Australia's failure to use data to analyse the impact of JobKeeper payments and the risks associated with COVID-19 means governments are being forced to use blunt instruments, such as blanket wage subsidies, to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, says the incoming chairman of Lynas Corporation.

Kathleen Conlon, chairman-elect of the rare earths producer and director of Bluescope and realestate.com.au, says better use of data would have enabled the government to take a far more targeted approach to the extended JobKeeper program, instead of simply reducing the size of the payments across the board.