Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that if he'd not given JobKeeper funds to businesses that didn't need it he'd be able to continue supporting hundreds of thousands of workers who still need help? Why does his government subsidise the strong but sacrifice the weak?

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

Much to the chagrin of the deputy shadow Treasurer, I can confirm that 88,700 new jobs were created in February. I can confirm today that as a result of the policies that this government put in place, which gave a lifeline to Australians in their greatest hour of need, over the course of this year, the million people who lost their jobs are getting their jobs back under the policies of this government. I know on this side of the House we know how to put in place policies that get people back into work, because 1.5 million people came back into work during the course of our government prior to the pandemic. When a million people were forced out of work because of the pandemic, this government showed up. We didn't take an each-way bet on the measures; our government was all-in for jobs and we remain all-in for jobs for the Australian people while the Labor Party continues, day after day, to undermine and whittle and gnaw away at the edge of every single positive measure that this government seeks to put in place to support the Australian people.

It's a year ago today that the Biosecurity Act measures were put in place by the Governor-General in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. A year later, there are more jobs today in the Australian economy than there were when we went into this pandemic. That is a ringing endorsement of the coalition's economic policies, of the coalition's precise and timely action that has seen this Australian economy through its worst period since the Great Depression. We got no support from those opposite, all we got from those opposite was an each-way bet. On the one hand they supported, on the other hand they undermined. They were all over the shop. We couldn't rely on Labor's support. The public can't rely on Labor's support. The government has been delivering and held the back of Australians all through this crisis. Thank goodness they didn't have to rely on Labor, because Labor is completely unreliable.