Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

On such a devastating day, our government will continue to focus on the plan and the response that we have provided, in a measured and carefully architected way. That plan has been working. More than 700,000 Australians would have been added to the number that the Leader of the Opposition refers to. Our plans will continue to deliver on these urgent tasks. But JobKeeper has been extended, it has been expanded and it will continue to be provided. JobKeeper must be transitioned. I refer to the words of the Leader of the Opposition himself. He said:

We obviously do need to shift away. The mechanisms won't be in place forever …

He also said:

But with JobKeeper, the fact is it needs a transition.

These are the each-way bets of the Leader of the Opposition. He says JobKeeper should be extended but it should be transitioned. He says it should be higher and he says it should be lower. What the Australian people know is that, with his each-way bet plan, the Leader of the Opposition is no-one that you can trust in a crisis. He is not someone who can be relied upon. Despite his many years in this place, where he considers himself the prince of the parliament, he has spent more time taking points of order than he has spent sat in a budget Expenditure Review Committee.

See this speech in context