Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lilley for her contribution today, but I would say that JobKeeper is not about politics. JobKeeper is about supporting the millions of Australians, the 3.5 million Australians, who are on JobKeeper, and that is what it's about. I think we'd all agree that that is well above politics.

In Moncrieff, there is overwhelmingly positive support for the government's decisive action in managing the economic impact of the pandemic. In fact, there were audible sighs of relief outside my office, in the streets of Surfers Paradise, when it was originally announced and again with the announcement of its extension, when there was much relief in the business community and among those who are employed by the local business community. At the Reimagine Gold Coast forum last week business leaders gathered to create a brighter future for Gold Coast industry, skills and jobs. What so many of those business leaders and the City Heart Taskforce executive members said is that they give the federal government a great big tick of approval for its economic response to the COVID-19 crisis. JobKeeper was on everybody's lips at the Reimagine Gold Coast forum. Business operators endorse JobKeeper as a great success in keeping Gold Coasters employed.

At the last census there were 32,111 small businesses in Moncrieff, which is just over half of all the small businesses on the Gold Coast. There are 9,700 businesses on JobKeeper in Moncrieff. For anybody doing maths today, that is 30 per cent of businesses in my electorate that are currently relying on JobKeeper to keep the doors open and to keep Gold Coasters in jobs. So it's very, very important for my electorate on the Gold Coast that JobKeeper continues, for certainty for businesses and, indeed, for people to remain connected to their employers.

Keeping employers and employees connected has been vital, and particularly crucial for the economic security of women. The importance of job connection is well understood by the Prime Minister and all members on this side of the House. It is very, very important. Why is that connection particularly important to women and the economic security of women? It's because we women have to carefully balance our jobs, our lives and our community life. Stability matters to the good women of Moncrieff so they can have certainty moving forward, so that they can manage their lives. When a woman loses her job, even if she's fortunate enough to find another job, she's got to then rebalance her life and the lives of her family. So JobKeeper is about so much more than a $1,500 fortnightly payment to so many people in my electorate. It's about hope. It's about confidence. It's about business confidence. It's about keeping our economy running and keeping open the doors for Australians. JobKeeper has given many women in Moncrieff a degree of stability, and that's really important too—stability, confidence and hope for the future.

I'm running a Love Your Local campaign on Facebook, where I go around to businesses in the electorate and visit them and do a video to promote them online as a destination for locals. With the border closures, we only have locals on the Gold Coast feeding our tourism industry and our small business sector, which are hurting so badly. The Bavarian Haus on Cavill Avenue is an institution that's been in Surfers Paradise since 1975. Carol has worked there for 25 years. When I went to her place of business, to her fine establishment on Cavill Avenue, she outlined to me that, without JobKeeper, they would not be open. They have three levels in their restaurant, and only one of them was open. They're limping along on JobKeeper, thanks to the federal government. It's the longest continuously standing restaurant on the Gold Coast. We hope to make sure that it's standing on Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise for the months and years ahead. It's very important. JobKeeper is a vital lifeline to bridge that business from pre-pandemic times to today and into the future. Many other businesses in Moncrieff have been affected. I commend the federal government for the work we're doing with JobKeeper.

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