Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to questions without notice asked by Senators Walsh and Sheldon today relating to the JobKeeper payment.

The minister's answers showed little sympathy for the workers who those opposite have failed to protect throughout this crisis. When the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, announced JobKeeper, the Treasurer, Mr Frydenberg, said, 'Australians know that their government has their back.' Well, many Australians now know that the government doesn't have their back. Instead, this government has abandoned millions of Australian workers, with the design of the JobKeeper scheme throwing them on the scrapheap.

The government has already rejected Labor's proposal to include casuals who have been employed for less than 12 months. We've heard that workers like Darcy, mentioned in Senator Walsh's question to Senator Cormann, have been in their current jobs for 15 years. Yet Darcy himself is ineligible for JobKeeper, because he's been with his current employer for less than 12 months. Darcy is just one of 1.1 million casuals who have missed out on JobKeeper because the government refuses to support them.

We heard the minister make a little, petty political dig at Premier Andrews—that Premier Andrews should just open up hospitality, and he should do it now. If that's the case, Minister, why can't parliament sit now? Why are we not sitting after tomorrow? That's a good question to ask you. Do you really think the premiers should ignore the health advice they are given by their health officials?

Labor has urged the government to improve support for charities, to help workers in the arts and to extend the JobKeeper payment to people on temporary visas. When the scheme was debated in parliament, every one of Labor's amendments was rejected. If the current exclusions aren't bad enough, on 1 May, with the stroke of a pen, this government cancelled the JobKeeper scheme for thousands of workers and companies like Dnata. At Dnata, 5,500 workers had been assured by the company's management that they would be covered. Now they've been told that the government changed the rules without any warning. The same exclusion that affected Dnata workers has also impacted hundreds of workers in hotel chains.

JobKeeper was put in place to support workers in affected businesses. It was supposed to help them retain their jobs during this uncertain time. Whatever happened to the message 'we're all in this together'? If we're all in this together, let me tell you: the Morrison government have just ignored that message. They've just been abandoning millions of workers.

Since the federal government has shut down just about all aviation operations over the last few months, Dnata has had no choice but to stand down workers. But they did so on the understanding that they could collect JobKeeper payments for those workers. Those workers have been relying on JobKeeper payments to help with their rent and their mortgages and to buy groceries for their kids and medications for their kids. I heard Senator Sheldon speaking about it yesterday. He gave an example of a young woman who can't afford medication for her child. This government just put their heads down and ignore that, and say it's not their responsibility. Well, it is their responsibility.

Dnata staff have been told to join Centrelink's queues, knowing that their employment and thousands of their co-workers' jobs are in jeopardy, all because of a nice little loophole the government's dreamt up. It's been all right for these workers to pay their taxes here; many of these workers have worked for Dnata for many, many years—15 to 20 years—and paid their taxes. But all of a sudden the government has said: 'Sorry, we've found this little loophole'—one would presume it's to save money for the government—'so you're all going to miss out. We don't really care about you.'

As I said, Dnata employs about 5,500 people in Australia. They're the people you don't actually see at the airport; if you're sitting next to a window on the lighting side of the plane, you might see them. They're the people who do catering, ground and ramp work. Their staff live right throughout Australia, all in different electorates. In the last six weeks they have faced devastating uncertainty about their jobs and their industry. They've been stripped of shifts and then stood down. They had been told that they would be able to access JobKeeper, but then, after this most recent change, told to go and join the Centrelink queues.

Many Dnata staff have not been paid for extended periods of time, because of the conflicting government advice. They have families. They have people who rely on them. They can't pay their mortgages, rent or other bills, but, as I said, it's okay for them to have been paying tax for many, many years. The government has to overturn this unfair decision. JobKeeper was supposed to apply to all workers to help keep them employed— (Time expired)

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just want to say that these accusations by the Labor Party, saying that we've turned our backs on the workers, happen to be quite tawdry. We have actually doubled, might I add, the jobseeker allowance. I should also add that there are a number of other allowances on top of that which will reduce the difference between the jobseeker and JobKeeper payments to a very small amount. I accept that it's not perfect; we had a very limited time frame in which to bring a financial package to deal with one of the biggest economic, social and health crises this country has faced in a century. And what do we get from the Labor Party? Picking at small issues, at rats and mice.

Greg Hunt, in particular, has put in a fantastic effort on health. We have flattened the curve in the face of hysteria from many media outlets saying we weren't ready, we weren't going to have enough ICU beds et cetera. Well, we had more than enough ICU beds. We got the message out there. We got the quarantine measures in at the borders. We're now in front of many other countries, and we have set an example for many other countries. Hopefully, going forward, we'll be able to reopen sooner and many of these people in casual work will be able to get their jobs, lives and livelihoods back.

I would like to commend the coalition government, particularly Scott Morrison for doing a wonderful job in managing the national cabinet with all the state premiers—let's face it; that is like herding cats in this day and age, but he has managed to do it. He hasn't played politics, yet we're back here on day two of the parliamentary sitting and those opposite are already playing politics. Guys, we're not through this yet. I take the issue with Dnata on board, but it's just one of those things. We also have to balance out the long-term budget with foreign interests and things like that. To Senator Sheldon: I'm happy to work with you later on, on some of these issues, to make sure all hardworking Australians are looked after. I would ask, please, that we still maintain the spirit of cooperation until we're through this. We have to get through the winter months yet.

There are a couple of other things worth pointing out. I think we've got 5½ million people covered by the JobKeeper payment. We've actually doubled the jobseeker payment; we did that pretty much straightaway. All up, this is going to cost us about $130 billion. That is a lot of money that we've got to repay in the future. It's a question of balancing out the long-term effects of this with flattening the curve and keeping people's heads above water. I'd also like to commend the coalition government for investing heavily in mental health. We have to remember that there are not only the health effects of COVID-19 but the health effects of the devastating impact of the economic downturn. Having worked in finance for a number of years, I know what it can be like and what it will do to mental health. I should also commend the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who has done a fantastic job working with the various parties on getting these grants out.

I'm running out of things to say. I'll clarify some of these issues so people have a better understanding of what we have done. Employees hired after 1 March 2020 and casual employees who've been employed for less than 12 months as at the first—

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Talk about renewable energy!

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, let's not talk about renewable energy. Actually, I've gone on to a separate topic that I will talk about in the last minute, and that is the resentment of Labor towards allowing people to access their superannuation. There's not much point in putting money away for a rainy day if you're never going to get there. At the end of the day, it's very important to keep meals on the table and a roof over the head. The complaining by the Labor Party about letting people—workers—access their hard-earned funds has been very, very tawdry. We're talking about an estimated $10 billion out of $3 trillion. It's less than one per cent of the total funds under management of superannuation. It's reflective of the poor cash management practices of some of the super funds that they haven't got the liquidity in their bank accounts to meet these payments. This is a sign of things to come, because superannuation is a massive Ponzi scheme. When people of my generation get to 60 and they suddenly start withdrawing 40 years worth of super in one year you're going to need 40 workers to replace them. Wait and see what happens then. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rennick, you did only spend a minute, but taking note is about the answers to certain questions, and it was on JobKeeper. I was very lenient because, as you said, it was only a minute.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Where to begin! Right now there are millions of casual workers and other Australians who are missing out on the JobKeeper program. It seems like the ministers and some of the senators opposite just don't understand the desperate situation that some of these workers are in. JobKeeper is a good program. It's a program that the Labor Party and the union movement pushed for, but it needs to be extended to the workers who really need it. The Treasurer could fix that with the stroke of a pen, but instead he is talking about snapping back when so many people are still in crisis and still need support. I asked Senator Cormann how it's fair to exclude casuals like Darcy Moran, who I spoke to last week. Darcy has been working in hospitality for 15 years with no periods of unemployment but, because of the transient nature of hospitality, has been with his current employer for only a few months. The answer from Senator Cormann was really quite outrageous. He said that the state Premier, Daniel Andrews, should just reopen hospitality. Darcy should just go back to work right now, because the Premier should just reopen hospitality. No, the government should extend the JobKeeper program to those casuals in hospitality who are excluded. It is extraordinary that Senator Cormann has called on Daniel Andrews to reopen the hospitality sector despite the health advice, despite the risks to the workforce, despite the safety concerns of workers and despite the risks to and safety concerns of the community.

It seems that this government just doesn't understand the way the labour market works today under the leadership of this government. So many people are in casual and insecure jobs, and that is why so many people are excluded from the JobKeeper program. In hospitality, 78 per cent of workers are casual, and about half of them have been with their current employer for less than 12 months. That is the reality of work today under the leadership of this government, and that is why JobKeeper needs urgently to be extended to casual workers with less than 12 months, to hard hit sectors like hospitality, the arts and many others. Casual workers like Darcy are really struggling. They are struggling to pay the rent. They're struggling to pay bills and to put food on the table. For Darcy it means that, at 30 years of age, he has had to go home and live with his parents. Moving back in with your parents at the age of 30 after 15 years of continuous work isn't really the dream that many of us have, but it was his only option. It was absolutely gut wrenching for him. He considers himself one of the lucky ones, because he knows that some of those who were employed in hospitality won't be able to stay with family and friends, including, of course, those many temporary migrant workers who also are excluded from the scheme. This is the really grim reality that the government is allowing to happen.

The government's wage subsidy program is failing some of those who are hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. As we know, they could fix it with the stroke of a pen, so the question remains: why won't they? There are so many workers out there who need the government to extend JobKeeper to them in their sectors right now. That, of course, includes the dnata workers—more than 5,000 of them—who the government is also choosing to ignore. Their company is ineligible for JobKeeper, as we know, because the company's parent company happens to be a foreign government, but these are Australian jobs and Australian workers who are here right now and are calling on the government for some support. They are calling on the government for assistance. They are calling on the government for backup. They are calling on the government to extend the JobKeeper program to them. The aviation sector has been hard hit, and these workers need government support. As it stands, the JobKeeper program doesn't account for the actual ownership structure of aviation and the reality of how the aviation sector works. We need to send these workers a lifeline. We need to support them and their families. We need them to maintain their connection to their employer.

As is the case with hospitality, we need aviation to be in a strong position to recover after the COVID-19 crisis. We need to extend JobKeeper to these sectors now. (Time expired)

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this important issue of the JobKeeper program. As a senator for Western Australia, I've spent most of my time speaking to as many businesses as I possibly can across the whole state of Western Australia, from the north, up in the Kimberley, right the way down to the South West and into the Great Southern, and of course in Perth as well. Particularly early on, when we were first discussing the JobKeeper program, before all the details were released, and when the consideration of the program was put out there in the public, there was of course a lot of interest. I really commend the Treasurer on the way that he approached this. He called upon colleagues to provide feedback so that it could be fed into the design of the program, and I commend the Treasurer on the way that he consulted with his colleagues on this to make sure that the program was designed in a way that could provide the maximum impact using a system that could be tailored and scaled to meet the demand that was expected. We expected that there could be up to six million people that would be impacted by this and that would be provided with this support. To date there have been over 5½ million businesses and employees that have been impacted and have registered for this, and it really is making a solid impact. As I said, I do commend the Treasurer on the design.

We had to make sure that it was done in such a way that it could be rolled out as quickly as possible, using existing systems rather than having to design new systems that would no doubt be complicated by the fact that you don't have a lengthy lead-in time to set these things up. So we've used existing systems to enable this program to happen. That means that you cannot possibly have it designed to cover every single, conceivable person. This is why we have the safety net of the jobseeker program and the doubling of the jobseeker payment—to ensure that those people that find themselves in a situation where they're not eligible for JobKeeper have the ability to claim jobseeker if they are eligible.

We're seeing the impact of the JobKeeper program. As I said, I've spoken to lots of businesses across the state. One particular business, in the southern suburbs of Perth, is Alba Edible Oils. This business produces oils which go into restaurants and get shipped across the world. With restaurants closing down due to COVID-19, the demand for this business's product is not there right now. Had there not been the JobKeeper program, they estimate they would have laid off about 17 people in their factory. This is an amazing workshop. It's an amazing factory. What they're able to do is incredible, and the time and the energy that they've put into their staff to train and equip them to perform in their workplace is very, very considerable. Had the business lost that connection with its employees, getting back up and running would be very difficult. But the JobKeeper program has enabled that business to retain its staff so that it's ready when we are through this and when the restaurants reopen, as many of them are expected to do in Western Australia as of this coming Monday—and I commend the state government for really leading the way nationally, following the guidance from the national cabinet and being part of the leading edge when it comes to the reopening of our economy in Western Australia. This company is now set up and ready when things move forward.

I'm also pleased to see that this company has received a grant from the Commonwealth's Manufacturing Modernisation Fund, enabling the purchase of new equipment which will streamline operations. Again, because of the JobKeeper program they're able to put in place the equipment that's necessary for them to grow and develop, equipment that will enable them to bring in new packaging, which will enable them to export to new markets. This is all possible and they're able to install that equipment because of the JobKeeper program, meaning that when we're out the other side of this they'll be able to launch ahead.

As I said, the jobseeker payment has been doubled, which means that those that don't have that safety net of the JobKeeper have the safety net and the fallback position of the jobseeker program. Those people will be able to be restored into employment once we're through this crisis. (Time expired)

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Isn't this just an economically-illogical, cruel, inconsistent and bloody-minded approach to dealing with the question that we raised in question time regarding dnata. Let's just cast our minds back to the great double cross by this government. Senator Rennick quite rightly raised the need for us all to work together. We have done, and we will continue to do so, but working together is also about making constructive, sensible and logical criticism about steps that the government makes and policies that do not make economic sense and that are inconsistent.

What's clear in this particular double cross is that there was a clear understanding, when this proposal regarding JobKeeper was put forward, about the number of people that would be included in JobKeeper, but it has now fallen one million short. There was an understanding between the government and the Australian public as to who was going to be covered. JobKeeper is going to many millions of workers, but we're one million short. There was a capacity, there was an ability and there was an undertaking with regard to these workers being properly covered. I don't call these people 'rats and mice'. I don't think Senator Rennick was talking about the individuals, but he's talking about the cases and examples that we're bringing up.

This case is not a rats-and-mice case; it's 5½ thousand Australian families right across this country. It's 1,061 in New South Wales, to be specific—mums and dads raising their families—who have been left out because the government decided to change its policy and double-cross those workers. It's 1,124 families in Victoria, to be specific—mums and dads raising their kids—wondering what's going to happen tomorrow. They've been double-crossed. It's 1,120 in Queensland, double-crossed. It's 196 in South Australia, also double-crossed. In the Northern Territory it's eight and in the ACT it's 18. They've all been double-crossed by this government, which said one thing and did another. It has short-changed a million people in this country, who are not getting support. There was a deal done and there was an understanding about what this would do to the Australian public. This was not only about giving safety back to the Australian community and supporting them to connect to businesses; it was about stimulating the economy. If you don't believe me, there are two examples. The very well respected Ms Auld, from JP Morgan, and former OECD director Ms Wood believe that higher levels of public spending will be needed to fire up the recovery. Ms Wood says 'we know things like cash payments have been helpful through the crisis in getting people out and spending'. We have to make sure that we're spending the amount of money that you said—we all agreed; the community agreed—is part of a compact that you've now doublecrossed by leaving a million people short in this country and 5,500 dnata workers.

Let's talk about these people and the rats-and-mice issues that we're raising. Donna Pearce is married and has two children aged 21 and 17. She lives in Romsey, in the Macedon Ranges in Victoria, and has worked at what is now dnata's Melbourne Airport site since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Let me put this in context. Dnata is a company that purchased Qantas Catering, an Australian catering company, and another Australian company, to make its catering business. These are Australian taxpayers. Not one cent in subsidies goes to dnata. And nor should one cent in subsidies be going to any company—including Qantas, I might add, who have been using their subsidies for people's annual leave entitlements and even sick leave. This is what Ms Pearce had to say—and it is more important than what Senator Rennick, Minister Cormann or I have to say: 'I don't understand what the government's problem is when they don't have an explanation for why they are excluding them. Do they expect the Dubai government to fork out for Australian workers who work in Australia and pay taxes to the Australian government?' Donna and her husband have a mortgage— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.