringa Tavern. When COVID arrived and the pubs and restaurants were closed, it looked like Scott was going to have to let almost all of his staff go. Despite the taverns quickly adapting to provide takeaway food, there would simply not have been enough work for them while the taverns' income sank through the floor. However, with the announcement of JobKeeper, all that changed overnight. Scott was able to contact 101 of his workers and let them know they would be retained with the federal government's support. Since that day those workers have maintained their connection with Scott's business, thanks to JobKeeper. Now that restrictions have been eased, Parklands Tavern and Baringa Tavern are back and better than ever before.

This story has been replicated in businesses across the Sunshine Coast. Take, for example, Tony Kelly's Rice Boi in Mooloolaba, one of the coast's most popular restaurants. It's got a huge following—some would even say a cult following—but, with a unique space and no bookings, the restaurant found it almost impossible to survive. Tony now has 30 staff on JobKeeper. Another example is Spicers Tamarind Retreat, perhaps one of the Sunshine Coast hinterland's best-known resorts and a must-visit destination for foodies on the coast. They were able to bring back 25 staff through JobKeeper. The Edge Cafe, Bar & Restaurant in Montville was able to reopen once JobKeeper began, with 30 employees in the program. Both Ryan Dillon of Spicers Tamarind Retreat and Andy Hargraves of The Edge tell me that they are now seeing important signs of recovery in our community.

Companies of every size in Fisher have used JobKeeper to stay afloat and keep employing Sunshine Coast locals. That's what JobKeeper was designed to do. For example, our iconic SeaLife Sunshine Coast Aquarium at Mooloolaba has more than 50 staff on JobKeeper. At the other end of the scale, Jono Milligan has kept his two community newsagencies, Kawana News & Gifts and Birtinya News & Gifts, going, helping a handful of locals and supplying Sunshine Coast residents with their newspapers. That's all thanks to JobKeeper. Likewise, Matt and Sharynne at the Moffat Beach Brewing Company were initially forced to stand down most of their modest staff, but, with the introduction of JobKeeper, they brought back takeaway business and lunch and put their eligible team members back on. JobKeeper even allowed Matt and Sharynne to bring back some of their non-eligible staff, with the leg-up provided by the program elsewhere in the business helping them to afford the extra wages.

For other Sunshine Coast small businesses, it's been the JobKeeper payment which has given them the people and resources they needed to offer innovative new pandemic-era services to customers. Two of the coast's world-class fishing businesses, Rockliff Seafoods and Walker Seafoods, rely on export markets to support their businesses. They are now doing quite well as a result of the support they have received through JobKeeper. A nearby Italian restaurant, Augello's Ristorante & Pizzeria, only had nine staff eligible for JobKeeper, but that didn't stop the owners, Simon Best and the famous State of Origin Queenslander Billy Moore. They were able to offer takeaway service and get their business open again, but only with the support of the Morrison government's JobKeeper.

I want to thank Simon and Billy, Heidi and Pavo Walker, Helen and Adam Rockliff and all of the other business leaders on the Sunshine Coast who have taken up the JobKeeper payment and used it not only to keep employing locals but to innovate and ensure that their business can make a contribution to our ongoing economic recovery. Nationwide, we are beginning to see the impact of that hard work. Since those deeply anxious early months, there have been promising signs. We should all be optimistic that, when our economy opens up fully once again, we will be able to rebuild and create a stronger Australia together.

Today we've heard a couple of speeches from those opposite, and I'm sure the rest of the day will be full of negative talk from those opposite, who are absolutely driven to talk down the economy. It's a real shame, because Australians want their political leaders to come together at our darkest times. Last week, I did my Tour de Fisher, where I rode around my electorate. On the ride from Peachester to Maleny there is a very steep hill up Bald Knob Road. It's a cracker of a road. It's a very steep road. When I left the Peachester listening post I got on the bike and I put a podcast on, and I made the mistake of listening to this podcast of the Leader of the Opposition talking about the difficulties he is having managing the expectations of his base and trying to have this modicum of being positive. Bald Knob Road is so steep that I couldn't stop to hit the 'stop' button on that podcast. So, for an hour of torture, I had to listen to the Leader of the Opposition talk about the troubles that he's having. Australians want positivity, not negativity, not the constant carping and talking down of the economy that we're seeing from those opposite. They want to see a positive contribution from those opposite, but that's not what they are getting. With the undaunted spirits of those in my business community, and in fact right throughout the Sunshine Coast, I have got no doubt at all that after this crisis the Sunshine Coast, and indeed this country, will be growing and prospering once more.

This bill will enable businesses who have struggled so much to stand proudly on their own two feet. We need businesses like those on the Sunshine Coast that I've mentioned today and many thousands of others to take a lead in rebuilding our economy and bringing Australia through to a brighter future on the other side of this COVID crisis. The bill before us gives those businesses and their employees the precious time they need to make this brilliant future a reality. I commend it to the House.

See this speech in context