Day after day,more undeserving recipients of JobKeeper payments are uncovered. The demonstrated avarice poses a credibility dilemma as companies now call on their workers to do the right thing in the pandemic.
JobKeeper payments flowed to a string of upmarket luxury brands,with some able to increase their profits in the depths of a recession.
The prospect of an election early next year focused on the economy is a strong one. But on that front,the government would have noticed two worrying trends.
Rex Patrick has pulled out of negotiations on an overhaul of environmental laws over the government’s refusal to publish data outlining which companies profiteered from JobKeeper payments.
The conservative lobby group is one of a number of industry groups,think tanks and not-for-profits that received the JobKeeper payments even though their revenue surged or held up.
The luxury brand received $6 million in JobKeeper while recording a lift in sales,profits and dividends.
At least a dozen ASX-listed companies have declined to return JobKeeper payments despite booking millions of dollars in profits last financial year.
If not for a Pauline Hanson sidestep,the Parliament would have forced the government to reveal details of businesses that received billions in JobKeeper support that they didn’t need. But the attempt to impose transparency isn’t over yet.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the federal government did not include a clawback provision in its JobKeeper program because asking businesses to prove loss of turnover would have delayed the payments.
Gerry Harvey has focused attention on the extent to which JobKeeper was legally plundered by businesses that didn’t need it,most of which have since shirked any moral obligation to pay it back.
Retailer’s decision to pay back JobKeeper money on the back of record profits has reignited calls for more transparency around the multibillion-dollar wage subsidy scheme.