Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

As I said in my speech in the second reading debate, the Economic Recovery Package (JobMaker Hiring Credit) Amendment Bill 2020 grants very broad powers to the minister to basically hand out $4 billion of public money to businesses, and it doesn't do much else. This bill doesn't actually establish the JobMaker hiring credit scheme. It doesn't provide a single detail about the scheme. There's nothing about eligibility criteria or anything else for that matter.

This amendment from Senator Patrick intends to return some parliamentary oversight to the scheme. This will allow direct amendment of the bill if we require it later on, as opposed to just having to disallow certain things which we think are harmful for the community. We believe that the JobMaker hiring credit should be created through legislation and it should be subject to parliamentary scrutiny. We completely support Senator Patrick's amendment to bring the rules into the legislation, albeit still in an exposure draft sense, but then we can always amend them later if things change. The Greens will be supporting Senator Patrick's amendment.