Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Warringah for pointing out through this motion the deficiencies and the lack of support for certain industries in the government's COVID response. The thing that I have with the government's COVID response is that it reflects the ideology of the Liberal-National parties rather than support for Australians who need it. You need look no further than JobKeeper. It was poorly designed and it was paid to companies that did not qualify for the payments. Companies that were making record profits, that were issuing bonuses to their executives, that were handing out dividends to their shareholders were getting JobKeeper, whilst other Australians were lining up in the food queues because they were unlucky in that the company that they worked for didn't qualify for JobKeeper. There was an unevenness in the distribution of the funds and how they were allocated to particular Australian companies.

The issue of what industries got JobKeeper is also a deficiency. This government paid JobKeeper to casinos, but universities missed out. They supported gambling, but they didn't give education support through JobKeeper. It says everything about this government's philosophy in providing support for particular industries and, through that, for employees in those industries. The arts industry, which we know the L-NP has a philosophical objection to, of course missed out on JobKeeper support as well.

Now, I understand that they had to get it out the door quickly, that it needed to be done efficiently and quickly, and Labor supported that. But when the deficiencies and the problems in the scheme were identified—and they were, well and truly, within 12 months of the scheme becoming operational—the government had the opportunity to fix those problems, but they didn't. They didn't take that opportunity to amend the terms of eligibility and say: 'Look, if you're making profits then you don't need JobKeeper. We can use some of that money to pay some of the other companies that haven't qualified and whose employees are missing out.'

And there are still many businesses who are struggling to this day, as the economy begins to open up and we begin to recover. The motion moved by the member for Warringah points those out. There's the travel and tourism industry. I have been inundated by calls and emails from travel agents, who I have visited to hear their stories about how they have had to put off staff and how they haven't been able to trade because of government regulations associated with the closed borders. Many of them are still struggling to survive.

The arts and live performance industry has been smashed by COVID and yet, once again, many of those businesses didn't qualify for JobKeeper. And many of the employees who were working in casual occupations simply missed out and were forced onto the unemployment queues. They were struggling, joining the food queues just to live and survive.

One of the other industries was the amusement, leisure and recreation industry, and this motion points out about the insurance and public liability insurance issue that this particular industry is having at the moment. It's a big issue for a lot of businesses which work in that industry. We're talking about people who work in the show industry, sporting tourism, adventure tourism and the leisure and recreation industries. Many of them simply cannot get public liability insurance because of the tightening of the insurance market at the moment. Recently, in 2020, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman did an inquiry into the issues associated with insurance in this industry. The Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Association submitted to that review that many members were facing closure and/or stranded assets due to the nonavailability of insurance.

The small business ombudsman has recommended that the government look at a discretionary mutual fund to address those insurance industry issues and the crisis that we have in the leisure and recreation industry. The way that the scheme would work is that there would be a government contribution of capital, as well as by the industry participants and businesses paying into it. That would entitle them to a certificate of protection and coverage for any public liability issues that come up in the future. Without something like this, I fear that this particular industry is going to be shut down and that thousands of businesses and employees are going to be out of work into the future. So it's something that the government must consider.

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