Andrew McLachlan (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Senator Cash. Can the minister outline for the Senate how the Morrison government's record economic support has kept Australians in jobs and connected to their employers, helping to drive our comeback and build a stronger Australia after the COVID-19 pandemic?

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

I thank Senator McLachlan for his question. There is no doubt that the economy is still recovering from COVID-19 and, as the Prime Minister has said, there is still a long road ahead. In fact, when you look at some sectors, such as tourism and aviation, they are still facing significant challenges. But, when you look at JobKeeper and the purpose of the JobKeeper payment, it has kept and it continues to keep so many businesses in business and so many Australians in jobs. In fact, the RBA has said JobKeeper saved at least 700,000 jobs, and, if it weren't for the JobKeeker payment, the unemployment rate in Australia would have been five percentage points higher. That's right, five percentage higher.

With the recovery now underway, what we're now seeing is that fewer businesses are actually in need of JobKeeper. That said, of course JobKeeper continues to support the sectors of the economy that do need it the most. Following a retest of business eligibility for the second phase of JobKeeper, for the two JobKeeper fortnights in October around half a million entities had applications processed, covering more than 1.5 million employees or eligible business participants. The preliminary data indicates that around 450,000 fewer businesses and around two million fewer employees qualified for JobKeeper in October as opposed to September. These preliminary October JobKeeper figures suggest an improvement on the 2020-21 budget assumption of 2.2 million recipients for the December quarter, with around 700,000 fewer employees or eligible business participants covered by the payment in October, due to their employer no longer needing the payment.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McLachlan, a supplementary question.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In addition to the job-saving support of JobKeeper, how have the government's economic support measures assisted businesses with their cash flow, kept Australians in training and supported Australians with the cost of living?

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

Of course our No. 1 priority, as a government, is to protect the health of Australians, to protect their jobs and to protect their livelihoods. We've put in place, and delivered, the policies that are supporting this. For example, in addition to the $70 billion JobKeeper payments to date, our Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy has now delivered over $723 million to keep more than 103,000 apprentices and trainees in training, and that's where we need them. We need them training on the job, and that is what we are doing.

We also have the cash flow boost. That has delivered over $32 billion to more than 800,000 employing small and medium businesses, giving them that vital cash flow when they need it most. The Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme has now delivered more than 21,000 underwritten loans to small and medium businesses. We are putting in place the policies to keep businesses in business and Australians in jobs. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McLachlan, a final supplementary question.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With encouraging signs that the virus is now being contained across Australia, how will the government's economic recovery plan support Australians back into jobs and businesses to invest and grow and deliver a new generation of economic success?

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

As the chamber would be aware, COVID-19 has been an economic and health crisis unprecedented in the last century. In Australia, we took early and comprehensive measures, of course, to stabilise our economy in the face of lockdowns, and the enormous health uncertainty that we were faced with earlier this year.

The JobKeeper program, which is actually Australia's largest wage subsidy program, has been critical to keeping so many Australians in jobs, and building the foundation of what is now our economic recovery. Encouragingly, with the economic recovery now underway, we are seeing fewer businesses in need of JobKeeper. In October, with the labour force figures coming out, over the last five months we've seen around 650,000 jobs return to the labour market. This includes almost 344,000 jobs for women and around 226,600 jobs for young Australians.