CORONAVIRUS — SMALL BUSINESS
941. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Treasurer:
Can the Treasurer outline to the house the forecast number of
Western Australian small businesses expected to close once JobKeeper ends in
March?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member, are you asking for an opinion?
Mr B.S. Wyatt: I am happy to give it!
The SPEAKER: Okay, Treasurer.
Mr B.S. WYATT
replied:
As my time here comes to an end, I am always happy to opine!
I thank the member for Bateman for the question about a commonwealth
policy. Nonetheless, I will make some comments on the commonwealth government's
policy of JobKeeper, which I think has been an extraordinary success. When we look back in time, I suspect the
adoption by a right-wing government of one of the most significant
left-wing policies that Australia has seen really has been quite significant.
JobKeeper and JobSeeker will be historically important in the suite of policy
in Australia. I think the fact that we have one of the most left-wing
commonwealth governments in Australia's history highlights the fact
that it understands that connection to work is
fundamental. I have said in this place dozens of times, I suspect, since the
coronavirus restrictions started to impact the jobs market: whether you
are the Governor of the Reserve Bank or any Treasurer in Australia, it is all
about keeping people connected to work. That is exactly what the policy around
JobKeeper was designed to do. I think it has been successful. I think the
unemployment rates in Australia would have been significantly higher but for
JobKeeper. I think we can all recall the early days of those horrible images of
Australians and Western Australians in lines outside Centrelink. The design of
JobKeeper was to stop that and it worked.
As I have said, going into these
sorts of supports is much easier than coming out, which is why we have seen the
commonwealth government make a range of changes over the last little while to
rates of JobSeeker and JobKeeper, but also the transition out. Ultimately, the
impacts on individual businesses, as I suspect the member for Bateman knows,
will be subject to the economy at the time, and we will see how that works.
But, ultimately, I would not be surprised
if, in some form, JobKeeper continues beyond March. There will be, clearly, an
impact because, ultimately, that has to transition out, which is why the
Premier, ministers and I have a $5.5 billion recovery spend. That is designed
to dovetail off the back of the withdrawal of JobKeeper and JobSeeker, to keep Western
Australians in jobs and keep businesses operating. That is why I think
yesterday the Premier outlined a whole suite of support that we have given to
the small business sector of Western Australia.
What the commonwealth projects for
its own policy is up to the commonwealth. What we will do as a state is ensure that our policies align with what the
commonwealth's announced intentions are and our $5.5 billion recovery
program certainly does that.