Talking Point: JobKeeper payments will get Australians to the other side

JOSH FRYDENBERG: Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures

JOBKEEPER: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announces $130 billion package at a press conference at Parliament House, Canberra, on Monday. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsika

Australia is fighting a war on two fronts.

We face a health crisis and an economic crisis at the same time.

Past weeks have been tough but the weeks ahead will be tougher.

But no matter how great the challenge all 25 million Australians know their government has their back.

Our priority all along has been to prepare and resource our health system for what lies ahead.

But we have also never lost sight of what is needed to cushion the harsh economic impact for Australians from the coronavirus as we build a bridge to the recovery.

This is what the hibernation strategy has been all about.

We are partnering with the banks to support lending to their SME customers and the banks are providing a six month reprieve from borrowers having to make repayments.

We are ensuring that tenants facing significant hardship as a result of the coronavirus will have the security of a six month moratorium on evictions.

We’re working with the utility and insurance companies who also have a responsibility in this Team Australia moment to help their customers get to the other side.

But most importantly we have been focused on keeping as many Australians in a job and as many Australian businesses in business.

This has seen the Government help provide loans of up to $250,000 and cash payments of up to $100,000 for hundreds of thousands of small to medium businesses. Where people have tragically lost their job we have doubled the safety net with a new coronavirus supplement.

But yesterday we went further, much further.

At a cost of $130 billion over the next six months we are providing support to the Australian worker like this country has never, ever seen before.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and this new $1500 a fortnight JobKeeper payment will provide job security at a time when it is needed most.

This payment will give working Australians their best chance of keeping their job and keep them connected to their employers so that they can bounce back in the recovery phase.

This $1500 flat payment is the equivalent of about 70 per cent of the median wage and represents about 100 per cent of the median wage in some of the most heavily impacted sectors like retail, hospitality and tourism.

It will be available to full and part-time workers, sole traders and in the case of casuals to those who have been with their employer for 12 months or more.

The not-for-profit sector is also covered by this scheme.

From yesterday, employers and sole traders will be able to apply to the Australian Taxation Office for workers that are on their books as of March 1, the payments will flow from the first week of May.

If employees have been stood down by their employer since March 1 they are still eligible for these payments.

To be eligible, the turnover of the business will need to have fallen by 30 per cent or more or in the case of businesses with an annual turnover of more than $1 billion, by 50 per cent or more.

Our wage subsidy scheme for Australia is unlike those announced by other countries.

It’s more generous than New Zealand’s scheme; it’s broader than the United Kingdom scheme as it applies to all employees not just those that have been stood down; and it is available to all firms, not just small businesses, as is the case with the Canadian scheme.

Our scheme, which goes for six months not the three months as is the case for New Zealand and the United Kingdom, is uniquely Australian with every eligible employee receiving the same wage subsidy.

With our previous two packages including the $105 billion injected into the financial system with the Reserve Bank of Australia, support from the Federal Government during the coronavirus crisis reaches $320 billion or 16.4 per cent of GDP.

This unprecedented level of support reflects the unprecedented moment that we are in.

It is the means by which we will get Australians to the other side of this crisis.

Josh Frydenberg is the Federal Treasurer.