Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I must say I find it somewhat perplexing that, after the federal government has announced a $130 billion JobKeeper payment scheme, those on the other side of the chamber simply say that it didn't go far enough and it should have gone further. Let me make a few points on that. You can't look at the JobKeeper payment scheme in isolation. You have to look at it together with the government's overall response. That includes the jobseeker payment attribute of the government's response. That includes the $550 COVID supplement which is paid each fortnight to people who are on jobseeker. So it is simply not the case to assert that this government has left anyone behind. This government has sought on every occasion to provide generous assistance to everyone in our society who is impacted by this awful pandemic. In my electorate of Queensland and across Queensland, Queenslanders by and large have been absolutely applauding the federal government's efforts to keep Queensland businesses operating and to provide generous support to all Queenslanders.

I take the point that those casual workers who've been working for a specific employer for less than 12 months are not included in the JobKeeper scheme. In response to that, I'd just say this: first, they have access to the jobseeker relief payment. Secondly, the basis of the JobKeeper payment was to keep specific employment relationships between employers and their longer-term or permanent employees. The line has to be drawn somewhere in that respect, and the line was drawn in this case with respect to people who are casual employees of an employer for less than 12 months. Why? Because they haven't got that long-term employment relationship that a full-time employee, a part-time employee or a casual employee who's been providing work for the same employer for over 12 months has. But they're not left behind. They're given access to the jobseeker payment, so it is simply not the case that they're left behind.

Senator McCarthy, you say that we need to look towards recovery. Can I say to you that, if the opposition wants to look forward towards recovery, I don't think the right thing to do is to throw bricks at some of those great Australians who have become commissioners of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission—people like Nev Power. He doesn't need to do this job. He's been a chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group. He doesn't need to do this job, and I say to you, through the Deputy President, that I thought it was absolutely tawdry and disgraceful in this place that when you rightly talked about moving forward and looking towards the recovery—and I absolutely agree with your comments in that regard—at the same time your colleagues were throwing bricks at a great Australian and, in fact, a great Queenslander—I'll claim him as a Queenslander; he's now living in Perth, but he was a Queenslander—about the fact he's getting his travel expenses and a per diem to perform that role. He's doing that because he's a great Australian, and he does not deserve to be attacked in this chamber by the Australian Labor Party. He should be congratulated, as all the members of that commission should be congratulated for putting their hands up at a time of great need in this country. All the commissioners have put their names forward and put up their hands. When they were asked, they came forward to help their country at this time of need. They did not deserve that tawdry performance which we saw in question time. They really did not deserve it.

So the Australian government is providing generous support and assistance across the breadth and width of this country, and we are looking towards the future.