Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Earlier this year we found out that $13 billion in JobKeeper went to firms that increased their turnover during the pandemic. It went to Monaco based billionaires, to men-only clubs and to the highest-fee private schools in the country. It is a shocking amount of waste—$13 billion is more than the government spent on the childcare subsidy last year. It is more than the government spent on public schools last year.

JobKeeper was supposed to go to the firms that were suffering, to support the connection between those firms and their workforces. It was never meant to go to highly profitable firms. Like so many things offered by this government, it's a good idea implemented very badly. Just reflect on what it would have meant had the Morrison government avoided this waste: it could have afforded to extend JobKeeper to the one million casual workers who missed out on any support; it could have saved additional people from losing their jobs and their livelihoods during the first wave of the pandemic; and now it would have more to spend in supporting Australians who are currently affected by lockdowns and who are struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table.

The Prime Minister has never asked any of these recipients to pay back a single cent. He has said that calls to pay it back are 'the politics of envy'. Minister Birmingham has said that we shouldn't shame and vilify the businesses that took billions in JobKeeper while turning profits. The Morrison government continues to resist Labor's calls for transparency and accountability and refuses to crack down on businesses that won't send back payments despite turning monster profits.

It's a strong contrast with what has been reported today—11,000 people who receive income support payments have been sent debt notices of almost $33 million. Many of these are vulnerable people who sought support during the worst health and economic crisis Australia has faced in nearly 100 years. These people shouldn't be punished. There are two stories, aren't there? There is one story for the rich and powerful and there is another story for those that aren't. But it's very on brand for this government.

This is the government that set up the robodebt scheme, and it's worth reflecting on what the Federal Court thought about the impact of that scheme on those who suffered under it. Justice Murphy said:

One thing … that stands out … is the financial hardship, anxiety and distress, including suicidal ideation and in some cases suicide, that people or their loved ones say was suffered as a result of the Robodebt system, and that many say they felt shame and hurt at being wrongly branded 'welfare cheats'.

The double standard is quite breathtaking. No effort was spared to claw back money paid to some of our most vulnerable, yet no effort at all has been expended on clawing back money from big business. Indeed, the government seems pretty relaxed about handing out money to billionaire shareholders and CEOs, just as long as nobody knows about it.

Transparency is actually not a radical solution or idea, is it? Both the New Zealand government and the US government keep public databases of companies that receive income support, but the Morrison government is so opposed to transparency that it made clear yesterday that, if the opposition and crossbench insisted on transparency provisions, the government was willing to delay the job-keeper legislation that was debated yesterday. It really says something about this government. It says something about the Prime Minister that he is prepared to let the livelihoods of Australians on COVID support payments be collateral damage in his fight against transparency. That's an outcome Labor didn't want to risk, but we strongly believe that the public deserves to know how its money is being spent.

Transparency is a basic obligation, never more important than at a time when we need our citizens to have trust in our government. That is why we will keep looking for opportunities to force the Morrison government to reveal just how much JobKeeper went to firms that actually increased their turnover during the pandemic. Australian voters deserve to know.