$60bn JobKeeper error is good news: Angus Taylor

Energy Minister says government is under no compulsion to spend the remaining billions despite pressure.

Minister for Energy Angus Taylor says the government is under no compulsion to spend the $60bn is over-estimated for JobKeeper.

Federal energy minister Angus Taylor has called the government’s $60 billion “reporting error” in its JobKeeper scheme “very good news”, as it resists calls to expand the program.

The government admitted on Friday its JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme to assist business and workers through the COVID-19 pandemic will now be $70 billion rather than $130 billion, and will now only assist 3.5 million people rather than 6.5 million it had originally forecast.

“It means that businesses are in better shape than we might have anticipated when those original forecasts were put in place. It does mean that we’re in a better position as we work our way towards recovery,” Mr Taylor told Sky news on Sunday.

Mr Taylor said the government was under no compulsion to spend the money as the $130 billion figure was only ever a “forecast.”

“This was a forecast, an update of the forecast, the original forecast was based on the best information available and this was a more subsequent update,” he said.

“This was not an objective or a target. Only the Labor Party could think spending more money is a target.”

Mr Taylor said the revised spending forecast meant the economy was in better shape than anticipated.

“It is actually very good news. It means on the ground, and that’s where it counts, it means businesses are in better shape than we may have anticipated when those original forecasts were put in place on the best information available,” Mr Taylor said.

“It does mean we are in a better position as we work our way towards recovery.”

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has questioned how the government will manage Australia’s economic recovery after it was left red faced over a $60 billion JobKeeper mistake.

“If they can’t manage a program like JobKeeper ... then there has got to be a great question mark over how they’ll manage the economic recovery,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Sydney.

Labor has been calling for the JobKeeper payment to be broadened to casuals and other work groups that missed out, but the government has repeatedly rejected the idea, even with the program now much smaller.

Liberal backbencher Julian Leeser said the six-month JobKeeper program is due to be reviewed at the end of June and any changes to the program will be part of that discussion.

“I think it’s important to remember here that this is all borrowed money,” he told ABC TV.

“So instead of paying back $130 billion of borrowed money, we’re paying back $70 billion of borrowed money. That’s still a very large amount of money that taxpayers of the current generation and future generations will need to pay back.”

But it is not just federal Labor who wants the over-estimated $60 billion to be used to broaden the JobKeeper scheme, with Liberal Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein saying it provides an opportunity to extend the program for a longer period.

“I’m certain that most states and territories will be of a similar view,” he said in a statement.

With AAP