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Australia coronavirus live update: Qld premier hits back at NSW pressure to open borders, as Labor MP says Coalition demonises China – latest news Australia coronavirus live update: Qld premier hits back at pressure to open borders, as Labor MP says Coalition demonises China – latest news
(32 minutes later)
Annastacia Palaszczuk says she won’t be lectured to ‘by a state that has the highest number of cases in Australia’ as Joel Fitzgibbon opens new front in China row. Follow live Annastacia Palaszczuk says she won’t be lectured to by NSW, ‘a state that has the highest number of cases in Australia’, as Joel Fitzgibbon opens new front in China row. Follow live
Jim Chalmers has been listening to Steven Kennedy’s testimony at the Covid senate committee.
He says it proves the need for a longer term plan from the government:
This word just keeps popping up, again and again and again
Labor’s Murray Watt has asked about which organisations are responsible for complaints about jobkeeper.
The Fair Work Ombudsman says the ATO deals with eligibility including the application of the one-in all-in rule; the FWO deals with general workplace rights including the minimum wage and not to be discriminated against; and the Fair Work Commission hears disputes about directions to work.
Asked about a worker in a cafe who was told they wouldn’t get jobkeeper unless they helped with construction and renovation of the cafe, Martin Hehir, deputy secretary, of the industrial relations group at the attorney generals department, says:
Treasury has also not done any modelling on what would happen if all the people who are receiving the Covid supplement as part of jobseeker, which doubles it to $550 a week, remain on the payment when it drops back down to the pre-Covid level.
Luke Henriques-Gomes has an update on the closure of the Abbotsford Services Australia centre (Centrelink) which Stuart Robert said, in a letter to Adam Bandt, was due to a tenancy agreement coming to an end.
Robert said the department was unable to negotiate a new lease. The landlord has told Luke that the first they heard of the decision was on Twitter.
The ACT is still (known) active Covid free – no new cases have been diagnosed in the past 24 hours.
That is from 311 tests.
Phil Lowe again says there is a limit to what can be achieved through monetary policy.
He says there needs to be moves in terms of reform.
“There is no shortage of reports filled with ideas on how to do this and how to make Australia a great place to expand, to innovate [and invest in],” he says.
Philip Lowe is speaking at this event.
The RBA governor says total hours worked fell by 9% in the past month, but early indications for May show that the drop may not be as large as first thought.
He says the sooner the economy can be opened once again – safely – the better the reversals. But he says confidence has taken a pretty big hit and people are facing reluctance to go out and spend.
Treasury officials have revealed that the list of employers claiming the jobkeeper payment will not be published. This is standard for the Australian Tax Office, according to officials, but Rachel Siewert queries why, given it’s public money.
Siewert (and Labor’s Kristina Keneally) also want to know whether employers are making use of new provisions allowing as little as 24 hours notice to seek changes to enterprise agreements.
The attorney general’s department said there have been 30 enterprise agreement variations since the new rules were introduced. The Fair Work Commission’s general manager, Bernadette O’Neill, says just 14 applications sought to make use of the short consultation period (the old rules required at least seven days’ notice). Only five have been decided, and they ranged from consultation periods of one day to six days.
O’Neill takes on notice whether the 14 variations were agreed by the relevant union. She said the FWC was not consulted before attorney general Christian Porter made the change – but it is “not necessarily the case” that there is always consultation. The FWC is “completely agnostic” as to the merits of the change, she said.
Asked about FWC president Iain Ross’s comments, reported in Workplace Express, of an expectation of a “surge” in unfair dismissal complaints, O’Neill confirms Covid-19 has caused “significant pressures” at the FWC due to jobkeeper and an increase in lodgments for unfair dismissal. O’Neill confirms FWC has asked for extra resources.
AAP has this dispatch from Western Australia, which, in the light of the current environment, you may find interesting:AAP has this dispatch from Western Australia, which, in the light of the current environment, you may find interesting:
Over in the Covid Senate select hearing, Treasury has confirmed it won’t be releasing, at least publicly, which employers have signed up for jobkeeper.Over in the Covid Senate select hearing, Treasury has confirmed it won’t be releasing, at least publicly, which employers have signed up for jobkeeper.
Richard Marles was asked to respond to Joel Fitzgibbon’s comments that Coalition governments had been “demonising” the Chinese and their system of governance when he was on Sky News a little later. He attempts to walk back the comments to Labor’s established lines:Richard Marles was asked to respond to Joel Fitzgibbon’s comments that Coalition governments had been “demonising” the Chinese and their system of governance when he was on Sky News a little later. He attempts to walk back the comments to Labor’s established lines:
You are going to be hearing more and more about this issueYou are going to be hearing more and more about this issue
If you have enjoyed your iso-bubble, you may enjoy thisIf you have enjoyed your iso-bubble, you may enjoy this
Earlier, Steven Kennedy said the review of jobkeeper does not have terms of reference or a call for submissions, but Treasury is talking to external stakeholders including business and academics.
Kennedy gave some hints about the review – confirming it would consider whether some industries need the payment for longer, and the “taper rates” and incentives, in terms of how the wage subsidy interacts with the jobseeker unemployment benefit.
Kennedy said both jobkeeper and the coronavirus supplement on jobseeker were “designed to be temporary schemes, and I think rightly so”.
Kennedy said Treasury had been aware it would conduct a review at the three-month mark “since the inception of the policy” on 30 March.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally noted the review was not mentioned when the policy was announced and the first Scott Morrison or Josh Frydenberg had mentioned it was at a press conference on 14 May.
As Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said, it is their money.
But later, when they go to retire, and their overall super has taken a hit, well, that’s another story.
Not Covid-related, but a very big issue facing Australia as we move into the next stage – Mark Butler has responded to the government’s energy “roadmap”.
Not having terms of reference makes it easier not to hint ahead of time what the government is considering doing.
Treasury officials have updated numbers on government supports:
900,000 businesses enrolled for jobkeeper, covering “a bit over 6m” workers.
1.65m people have applied for early access of superannuation, totalling $13.2bn
Treasury says they are not aware of Apra or any super funds writing to them to say they are experiencing liquidity issues, but takes the question on notice.
Liberal senator James Paterson asks a series of questions about border closures and the effect on the domestic tourism market – obviously lobbying for states such as Queensland to open up – but Treasury doesn’t have much information on it, and takes them on notice.
Just in case anyone thought we were a nation of Ned Kellys, AAP has this report:
Since the government relaxed the early access conditions for superannuation, more than 1.6m people have applied to withdraw more than $13bn from funds.
Steven Kennedy tells the Covid committee he is “not particularly concerned about the level of debt Australia is left with” at the end of the pandemic. He says debt would be “significantly higher” but given the economic shock it was “entirely appropriate” to respond in the way the government has (with $194bn of fiscal stimulus).
He says:
“We as a country – amid all the global gloom – are looking pretty good. We’re handling the health crisis well, we’re in a sound fiscal position and I believe – I realise this is contested – there was a very quick response from the fiscal side ... So far so good.”
Kennedy notes that government revenues will decline but if the structural budget is sound, then a focus on full employment will mean that debt issues will “solve themselves”. Growth of 4.5% or stronger would help bring debt down quickly – the key is restoring “demand confidence”, so measures such as GDP growth, full employment and wages growth are more important than debt.
As Kennedy concludes his evidence, Katy Gallagher says the committee is “frustrated” with the flow of information from Treasury and recognises this is not solely its responsibility/fault (ie PMC has classed modelling as cabinet in confidence). But she clarifies it is not the committee’s view that Treasury is obstructing the inquiry (Rex Patrick earlier said it was his view).
The ACCC is now monitoring NBN speeds.
Its first report shows that yes, you did see a drop in speed when we all started working from home, but it was rectified.