Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been involved in a fiery exchange on radio, defending JobKeeper payments to companies that didn’t experience a fall in turnover during the pandemic, as people now struggle with soaring cost of living pressures.
Mr Morrison was grilled on Perth radio station 6PR by host Liam Bartlett during his first day of a week-long visit to Western Australia, which has begun with the major announcement of a new $4.3bn dry dock facility in the suburb of Henderson.
It would support 2000 direct jobs when operational and also create hundreds of construction jobs.
But cost of living pressure has still been top of the agenda ahead of this month’s budget, with the Prime Minister on Tuesday quizzed about whether there would be any cut to the fuel excise amid soaring petrol prices due to the war in Ukraine.
He told Bartlett the budget was in a “couple of weeks’ time”.
“It’s at times like this, that you need flexibility in a budget, don’t you Prime Minister, to help people with the cost of living?” the radio host later asked during their back-and-forth.
“If your Treasurer had handled JobKeeper better and made those companies that took billions when they didn’t need it pay it back … You’d have a lot more to play with now, wouldn’t you?”
Last year it was reported JobKeeper payments worth about $38bn went to employers that didn’t have the required 30 per cent fall in turnover during the quarter they claimed the support.
Mr Morrison said he didn’t accept the premise of the question “at all”.
He said the JobKeeper wage subsidy program had saved the Australian economy.
“And you don’t think there’s figures to back up the fact that a lot of companies didn’t need JobKeeper?” Bartlett pressed.
“You have to understand what JobKeeper was when JobKeeper was put in place,” Mr Morrison said.
“It was put in place with the certainty for all the businesses that were eligible that it would be in place for that duration of time.
“You don’t get to go and change the rules halfway through, because people made decisions about investment, about keeping people in jobs, keeping their businesses going forward.”
But Bartlett continued to press him on the topic.
“What do you say for all those companies that made profits, that posted profits over and above the money they got in JobKeeper? How can you say that’s not wasted?”
“What I’m saying is they are able to invest that in their companies, they’re able to keep their companies going, they’re able to keep all their employees in place,” Mr Morrison said.
Bartlett then cut him off.
“Oh lovely; taxpayer-funded welfare, that’s lovely,” he remarked.
“I don’t agree with you. You think JobKeeper didn’t save the economy?” The Prime Minister continued.
“I think it did. And I think there are businesses all across this country who know that to be true.
“When you make a commitment to say you’re going to give support during a period of unprecedented crisis, you stick to your word.”
Later while at the Henderson shipyard to formally announce Western Australia’s first large-vessel dry berth, Mr Morrison promised the budget would provide some relief to people struggling to make ends meet as he was again quizzed about cost of living.
“I can assure you the Treasurer andxjmtzyw I have been keenly focused on ensuring that we can address some of these immediate pressures when it comes to the cost of living that Australians are facing,” he said.
