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

I thank Senator McGrath for that supplementary question. It is vital that, through these challenging times, employers and employees stay connected as much as is possible. This payment will ensure that this can be the case even when many businesses move into hibernation because their areas of activity have been impacted by the coronavirus crisis or they have been asked to restrict activities on the basis of medical advice. The JobKeeper payment is about enabling businesses to keep their workers engaged so that they are ready when we come out of this crisis on the other side. Businesses must be in the best possible position to rebuild and recover, and the most important part of that will be having workers still attached to their businesses.

The $130 billion JobKeeper package is unprecedented in our history. It is designed to get this country through an unprecedented challenge and place it in the best possible position on the other side of this pandemic.