3 years ago
Risk of JobKeeper cuts in Queensland
Murray Watt MP
MURRAY WATT, QUEENSLAND LABOR SENATOR: I want to highlight this morning that some of the decisions that the Morrison Government is making right now are at very great risk of leaving many Australians behind, particularly in my home state of Queensland. Now, we've had a range of economic experts, the Reserve Bank of Australia, today the OECD, coming out saying that the worst thing that we can do in terms of the recovery is the withdrawal of income support, like JobKeeper, too early. And yet, despite that, we see day after day signs that that's exactly what the Government intends to do. Of course, they've already withdrawn JobKeeper from childcare workers, and there are no guarantees whatsoever that they won't be doing the same in terms of other workers. Now, this is a particularly big concern in my state of Queensland, where some of our key industries, including tourism, arts and entertainment, have been so badly hit by the coronavirus epidemic and the lockdown that followed it. And new figures have come out today from Treasury, which show that many of the suburbs in Australia where we have the most people relying on JobKeeper payments, are in my home state of Queensland, particularly tourist hotspots like the Gold Coast and Cairns. So I think that what we'd be seeing is that there's a real shiver running down the spine of people in places like the Gold Coast, Cairns and other centres where you do have high numbers of people relying on JobKeeper payments, when they hear the Prime Minister repeatedly say that income support is going to snap back in September, no possibility of extension, no matter what state the economy is in. So I think, again, it's a real worry that we've got decisions being made by the Government right now that are going to have implications for people's economic security in the weeks and months ahead. The other similar decision is the decision that the Government is making about Australia Post. Now for a lot of people that might not sound like a significant decision, but there are regulations that this Government is looking to put through right now, which will have a dramatic impact on the level of service from Australia Post that people in regional Queensland receive. Just to give you one example - in Central Queensland, the city of Rockhampton, a major, major provincial city in Australia, under these changes, postal services will go from every three days to every seven days. That's just not acceptable. That's not an acceptable way for the Government to treat the people of Central Queensland, especially after they made all sorts of promises to win those seats in the last election. So whether it's JobKeeper, whether it's postal services, again and again, we see decisions by this Government right now are being made that are going to leave people behind, right across Queensland and right across Australia.
JOURNALIST: There's an OECD report out overnight, predicting the Australian economy will, obviously, sink badly this year but come back next year, what did you think of the report and the [inaudible]for the Australian economy?
WATT: Well, as I say, the main thing I took from that report was that the decisions that we make today, tomorrow, next week are going to have a major implication for how painful this lockdown and the economic downturn is for Australians, if we don't heed the warnings of economic experts like the OECD, like the Reserve Bank. That there are big dangers if we snap back on income support too early, then all we're going to be doing is seeing millions of more Australians consigned to the poverty line unnecessarily. That's the thing here, is that these are conscious decisions from the Government that will make the recovery worse for people, they will rein in the recovery and they will prolong the pain and Labor won't stand for that, we will always be about protecting workers and protecting our economy.
JOURNALIST: Speaking out in terms of, you mentioned those tourism communities, surely opening the Queensland border would help them as well?
WATT: Well, look, I think all Queenslanders, whether they're in the tourism industry or not, would like to see borders open as soon as is safely possible. But that's the point, it's got to be done in a safe manner. I support the Premier's decision, and I might say, the vast majority of Queenslanders do as well - that the borders should remain closed until it's safe to lift them. But it's a distraction from the LNP to be saying that that's the only test of whether the economy in Queensland can recover. I haven't heard a word from a single LNP Member of Parliament about the need to extend JobKeeper, which is actually a real issue facing people in those tourist communities now. Haven't heard a peep from LNP Members about the need to keep Virgin alive and support Virgin. Some of those practical things that our LNP Members from Queensland could be doing right now with their own Government would make a material difference to people in Queensland.
JOURNALIST: But the experts, you say, 'we have to listen to the experts', but health experts are saying open borders, there's no reason to have borders closed. They keep saying that over and over again they've never advised to close the borders. Have you been on the phone to Palaszczuk and said, 'you should start considering this sooner than later', because that would certainly be good, because Queensland, based on tourism along the industry, what you are talking about, that would certainly help having the borders open, particularly say from New Zealand as well.
WATT: Well, I have to correct you there, not all the health experts are saying open the borders and in fact, the clear, consistent advice from Queensland's chief health officer has been at this point in time, it's not safe to open the borders between Queensland and other states.
JOURNALIST: What are you basing that on, by the way?
WATT: She's basing that on, you know, 30-40 years of health and medical experience.
JOURNALIST: As opposed to all the other experts around the country who disagree with that?
WATT: Well not every other expert in the country disagrees with her. I accept that there are some who think that we should open the borders-
JOURNALIST: -the chief medical officer, and the second medical officer?
WATT: I'm a Queensland senator. I'm going to listen to Queenslanders first. The Queensland chief medical officer says that it's not over, that it's not safe to open the borders at this point in time. And as I say, everyone wants to see those borders open as soon as it can safely be done. At this point in time, the advice is that it's not safe to do so. And remember, some of the people who are calling for the borders to be reopened now are the people who are saying that we shouldn't have had lockdowns in the first place. I'm going to listen to people who actually know what they're talking about, not some of these LNP stooges who are running a political campaign rather than actually getting their own Government to do something that can help Queenslanders right now.
JOURNALIST: So the whole of Queensland has been locked down because of one person's opinion, which goes against everybody else's opinion?
WATT: Well, first of all, I'd say that they Queensland's chief medical officer is someone who is actually worth listening to. I've actually worked with her in the past, in my time in State Government. She knows what she's talking about. She has a lot of experience and knowledge to call on. But also, it's not just one person's opinion, the vast majority of Queenslanders support the borders remaining closed. There was another opinion poll out yesterday to prove that point. So, sure the chief medical officer agrees, but so do about 70 or 80 percent of Queenslanders, and I think that's something we should listen to.
ENDS
JOURNALIST: There's an OECD report out overnight, predicting the Australian economy will, obviously, sink badly this year but come back next year, what did you think of the report and the [inaudible]for the Australian economy?
WATT: Well, as I say, the main thing I took from that report was that the decisions that we make today, tomorrow, next week are going to have a major implication for how painful this lockdown and the economic downturn is for Australians, if we don't heed the warnings of economic experts like the OECD, like the Reserve Bank. That there are big dangers if we snap back on income support too early, then all we're going to be doing is seeing millions of more Australians consigned to the poverty line unnecessarily. That's the thing here, is that these are conscious decisions from the Government that will make the recovery worse for people, they will rein in the recovery and they will prolong the pain and Labor won't stand for that, we will always be about protecting workers and protecting our economy.
JOURNALIST: Speaking out in terms of, you mentioned those tourism communities, surely opening the Queensland border would help them as well?
WATT: Well, look, I think all Queenslanders, whether they're in the tourism industry or not, would like to see borders open as soon as is safely possible. But that's the point, it's got to be done in a safe manner. I support the Premier's decision, and I might say, the vast majority of Queenslanders do as well - that the borders should remain closed until it's safe to lift them. But it's a distraction from the LNP to be saying that that's the only test of whether the economy in Queensland can recover. I haven't heard a word from a single LNP Member of Parliament about the need to extend JobKeeper, which is actually a real issue facing people in those tourist communities now. Haven't heard a peep from LNP Members about the need to keep Virgin alive and support Virgin. Some of those practical things that our LNP Members from Queensland could be doing right now with their own Government would make a material difference to people in Queensland.
JOURNALIST: But the experts, you say, 'we have to listen to the experts', but health experts are saying open borders, there's no reason to have borders closed. They keep saying that over and over again they've never advised to close the borders. Have you been on the phone to Palaszczuk and said, 'you should start considering this sooner than later', because that would certainly be good, because Queensland, based on tourism along the industry, what you are talking about, that would certainly help having the borders open, particularly say from New Zealand as well.
WATT: Well, I have to correct you there, not all the health experts are saying open the borders and in fact, the clear, consistent advice from Queensland's chief health officer has been at this point in time, it's not safe to open the borders between Queensland and other states.
JOURNALIST: What are you basing that on, by the way?
WATT: She's basing that on, you know, 30-40 years of health and medical experience.
JOURNALIST: As opposed to all the other experts around the country who disagree with that?
WATT: Well not every other expert in the country disagrees with her. I accept that there are some who think that we should open the borders-
JOURNALIST: -the chief medical officer, and the second medical officer?
WATT: I'm a Queensland senator. I'm going to listen to Queenslanders first. The Queensland chief medical officer says that it's not over, that it's not safe to open the borders at this point in time. And as I say, everyone wants to see those borders open as soon as it can safely be done. At this point in time, the advice is that it's not safe to do so. And remember, some of the people who are calling for the borders to be reopened now are the people who are saying that we shouldn't have had lockdowns in the first place. I'm going to listen to people who actually know what they're talking about, not some of these LNP stooges who are running a political campaign rather than actually getting their own Government to do something that can help Queenslanders right now.
JOURNALIST: So the whole of Queensland has been locked down because of one person's opinion, which goes against everybody else's opinion?
WATT: Well, first of all, I'd say that they Queensland's chief medical officer is someone who is actually worth listening to. I've actually worked with her in the past, in my time in State Government. She knows what she's talking about. She has a lot of experience and knowledge to call on. But also, it's not just one person's opinion, the vast majority of Queenslanders support the borders remaining closed. There was another opinion poll out yesterday to prove that point. So, sure the chief medical officer agrees, but so do about 70 or 80 percent of Queenslanders, and I think that's something we should listen to.
ENDS