Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House how the Morrison government's JobMaker hiring credit and other economic supports are providing incentives to support Australian jobs and drive Australia's economic recovery?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the crocodile farmer for his question—an insurance clerk, a real estate agent, a member of the RAAF and now a hardworking member in the parliament, supporting the constituents of Leichhardt. He understands that the Australian economic recovery is now underway, and 446,000 jobs have been created in the last four months. As I said, consumer confidence has been up for nine weeks in a row; consumer sentiment has been up and our AAA credit rating has been reaffirmed.

Programs like JobKeeper have supported more than 3½ million Australian workers, being a critical economic lifeline helping to keep that formal connection between employers and employees. JobSeeker effectively saw a doubling of the safety net, with two $750 payments to millions of pensioners, including nearly 15,000 in the electorate of Leichhardt. And, of course, the cash flow boost has put money in the hands of small and medium-sized business owners, helping them to have the working capital to get through this economic crisis.

When we approached the budget, we recognised that we needed to move to the next stage of our economic recovery plan, and that's why we passed through the parliament legislation to bring forward our tax cuts by a full two years, and 11½ million Australian taxpayers are getting a tax cut early as a result of this side of the House, including around 70,000 taxpayers in the member for Leichhardt's electorate. Of course, we have also backed business, recognising the importance of the private sector to the economic recovery, with an expanded instant asset write-off and the loss carryback.

In this budget there's a key economic measure to support young people move from unemployment and into work. That's the JobMaker hiring credit, which Treasury has said will support around 450,000 jobs. And that JobMaker hiring credit will see the government provide an incentive to businesses who take on people aged 16 to 35 who have previously been on JobSeeker. If they're 16 to 29, the business will get $200; if they are 30 to 35, the business will get $100 per week from the government in order to get those people into work. We recognise, by looking at previous recessions in Australia, particularly in the eighties and nineties, that it took a long time to move people from the unemployment queue and into work. In the 1990s it took a full 15 years to get those unemployment rates for younger people back to the levels that they were. So this government is focused on jobs, jobs and creating more jobs, and the JobMaker hiring credit is a key part of our economic response. (Time expired)