Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bilyk for the question. It's important, as always, that, where programs are operated and claims have been made against the guidelines, conditions or eligibility of those programs, steps are made to recover those funds. That's the case in relation to JobKeeper, like any other program. Whilst, Senator Bilyk, you have chosen to highlight one component of the recovery activity and that is in relation to individuals who may have been in receipt of other payments, such as JobSeeker, whilst also receiving JobKeeper, it is also the case that the Australian Taxation Office has been pursuing significant instances of over-claims, over-payments or inappropriate claims with businesses. In fact, as at August, some $296.6 million has been identified by the Australian Taxation Office with Australian businesses, and the government takes very seriously recovering those funds as well. Approximately $185.5 million of those funds have been recovered to date.

So, on all of these fronts, what we're assessing against is the eligibility of businesses or individuals for the payments they received according to the guidelines at the time. It shouldn't be confused at all, of course, with some of the claims people make about receipt of JobKeeper, which was entirely within the guidelines as they existed at the time. That program in particular has been identified by the Reserve Bank as having saved around 700,000 Australian jobs. It was a crucial program in terms of keeping businesses afloat during a time when, right across Australia, they were having their doors shut and, in having their doors shut, facing the proposition of having to stand down their staff. JobKeeper avoided that, and it helped to ensure that Australians kept their jobs and that our economy was in the strongest possible position for recovery.