In response to new research showing $4.6 billion in JobKeeper went to businesses that increased their turnover through the first wave of the Covid pandemic, the Greens have urged other parties to support Greens’ legislation to force JobKeeper profiteers to pay back public money they didn’t need.

The Greens’ Coronavirus Economic Response Package Amendment (Ending JobKeeper Profiteering) Bill 2021 is currently before the Senate.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

The Morrison Lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne are taking a political toll on the Prime Minister, but the Greens say the long-term damage of the mismanagement will land hardest on young people, and are calling on the Prime Minister to ensure no-one is left behind by lifting JobSeeker back to $1,100 a fortnight and implementing JobKeeper 2.0.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

“These Morrison lockdowns are hitting many people just as hard as last year, so the Prime Minister must give people the same level of support as before.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt will announce the next steps in the Greens campaign to make the billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share today, with a Budget push for the Morrison government to force the billionaires and big corporations who profited from JobKeeper to pay it back.

The Greens have welcomed Labor’s backflip on its utterly reprehensible claim that JobKeeper payments to low-hours workers were ‘waste’ that was wrongly adding to the country’s debt.

“Labor claimed that JobKeeper payments to low-hours workers previously earning less than $1,500 were wasteful. Labor launched an utterly reprehensible attack on low-paid, insecure workers and we are pleased that they have now back-flipped,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

The Australian economy is experiencing the best of times and worst of times, as both company profits and share prices soar, while on the other hand a million Australians are now unemployed and workers’ share of earnings are going backwards.

Today’s announcement of a quarterly drop in GDP of 7.0%, combined with the 0.3% fall from the March quarter, confirms that Australia is in recession for the first time since 1991.

The Greens have described a government bill to extend IR ‘flexibility’ and create a special tier of businesses as corporate welfare at workers’ expense. 

The government’s bill creates a new class of corporation that can cut its workers hours and pay without the workers getting JobKeeper.

The Greens will move to excise these powers from the bill, arguing that if these businesses need support, then the Government can extend JobKeeper to them as well.

“The government is using the pandemic as a cover to attack working people,” Greens Leader Adam Bandt said. 

With the Liberals needing Senate support for their plans to slash JobKeeper payments to low-income earners, the Australian Greens have described Labor’s approach to JobKeeper cuts as two-faced, urging Labor to stop playing double games and instead fully abandon the opposition's plans to support the Liberals' cuts.

Following reports that the government cynically intends to link extended JobKeeper support in some businesses to a removal of the industrial rights of workers in other businesses no longer receiving JobKeeper, the Greens have vowed to oppose the government's attempt at legislative blackmail, saying they will move to strip the proposed removal from any bill that comes before Parliament.

“The conservatives are cynically using this pandemic to strip rights from workers,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says today's announcement that the government will expand JobKeeper suggests lessons have not been learned from the first round of JobKeeper, meaning millions in need will continue to miss out.

“The Government has shown today how easy it is to expand eligibility,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, said today.

“While we welcome an expansion, this was surely an opportunity to fill the gaps that see millions of workers unfairly missing out on JobKeeper.