The package to give more than 6 million Australians direly needed income support.
The Federal Government has announced its biggest round of COVID-19 financial stimulus to date; with a mammoth $130 billion “JobKeeper” package to give more than 6 million Australians direly needed income support.
Announcing the new measures beside Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Canberra today, the Prime Minister unveiled the package that would pay eligible businesses $1,500 a fortnight per employee.
“We will pay employers to pay their employees and make sure they do,” Mr Morrison said.
“These businesses and their owners will tell you their employees are their most important asset and this plan is about keeping those businesses together by keeping these employees in these businesses.”
The subsidy will be given to employers to pass on to all employees as a flat rate., no matter their income before the virus hit, representing about 70 per cent of the Australian median wage.
The best way to keep Aussies in jobs
The Treasurer said the new payments would “give working Australians the best chance of keeping their job and being connected to their employers”.
By paying the employer to then pass on the wage subsidy to the employee, the Government hopes to keep the “link” between employers and their workers.
Rather than help Australians out until the virus ends, and then leaving them to re-apply work if they’ve lost their jobs, this subsidy hopes to enable businesses to keep workers on their payrolls throughout the pandemic.
Who is eligible?
Employers
- Businesses with annual revenue of under $1 billion who can demonstrate their turnover has fallen by 30 per cent or more.
- Businesses with annual revenue of more than $1 billion who can demonstrate their turnover has fallen by 50 per cent or more.
- Not–for-profits
Employees
- Employees stood down by employers from March 1
- Full and part-time workers, and casuals who have been with employers for 12 months or more
- New Zealanders on the 444 visa
When will it come into place?
- The payments will flow from the first week of May and be backdated to today
- The measures will have to pass the parliament and Labor will be engaged directly by the Government with weekly teleconferences
What do you as an employer or employee have to do from here?
- Employers need to register with the Australian Tax Office to declare their eligibility and register with the JobKeeper Program
- Employees need to ring their employers to find out if they are registering to be part of the JobKeeper program
How will this affect the JobSeeker program?
The Prime Minister made it very clear you can’t get the JobKeeper and JobSeeker program at the same time
“That is one of the conditions employees will be working through to make sure they aren’t double counting on those measures,” Mr Morrison said.
“If you have applied to jobseeker through Centrelink, then you can get in touch with your employer and translate across to the other program, that will mean it will take a lot of pressure off Centrelink and the government services system, that will hopefully mean we will be able to move more quickly through those arrangements.”
Business community welcomes measures, but still wants more to be done.
Unions and business leaders have for weeks called for some kind of wage subsidy to keep people in jobs.
The Business Council of Australia today responded to the Federal Government’s announcement saying would help the economy bounce back post-virus.
“This crisis will end and when it does Australia will need businesses and workers that are ready to ramp back up quickly, today’s announcement will make sure they can,” CEO Jennifer Westacott said.
But others, like Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilikari said the $750 a week subsidy was “not generous enough”.
Watch: JobKeeper Announcement
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