JOBKEEPER 2.0

01 August 2020

I understand the distressing situation you are in and let me reassure you Labor’s priority is to protect jobs and help Australian workers, businesses, families and communities through this difficult time.

 

We welcome the Government’s decision to extend the JobKeeper program and abandon the Prime Minister’s original strategy to ‘snapback’ support at the end of September.

 

A wage subsidy program is something that Labor fought for when Scott Morrison initially rejected the idea, and we have long said it would have been catastrophic for workers, businesses and the economy if support was rapidly withdrawn on the original timetable.

 

While we won’t stand in the way of this ongoing support, we are still concerned that all the people excluded from the original JobKeeper program remain excluded from the new JobKeeper program.

 

Labor has always said that JobKeeper should be tailored to the economic conditions.

 

The developments in the economy since JobKeeper 2.0 was announced in July mean the Government should revisit whether the current plan to tighten and reduce the JobKeeper payment is the best approach in the current circumstances.

 

The Government must do a better job with this next phase of support than they did the first time around.