Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Here's a real-life story. Scott works in theatre and lives in my electorate. He was due to start a 3½ year, full-time contract in May on the stage production Frozen. He is not eligible for JobKeeper because he is casual with less than 12 months experience and his future contract is not taken into account. Why has the government left Scott and 600,000 other Australians behind?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, we've absolutely taken Scott into account, with an effective doubling of Newstart and the $550 Jobseeker coronavirus supplement. At $1,100, this is effectively a doubling of that safety net that was previously in place. As the honourable member will know, some six million Australians are now covered by the businesses that are formally enrolled for the JobKeeper payment, together with the 1.6 million who are on the Jobseeker payment. So we're talking about over half of the Australian workforce.

I could also let the honourable member know that through the PM's work, through the National Cabinet—the work of the premiers and the chief ministers—they've set out a three-stage framework for lifting the restrictions. Treasury have forecast that the benefit to the economy and to jobs from lifting those restrictions, based on the health advice, will be some 850,000 jobs and $9.4 billion to the economy. In relation to those who work in the arts and recreation sector, if those three stages are followed through, 76,000 jobs will be created, or people will get back to work, in that particular sector. And when you look at opening pubs, cafes, entertainment venues and other venues, you're looking at a $2.4 billion dividend to the Australian economy.

We know that we needed to put in place temporary, targeted, proportionate measures in response to the biggest economic shock Australia has ever seen—$320 billion, or 16.4 per cent of GDP. This is a very substantial commitment, as is required at this very difficult time. But there are stories right across this country, some that I've repeated in this House today and yesterday, where our JobKeeper program and our Jobseeker program are saving lives and livelihoods.