Senate debates

Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Questions without Notice

COVID-19: Employment

2:55 pm

Photo of Michaelia CashMichaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

What we saw last year with the onset of COVID-19 was the Morrison government providing crucial economic support to sole traders to keep their businesses going. We utilised measures like JobKeeper and, of course, when I was the employment minister, allowed owners to meet their mutual obligations by working in their business. That was so important so they didn't need to close their business down. This helped around 690,000 sole traders around Australia and it meant that they were able to continue in their business. They could hibernate their business if necessary and then, as restrictions eased, they could get back into business. Of course, this time round, it is no different. For sole traders who are currently affected in Queensland: from Saturday, you will have the ability to apply for the COVID disaster payment. Services Australia will open applications on Saturday 7 August, and claims will start being processed from Sunday 8 August. You just need to go through myGov.

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