Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

What I know is that, if you compare what we are doing with what other countries are doing, our scheme is significantly and materially more generous. I will compare with New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada. In New Zealand, somebody working at least 20 hours a week receives $585.80 a week. For somebody working fewer than 20 hours a week, it's $350 a week. If the subsidy exceeds the wages usually paid to an employee, any difference is to be used by the business for wages of other employees affected. That amount is obviously lower than the Australian amount. In the United Kingdom, it is the lower of 2½ thousand pounds per month or 80 per cent of their regular wage. And in Canada it's 75 per cent of the first $58,700 normally earned by employees, representing a benefit of up to $847 per week. Employers who suffer a drop in gross revenue of at least 30 per cent in March, April or May when compared to the same month in 2019 will be able to access the subsidy, but employers would have to keep records demonstrating the reduction in arms-length revenues and remuneration paid to employees, and there are many details yet to be confirmed in relation to this.

The JobKeeper scheme is more generous than the New Zealand scheme. The JobKeeper scheme is broader than the UK scheme. And we believe that we have developed a system that is administratively more efficient to administer using existing channels through the ATO, which allows government to ensure that businesses are passing on the subsidy in full to workers.