Labor's assistant treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh says billionaire retailer Solomon Lew and his Premier Investments have showed "extraordinary insensitivity" to Australians who are out of work amid the COVID-19 fallout, demanding the company repay an estimated $45 million in government handouts.

"It shows extraordinary insensitivity to the plight of those million Australians who are out of work, and a million Australians who would like more hours at a time when unemployment benefits are about to be cut, and we know unemployment won't return to pre-pandemic levels for years," said the former economics professor.