In a time of panic and uncertainty last year the government implemented Jobkeeper. Thousands of businesses validly and ethically accepted money from the government without the knowledge they may later be publicly shamed for it. We support accountability, but do it in a properly set system from the start.
That wasn’t the deal at the time, we don’t publicly list every dole recipient and we shouldn’t be doing things retrospectively.
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I speak on behalf of Senator Hanson on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Bill 2021. The key point here is accountability. I know now of organisations that had a disastrous first two months of JobKeeper and then very quickly recovered. They tried to stop JobKeeper payments and couldn’t. We also know that some businesses gamed the system. What this shows is that we need a proper audit.
I’ll give you some background. March and April 2020 was a time of great uncertainty. Deaths overseas were reportedly very high—in the tens of thousands. There was a lot of fear and uncertainty, and that meant erring on the side of safety. So all the parties in the Senate supported the government’s approach on JobSeeker and JobKeeper. We basically gave them a blank cheque and waved it through because it was a time of perceived threat. I warned at the time of a need to get data and develop a proper plan, and that we would hold the government accountable. I noted Taiwan’s stellar performance and Ivermectin.
The government got it wrong with JobKeeper. We all saw that, and that’s not a criticism of the government—so long as the government doesn’t make too many mistakes it’s very easy in hindsight to see that JobKeeper and JobSeeker could be open to criticism. I’m proud to say that I erred on the side of caution and safety in a time of great uncertainty. Senator Hanson and I are not afraid of admitting errors. But it was an error that was based on making sure that we erred on the side of safety, so we cannot hold that against anyone. Senator Hanson later questioned continuing JobKeeper. I did the same. Parliament did not stop it. Labor wanted to extend it and widen it. The parliament failed to hold the government accountable. The federal government continued to support capricious and unjustified lockdowns, and still does. The parliament condones the lack of a proper comprehensive plan, yet has blasted billions out into the community.
That’s the broad perspective. We were faced with a lot of uncertainty. The government made some initiatives. We supported them, and some parties wanted to continue them through until now. Let’s have a look at some specifics. Labor is claiming that, out of the $90 billion paid out in JobKeeper, $25 billion has apparently been paid to companies that did not suffer a decline in revenue.
The Treasurer says he doesn’t know because he does not have companies’ profit and loss statements. And some of them had an increase in revenue and some have paid huge bonuses to executives. So we have a problem. Naming and shaming by itself does nothing, though. The people need action to get the money back from those who’ve rorted the system. We need a better system. We need more accountability to the public. We need a plan and a system in place for the future.
I want to comment on tax law. Tax law has always had secrecy provisions, unless there’s a higher purpose—for example, criminal prosecution. There are many practical occasions when the Australian Taxation Office releases data. Its JobKeeper administration, though, is not part of the income tax system. The Australian Taxation Office systems were used not for tax but for shovelling taxpayer money to companies. That does not affect tax office secrecy provisions.
Our tax system is based on voluntary compliance, including for company tax. Prior to 1986, every individual’s tax return was checked by the ATO. That hasn’t happened since 1986. It is done on a sampling basis. We need to remember, also, that 75 per cent of tax raised is from individuals, so it’s the individual’s confidence in the taxation system and confidence in government spending that needs to be maintained.
Now, the parliament makes the laws. There is only one position in the Australian tax office that is of significance: that’s the taxation commissioner. Why should the commissioner approach the Senate President? Why did he write to the President, when he reports to the parliament? The parliament hires him and fires him. The commissioner, on this occasion, has overstepped the mark.
ASIC will publish the JobKeeper figures for publicly listed companies, and, for them, the context, including the number of employees and revenues, is available. That’s not the case when it’s published for private companies because there’s a need for context. There can be unintended consequences if people simply know the JobKeeper payments without the comprehensive context. We need to prevent various third parties targeting the businesses and taking JobKeeper out of context.
Now, the government will support this in the House of Representatives, whereas Senator Patrick’s original amendment—which we acknowledge and appreciate—would have been defeated. I’m sure that Senator Patrick is doing this to do good, not just look good. So we thank Senator Patrick for his idea, which we have built on and enhanced. Those in the Senate who believe in transparency with safeguards will support this amendment. I want to make two final points. This highlights yet again that central government quite often gets it wrong. We highlight parliament’s lack of accountability. Instead, parliament has been posturing over this COVID situation. We must restore parliament to serve the people. So that’s why we’re moving this amendment, on behalf of Senator Hanson, and I would welcome people’s support.
