with 
TONY BURKE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR WATSON
and
BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRY SHADOW MINISTER FOR SCIENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR GORTON

Labor welcomes the Government’s latest attempt to get the JobKeeper program right and we will work through the details of the announcement.
 
We’ve been saying for some time that the deterioration in the economy should force the Government to reconsider its changes to JobKeeper, including those announced just 17 days ago.
 
These changes are welcome but they are a tweak, not a plan, and don’t do enough to tackle the jobs crisis that continues to worsen.
 
Today’s announcement does little for the hundreds of thousands of people that have lost their job or will lose their job, including up to 400,000 additional workers that are expected to lose their job by Christmas.
 
On its latest attempt to fix the program, the Government has still failed to support millions of workers that were originally excluded.
 
Labor is still concerned that other aspects of the wind down of JobKeeper will come at the worst time for workers and businesses in Victoria and in other parts of Australia and that the Government continues to exclude millions of workers from JobKeeper.
 
Changing the eligibility test for one program is still not a comprehensive plan for jobs and that’s what’s necessary here with unemployment rising.
 
We don’t want people left out and left behind in Australia’s first recession in 30 years, we want them to get ahead in the recovery, and that’s why Australians can’t afford for the Government to get this wrong.
 
FRIDAY, 7 AUGUST 2020