Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's pretty obvious to all of us that we are not yet through this pandemic. Whilst it is still raging overseas, whilst we still have Australians returning to Australia infected with the virus, we are still very much in an emergency and fighting a pandemic.

That is why the government's plan to end JobKeeper in March is wrong. It is too soon. We are not yet through the emergency, and there are many businesses in my electorate and in electorates all over Australia that still need that support, particularly in sectors like the arts and entertainment industries. This includes small AV businesses that usually thrive at this time of the year because of the festivals we have. They have not one booking. In fact, they have had not one booking for 12 months. These are businesses that rely upon JobKeeper to keep their doors open and see them get through to the other side. Also affected are small businesses in our tourism sector, particularly travel agents. Again, borders are closed for a reason: we're in a global pandemic. It is what we are doing to keep ourselves safe. So let's do the right thing by these businesses and help them out. We talk a lot in this place about how we help the farmers out when it doesn't rain. We should do the same for sectors like the travel industry, the events industry, the arts industry and the aviation industry when they're in this situation. It is not raining in these sectors. These are tough times. We should extend JobKeeper to keep these people connected in jobs and keep these businesses alive.