James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate your gentle guidance, Mr Acting Deputy President Sterle. But I think it is important in the topic at hand, because it comes through coronavirus; it comes through the impact on the economy. The JobMaker hiring credit is something that is going to accelerate growth in the employment of young people during COVID, and that is so important. It is so important that we can give young people the opportunity to get into work. And, in any second reading debate, we should always have a broad discussion of the different issues so those people who are listening at home can see where we're coming from—our different perspectives and our different approaches in life. What we've got to do on this side of the chamber is make sure that we help businesses. We want to give businesses the incentives to take on additional young jobseekers.

An opposition senator: Paint us another picture!

I'd love to paint another picture, but I think my paintings sometimes are best left at home! The JobMaker hiring credit is going to be available to employers for each new job they create over the next 12 months for a young person between 16 and 35. It is expected that 450,000 positions for young Australians will be supported through the JobMaker hiring credit, at a cost of $4 billion. I will admit that I'm one of those people who get slightly terrified about debt, slightly terrified by large figures, but what the federal government has had to do on behalf of the taxpayers of Australia is go into debt to help protect the Australian economy, go into debt to help protect businesses, whether it's money that has gone into JobSeeker to help those people who lost their jobs during this recession or it's money that has gone into the many other programs that this government brought into play to help businesses survive the recession. When I talk about businesses surviving the recession, I'm actually talking about businesses being able to keep people on their books, because, as unemployment has gone up, the government not doing anything would have been far worse. It would have been far worse for the economy and for Australian society if the government had not borrowed the money to help protect businesses and, in fact, protect jobs.

I can talk in particular about Queensland, and I know, so can Senator Scarr, who travels around the state quite a lot. In terms of the message that we get from businesses around Queensland, it's that, of all the programs the government has put in place, the JobKeeper program is the one program that has saved their businesses. When they talk about saving their businesses, they don't particularly care about the fittings or the sign out the front or whatever's out in the garage; they actually talk about the fact that it has kept people in employment. So, when they say JobKeeper is brilliant, it's not because their business keeps going; it's because they can keep employing people. This is so, so important, especially in regional Queensland. Whether you're a travel agent out in Roma or you run a restaurant at Airlie Beach, to a woman, to a man, they've all said to us that JobKeeper is brilliant and they're all very, very enthused about what the JobMaker hiring credit can do to assist getting young people into work, because in Queensland there is a very high unemployment rate—in fact, we've got the highest unemployment rate in the country. This is just another brick in the wall that is our defence against coronavirus. This JobMaker hiring credit is something that can help young people get into work, get the skills and get businesses going.

In conclusion, I would like to commend the Economic Recovery Package (JobMaker Hiring Credit) Amendment Bill 2020 to the chamber, and I look forward to hearing the contributions from my colleagues who I understand are also very keen to speak on this bill.