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

This is really the last contribution I can sensibly make on the same point. Businesses make commercial decisions all the time, in the context of the legal framework that is applicable at any one point in time. The government, with the support of the parliament, has made the JobKeeper payment arrangements available to support businesses and to support employees in businesses that were experiencing significant reductions in turnover, subject to the same terms and conditions. We understood, because of the speed that was required in terms of getting the support into the economy and to businesses and employees, that there were some trade-offs there in terms of the simplicity required.

In terms of the question about what the government's proposing to do about this moving forward, as I've indicated, this is a temporary arrangement. This is not proposed to be an ongoing program. If this was to be an ongoing program that was going to operate for years or decades on end, then you would ensure that you refined your integrity and compliance arrangements accordingly. But this is a temporary support mechanism to provide much-needed support into the economy at a difficult time in the context of the economic impact of a global pandemic here in Australia, and we believe we got the balance right. We thank the opposition for their forbearance in relation to this amendment.