Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a very short statement. It seems to me perverse that there are Australian workers who, for no reason that they had any control over, find themselves in a situation where they are working for a foreign company and yet are not able to get access to the JobKeeper payments. This is not money that goes to the company. It's money that goes to the workers. In some sense, it tells you how the Liberal Party think. They think through the lens of a business. They're looking at this from a business perspective and saying: 'How do we support businesses? This one's a foreign business, and, therefore it doesn't warrant support.' I understand that, but this particular payment goes straight to the worker.

Senator Hanson interjecting—

I'm not talking about companies, Senator Hanson. I'm talking about people who work for companies, who are good people. They go to work and spend their time working hard for the company—servicing Australian customers, ultimately—and they will suffer as a result of the decisions made by government. What we're trying to do here tonight is stop this particular decision. Again, I'd just emphasise—this money goes directly to the workers. It does not go to the companies.