Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is lucky that the PM's focus group didn't decide to call it 'promise keeper' rather than JobKeeper. If they had, they would be in a real pickle now, because all we are seeing is broken promises. The PM's commitment to keep JobKeeper till September didn't even survive 72 hours from when he said it. These broken promises tell you everything you need to know about how this government values work. The male dominated construction sector receives targeted taxpayer stimulus. The childcare sector, which is 97 per cent female, is the first to have its funding ripped out from under it under the JobKeeper package. The average Australian taxpayer is a 38-year-old working woman with two kids. She is the one who is getting done over by the Prime Minister's approach to economic stimulus and the economic recovery. It is her taxpayer dollars; it is her right to work—all being completely tossed aside by this Prime Minister. Australian women are not only losing their jobs at a faster rate than men during this COVID-19 recession; they are being helped less by emergency government stimulus. They deserve better. Let's not waste this parliamentary sitting week; let's fix JobKeeper so it actually is 'promise keeper' and fulfils the promise made to Australian women at the election—that the government would act with their interests at heart.