Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson, I will have to reject the premise of the question that you've just put forward. The answer to it is absolutely no. There are numerous integrity measures in relation to the JobMaker hiring credit and, in particular, the 20 hours or more per week that the individual is required to work.

But on this side of the chamber we're not going to make any excuses for doing what we can to incentivise employers to take on young people in particular who have been displaced because of COVID-19. It happens to be a fact that we're in the middle of a global pandemic. It happens to be a fact that the first people to go during a recession are actually young people. That is why we're putting in place the JobMaker hiring credit—to incentivise employers out there to give a young person a go and to get them off welfare and into work. We on this side of the chamber make no excuses: the best form of welfare is a job.