Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to reports today that coalition MPs, including the member for Leichhardt, want JobKeeper extended beyond September but the Prime Minister is refusing to rule out kicking workers in other industries off JobKeeper before September. Why can't the Prime Minister be clear? Which Australians will he leave behind?

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

From the very outset of this crisis, the government has put in place the most comprehensive and the largest set of income support and economic lifeline measures that this country has ever seen. The one we started with was jobseeker, because jobseeker, the unemployment benefit, is the safety net that sits right under all Australians if they find themselves out of work. That's what we did first.

The second substantive measure that we put in place for income support was JobKeeper. JobKeeper was put in to ensure that Australians could find themselves continuing to be on the books of employers and doing some work in some cases, and they would be there in that arrangement for six months. That has bought our economy critical time. If businesses had been put in a position where they had to make decisions back in March and April about whether those employees could stay in those businesses, we would have seen millions more find themselves on their way to seeking support through the unemployment system. That decision bought those businesses time. It bought the Australian economy time. When other countries were only going for three months, we took the decision to go for six months, and that provided some certainty and confidence. Since that time, we have seen consumer confidence restored under the ANZ index and 70 per cent restored by business since the COVID crisis hit.

Now we are going through the same thoughtful, meticulous process of considering the data and looking forward and reviewing the program to make the right set of decisions about the right combination of income supports and fiscal supports to the economy that would be in place after the end of September. This is how our government makes decisions. We do things carefully, considering the advice and looking at the economic environment, and ensure we make those decisions at the right time. JobKeeper is there until the end of September. That's why we put it in place. It will remain in place until the end of September, and it will continue to provide that confidence. At the same time, the Treasurer and I and the members of the cabinet will work together with the members of the government to ensure that we get the right balance and mix of fiscal policies, because it's the fiscal policies, given the absence of monetary ammunition that's in the system, that will be so important. But we want, above all things, to get Australians back into jobs. Australians don't want to be on JobKeeper or jobseeker; they want to be in jobs. We hear from the opposition all the time how they would seek to keep people back and not allow them to go forward. The policies we will put in place and continue to put in place will be about them not only getting the support they need when they need it but also getting them in the jobs they need.