House debates Questions without Notice
JobKeeper Payment
Jim Chalmers Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
2:25 pm
My question is to the Treasurer. How many of the 1.3 million Australians still on JobKeeper will lose their jobs when the payment is cut?
Josh Frydenberg Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer
What I can inform the honourable member of is that, based on the numbers that Treasury put out in MYEFO, when JobKeeper ends the unemployment rate will continue to come down. So we will see job creation in this country even after the end of JobKeeper. If the honourable member had managed to read the Reserve Bank governor's speech—
Tony Smith Speaker
The Treasurer will resume his seat. The member for Rankin on a point of order?
Jim Chalmers Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
My point of order is on relevance. It was a very specific question: how many of the 1.3 million will lose their job when he cuts JobKeeper?
Tony Smith Speaker
I'll say to the Treasurer that it was a very specific question and he needs to confine himself to the question. I'll also say that the reason I hadn't intervened is that the Treasurer had been on his feet for 28 seconds.
Josh Frydenberg Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer
In the December quarter, there were just over 1.5 million on JobKeeper. It's an assertion by the member for Rankin that there will be 1.3 million people on JobKeeper in the March quarter. We don't yet have that data. So the member for Rankin can't assert that number. What I can tell the member for Rankin is that it is Treasury's expectation and the RBA's expectation that the unemployment rate—
Opposition members interjecting—
Tony Smith Speaker
Members on my left, it's impossible to hear the Treasurer when you're interjecting. It seems an irony that I get points of order on relevance and then I'm prevented from hearing the answer.