Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The JobKeeper payment was designed to apply consistently across a range of business sizes, structures and industries, and to target support to the entities who have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also designed to deliver support quickly and at scale, which is why it was important that the eligibility criteria were as straightforward as possible, drawing upon existing tax and revenue concepts and definitions. To support confidence and encourage businesses to get back up and running, the government decided that once a business had established its eligibility, assistance would be provided until the end of the first six-month phase of the program.

The review of the JobKeeper program recommended there should be a retest of eligibility for any extension to the program to ensure the payment is targeted to those businesses who are the most in need of ongoing support and, indeed, who are in need of continuing support. Modifying the eligibility criteria to include a measure of the profitability of a business or other criteria, such as a payment of dividends, would introduce significant complexity into the program. Such a test would be difficult to design and implement with integrity on the scale required, given the variety in business models and structures across industries and given the flexibility that businesses have in the management of their balance sheet. While there may be merit in considering such design elements if this was intended to be an ongoing program, it is less clear this would be feasible or desirable in the current context of a temporary transitional support program. Some countries have, under their wage subsidy schemes, placed limitations on the payment of dividends; however, there are many that have not, including the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore. In other cases where limitations have been put in place, it is not clear how these are being appropriately enforced. The government will be opposing these amendments.