December 2024
JobKeeper saved jobs but killed productivity, says commission
Pandemic-era policies abated unemployment but kept workers attached to dud employers, the Productivity Commission says.
June 2024
Why JobKeeper may be part of our productivity problem
An anxious Reserve Bank of Australia is hoping for a pick-up in labour productivity this year to help alleviate the economy’s inflation problem.
May 2024
JobSeeker, JobKeeper cut wealth inequality
Lower-income households benefited the most from early COVID government payments, but higher-income households had the greatest gains in the recovery.
November 2023
JobKeeper recipients hit by pay penalty, report finds
The Morrison government’s $89 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy went on for too long and tied workers to lower paying jobs, an independent review has found.
October 2023
JobKeeper worked, but the bill is unpaid
The Albanese government has still not squared up to the fiscal policy challenges left by the pandemic.
Pay back clause could have undermined JobKeeper
Requiring profitable companies to pay back JobKeeper could have damaged confidence, but the program should only be revived in a severe economic crisis.
September 2023
COVID-19 inquiry must ask the hard questions
Pandemic lockdowns and over-stimulus were responsible for inflation and cost-of-living pressures, so Australia must learn from what policymakers did right and wrong.
Qantas anger spreads as customers fume over flight credit rules
Annoyance over Qantas’ handling of flight credits has also spread beyond the pandemic era, with customers increasingly frustrated at other issues.
April 2023
The JobKeeper lessons we refuse to learn
Nobody at the highest levels of public administration in this country is interested in properly accounting for the biggest peacetime spending program in our history.
JobKeeper and ‘excessive’ stimulus to blame for high inflation
Pandemic stimulus dramatically overcompensated for lost income and, along with rock-bottom interest rates, drove inflation 3 percentage points higher, research shows.
Letters: So, how good was JobKeeper?
Don’t forget JobKeeper’s flaws; Liberal stance on climate and Indigenous Voice; emissions curbs: necessity, not ideology; Greens don’t get energy; why we need fast trains.
March 2023
JobKeeper was a big call to make. They got it right
Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg announced JobKeeper three years ago today. For all its flaws, it produced one of the world’s most durable recoveries.
We paid our fair share of company tax, says Qantas
The airline says it isn’t taking from the Australian public with both hands and giving back with none.
July 2022
Letters: Quad alone can’t counter China
The China challenge in the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine war, RBA interest rates, HMAS Otama, weather-dependent energy, Bubs’ success and JobKeeper largesse.
COVID response wasn’t perfect - but it was better than most: Morrison
Former prime minister Scott Morrison says Australia’s relative success fighting the coronavirus was “no fluke” but he paid a political price.
You wouldn’t know it, but Gerry Harvey is being silenced
Harvey’s stifled voice was heard for 23 minutes on Neil Mitchell’s morning radio program.
May 2022
Workplace Gender Equality Agency in JobKeeper filibuster
A cynical person might think the agency is running down the clock before Saturday’s election.
Scott Morrison crashed the federal budget
How does ScoMo think he can still win an election by bagging Labor about wasteful economic stimulus measures?
The cost of JobKeeper was $112,819 for every job saved
A new analysis has found 812,000 jobs were saved out of the 3.6 million workers who qualified for the wage subsidy.
No, prime minister, higher inflation was home-grown
Government forecasts are overly optimistic. The CPI peaking at about 6 per cent until mid-2023 is the legacy of the fiscal overcompensation for COVID-19.