It’s the federal government’s neglect of checks and balances that has left businesses that didn’t need the money with $13 billion in taxpayer funds. | EDITORIAL
that pocketed JobKeeper payments while still increasing their income. The payment was designed to cover the wage bills of businesses whose income fell because of COVID-19, so those whose income held up or even increased did not qualify and it is ethically wrong of them to keep the money.shows Australians overwhelmingly believe those businesses should repay their JobKeeper cash. Such public sentiment no doubt played a role in Harvey Norman founder Gerry Harvey last week deciding to return $6.
As pressure grows for Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan to produce a list of larger employers showing how much each received from JobKeeper,that luxury brands Gucci, Bulgari and the company behind Cartier and Montblanc claimed more than $10 million combined in JobKeeper while their earnings grew. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg argues that the $88 billion wages subsidy scheme was “an economic lifeline which helped keep around a million businesses in business and 3.8 million Australians in a job”. In that regard the policy was a success. But in its haste to roll out the scheme the government neglected to put in place the checks and balances that taxpayers might reasonably expect when the largest economic support program in the nation’s history is being formulated.
By the reckoning of Labor MP Andrew Leigh, $13 billion could have bought enough Pfizer to vaccinate the nation, or aided a university sector “gutted by the loss of 17,000 jobs”. It is equivalent to the extra funding in the 2021 budget for the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the next four years.
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