Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says now is the time to “bunker down” amid calls for an expansion of the wage scheme to include big business.
As it stands, businesses with a turnover of $1 billion or more must estimate a 50 per cent reduction in turnover due to COVID-19 to qualify for the JobKeeper scheme. Speaking with Sky News, Mr McCormack conceded the capacity for expansion was there, but he was concerned about “saddling” the nation with unsustainable debt levels.
“We don’t want to saddle ourselves with debt … we have already put in place measures that are going to cost this country a lot for many, many years, but we don’t want to saddle ourselves with debt that we just can’t maintain,” he said. “We will continue to roll out measures, we have the capacity to do just that but we also need to bunker down now. “ Last week Treasurer Josh Frydenberg ruled out an increase to the Goods and Services Tax to pay back the some $320 billion in measures.
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