Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Gallagher, for your question about what has been an extraordinarily important issue over the last three months and a very important supplement that has been in place to help those people who find themselves without a job during a time when the job market has effectively closed.

We have supercharged our safety net to assist people who find themselves unemployed because of and during a time of completely unprecedented unemployment pressure on our market. But we said at the time—and we remain committed to this—that they would be temporary, targeted, time-limited measures to help Australians to get through the crisis that is before us. We always said that about the measures that we put in place—not just the coronavirus supplement but many other measures that this government put in place to make sure that we could assist Australians who were immediately impacted, with an impact that came about in the most extraordinary circumstances. We've supported them through this time. We remain committed to supporting Australians during the coronavirus crisis, but we also remain committed to making sure that we put our economy back on track. But, in answer to your question, the time-limited measures have been put in place to meet the extraordinary circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.