EMPLOYMENT SUBSIDIES – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Labor exposed by $20m handout

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Original article by Alice Workman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Sep-21

Transport and tourism operator SeaLink received more than $20m worth of JobKeeper payments in total. This includes some $11.9m in 2020-21, when the company booked a profit of $37.8m and its revenue topped $1bn for the first time. SeaLink CEO Clint Feuerherdt is the husband of Labor senator Marielle Smith, which has attracted criticism amongst some members of the party’s ranks. One Labor MP has noted that the party would be "screaming the place down" if a Liberal politician’s partner had received JobKeeper payments under these circumstances.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, SEALINK TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SLK

$4.6bn in JobKeeper went to businesses that increased their turnover at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Original article by Dan Conifer
abc.net au – Page: Online : 23-Jul-21

The Parliamentary Budget Office has reported that 157,650 employers saw their turnover increase between April and June 2020, when compared to the same period in 2019. These employers received a combined $4.6 billion in JobKeeper payments during this period, and Labor MP Andrew Leigh says the figures show how much of taxpayers’ money was wasted on the wage subsidy scheme; he contends that these companies should return their JobKeeper payments.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Jobs defy wage subsidy’s demise

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Original article by Patrick Commins, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 21-May-21

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the latest jobs data shows that the federal government was justified in ending the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme in late March. New figures show that about 31,000 jobs were cut in April, well below forecasts that between 100,000 and 150,000 jobs would be lost when JobKeeper ended. The figures also show that 132,000 people have moved off income support since March. ACTU secretary Sally McManus has welcomed the slight fall in the official unemployment rate, but she says many workers are underemployed or in multiple jobs that are insecure and unreliable. Labor’s deputy leader Richard Marles notes that 1.8 million Australians are still looking for work.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

JobKeeper aid helped prevent 500 suicides

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 5 : 28-Apr-21

Ian Hickie, the joint director of Sydney University’s Brain and Mind Centre, says the best thing the federal government can do to reduce mental health stress and preventable suicide is to maintain economic and jobs growth. The centre’s latest modelling suggests that COVID-19 support measures such as the JobKeeper wage subsidy will prevent 469 suicide deaths and 4,226 hospitalisations for self- harm between 2020 and 2025. It is also likely to avert more than 51,000 mental health presentations at hospitals’ emergency departments over the same period.

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UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. BRAIN AND MIND RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Treasurer warns of subsidy dangers

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Mar-21

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the federal government will continue to provide economic stimulus following the end of the JobKeeper scheme on 28 March. He has flagged further targeted support for sectors that have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and says the wage subsidy scheme had ‘stemmed the tide’ of coronavirus-induced job losses. However, he cautions that fiscal discipline is also necessary to prevent higher taxes and higher debt in the future. Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says JobKeeper should have been extended in a "responsible, temporary, and targeted fashion", and he has warned that the Coalition will be responsible for any job losses in coming weeks.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

ALP cries JobTaker as wage subsidy gets over the line

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 12-Nov-20

The Senate has voted 30-28 to pass the federal government’s JobMaker bill without any amendments, after One Nation and Centre Alliance agreed to back the legislation. One Nation had previously indicated that it would support an amendment proposed by Labor that was designed to prevent employers from sacking existing staff and hiring younger workers in order to qualify for the subsidy. One Nation has rejected suggestions that it made a ‘side deal’ with the government.

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ONE NATION PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor looks to amend JobMaker subsidy over concerns older workers could be sacked

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Original article by Katharine Murphy
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 9-Nov-20

Labor has yet to decide whether to support the federal government’s JobMaker hiring credit scheme, which will be debated in the Senate on 9 November. However, senior Labor sources have indicated that the Opposition will seek amendments to the draft legislation to ensure that employers cannot sack older staff and replace them with workers under the age of 35 in order to qualify for the subsidy. The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has called for labour hire firms to be excluded from the scheme, arguing that they could exploit loopholes in the draft legislation.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION

Older workers face unemployment crisis exacerbated by JobMaker, experts warn

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Original article by Stephen Long
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 15-Oct-20

Professor Marian Baird from the University of Sydney warns that the federal government’s JobMaker hiring credit scheme will encourage employers to ‘cherrypick’ younger unemployed people when recruiting new staff. She is also concerned that some employers will seek to replace older workers with people under the age of 35 in order to receive the subsidy. Professor Baird adds that the scheme could result in greater casualisation of the workforce, given that there is no obligation for people hired via the scheme to work for the same number of hours each week.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Pressure to extend wage plan to all ages

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 12-Oct-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government will not agree to any concessions to get its JobMaker wage subsidy scheme through Parliament. Labor and the Senate crossbenchers have expressed concern that the scheme could be rorted and is too focused, given that it is only available to employers who hire people aged up to 35. Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says the JobMaker scheme leaves 928,000 older Australians "in the lurch", and says the existing incentive scheme for employing people aged 50+ has been a "monumental failure". Unions have warned that the government’s wage subsidy scheme for apprentices could also be exploited.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Morrison wins crossbench support for jobs plans

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 4 : 24-Aug-20

Centre Alliance will back the federal government’s push to extend temporary changes to the Fair Work Act which allow bosses to vary the hours an employee works and the duties they perform. One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has signalled that he is also likely to side with the government, which would require only one more crossbench vote in the Senate. The industrial relations changes are linked to the government’s revised JobKeeper scheme. The bill will be put before parliament within days.

CORPORATES
CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY