With tightening restrictions in Victoria and NSW, and talk of a second wave of the pandemic, the government’s realised that its plan to scrap JobKeeper in September is probably not the greatest idea, after all. Now, it wants to introduce a tiered scheme to keep Aussies employed based on how much their employers need the funding.
The current system – which supports around 3.5 million workers – pays $1,500 per fortnight to businesses for each employee who’s signed up for the scheme. Now the government’s saying it wants to give more money to businesses who can prove they need it, and less money to those who can’t.
“We did take a conscious decision to have one single flat payment of $1500, now that meant some people were getting overpaid while others were getting underpaid,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Daily Telegraph.
“We took that conscious decision because we wanted to get as much money out of the door as possible and we didn’t want to build a new system.”
He added that since JobKeeper was introduced back when lockdowns were stricter, the government’s since “had time to reflect on that.”
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann described the changes to Sky News as “adjustments”.
“The ultimate objective still has to be getting back into a situation where all businesses are in a position to pay for the wages of their employees out of their income,” he said.
“When we first designed the scheme back in March, speed was of the essence, simplicity was of the essence. We needed to get the support out into the community, into the economy as swiftly as we could.”
It makes sense for such a system to be means-based. In theory, it means struggling small businesses can get extra support while the government won’t have to hand out cash to enormous companies who are coping just fine. According to the Daily Telegraph, the tourism and hospitality sectors are set to win big from the changes.
However, it could also be an opportunity for the government to cut down on payments across the board, which would leave many in a shitty situation. Already, childcare workers and early childhood educators will be kicked off the scheme on Monday.
We’ll have to wait and see when the government formally announces the new arrangement on Thursday.
