Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is lots to talk about in the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Bill 2021. People who are listening to the Senate's proceedings might be a little bit confused because, when you hear some of the contributions from Labor senators and from crossbench senators, you might think one of two things. The first thing you might think is that the JobKeeper program has been unsuccessful. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I'll talk about that in a moment. The second thing you might think is that the government's doing nothing in regard to tackling multinational tax avoidance. Of course, again, nothing could be further from the truth.

As we move through the pandemic and as we move further and further away from the beginning of the pandemic, it won't be a surprise for people to understand, to come to an appreciation, that certain myths and mistruths will start to be generated about the success of the government's initial economic responses to the pandemic. I think any fair minded person would understand that the government's early economic response was timely, it was effective and, of course, it was very, very necessary. I think the JobKeeper program stands out as a beacon to that timeliness, that success and that precision in regard to the government's economic initiative. I think it's worth putting on the record the success of the JobKeeper program and to dispel some of the commentary that we've heard in and around this particular debate.

Let me begin by reinforcing the fact that any fair minded person, any fair minded senator, would understand and appreciate that the JobKeeper program has been a vital, and some might even argue the most vital, economic lifeline for many millions of Australians as they entered the pandemic—3.8 million Australians and around one million businesses were supported by the JobKeeper initiative. Small- and medium-sized businesses represented 98 per cent of all JobKeeper recipients. That's an important statistic for a party like ours, like the government, that prides itself on being quick to support small- and medium-sized businesses in our country, particularly when so many of them are family run and family owned.

I think it's also important to draw to people's attention that 90 per cent of JobKeeper recipients were microbusinesses with turnovers of under $2 million, eight per cent went to small- to medium-sized enterprises with a turnover of between $2 million and $250 million, and only 0.2 per cent went to large businesses—that is, with turnovers of greater than $250 million. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, JobKeeper has saved at least 700,000 jobs in the period April to July 2020. Of course we reflect on lives lost, tragically as a result of the pandemic. As we watch it unfold not just in this country but internationally, I think it's important to recognise that the JobKeeper program saved 700,000 jobs and put the minds of many Australians and their families at ease.

It's also worth re-emphasising that Treasury's three-month review found that the program was 'well targeted'. I might just read, for the sake of the Senate and to put this into proper context, some of the contributions that we've heard in this debate thus far. The JobKeeper payment three-month review said—and you can see it for yourself at page 7:

the payment went to businesses that experienced an average decline in turnover in April of 37 per cent against the same month a year previous (compared with a 4 per cent decline for other businesses) ); and it went to businesses at which the job separation rate had doubled following the introduction of operating restrictions just before JobKeeper was introduced (compared with no change in other businesses).

Clearly it was a successful program. But it's worth emphasising again what the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia said. He said:

I think the JobKeeper program is really about keeping people in jobs, isn't it? It's done a remarkably good job at that.

So, as we move through the pandemic and as the government calibrates its economic and other responses, I think it's important that we don't revise the history in a way that seeks to unnecessarily distort what has been a necessary and effective response from this government in the early stages of the pandemic.

It's worth restating that Australia was the first advanced economy to return to pre-COVID employment and activity levels. Australia recorded an unemployment rate of just 4.6 per cent in July 2020, the lowest level in over a decade. Notwithstanding this success, Labor's Shadow Treasurer is obsessed with wanting to find fault and error with the JobKeeper program. The Treasurer and the Prime Minister 'have been sprung' sending JobKeeper money to 'dead people', the Shadow Treasurer said. These are 'humiliating revelations' about JobKeeper, Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison, Labor's shadow Treasurer said. Labor's shadow Treasurer said on 29 January 2021:

They are humiliating revelations because Morrison and Frydenberg have spent much of the last 10 years banging on about cheques for dead people during the global financial crisis, so they have a lot of explaining to do.

Labor's shadow Treasurer has been constantly refuted. On 30 January 2021, just a day after Mr Chalmers made those comments, the ATO released an official statement, which can be found on its website, to clarify what it called recent media commentary about incorrect JobKeeper payments. Let me share with the Senate what the ATO's statement said. First it said, 'The ATO is not aware of any ultimately successful claim for deceased or other fictitious employees.' Second the ATO media statement said, 'Where claims including fictitious employees are identified, no JobKeeper payments are or have been made.'

Where else can we look to find evidence that Mr Chalmers's comments are false? We can look at the Australian National Audit Office. The Australian National Audit Office reports get used very regularly in this place by Labor senators and other senators to try to undermine confidence in much of what the government is doing, so let's look at what the Australian National Audit Office said in regard to the JobKeeper program. The Australian National Audit Office report on the ATO's management of risks related to the rapid implementation of COVID-19 measures, which was released on 14 December 2020, found three important things.

Firstly it found, 'The ATO has been effective in managing risks related to the rapid implementation of COVID-19 economic response measures.' The Australian National Audit Office found that the ATO had managed 'fraud and other integrity risks on a progressive basis'. Finally, the Auditor-General did not find it necessary to make any further recommendations. That is good news for the management of the JobKeeper program and is a clear rebuttal of the comments Labor's shadow Treasurer made on 29 January this year in seeking to undermine public confidence in what has been a very important and very necessary economic measure—one that has been applauded in many other places around this country and internationally. Mr Chalmers, Labor senators and crossbench senators should have the decency to recognise that it came at a very significant time early in the pandemic and brought considerable relief—some 700,000 jobs were saved and, importantly, businesses were given a lifeline.

If time allows, I will refer to another point that has been made—and I think Senator O'Neill might have made this contribution; certainly crossbench senators made this contribution—in relation to multinational tax avoidance. If you listened only to the contributions of crossbench senators and Labor senators, you would think that the government was doing nothing in tackling multinational tax avoidance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Australia is a global leader in the international fight against corporate and multinational tax avoidance. Since 1 July 2016 till 30 April of this year the ATO has raised around $21.5 billion in tax liabilities against large public groups, multinational corporations, wealthy individuals and associated groups. Of this, around $13.5 billion in liabilities was raised from multinationals and large companies. The suggestion that often gets made in this place and outside it that the government is doing nothing to tackle multinational tax avoidance, that no multinationals pay tax in this country, is clearly untrue. This has thus far generated cash collections of around $12½ billion.

I could go on, but I think it's important, as we bring this debate to a conclusion, that senators in this place and people that are listening to the contributions understand that the JobKeeper program has been tremendously successful; it came at exactly the right time as an economic lifeline for our country. The suggestion that is often made in this place that the government is doing nothing to tackle multinational tax avoidance and is raising no taxes from multinationals is absolutely false.