COSBOA today acknowledges the extraordinary response to and take up of the JobKeeper payment scheme which shows the capacity of Australians when confronted with a crisis.
Peter Strong, CEO of COSBO, stated today “some 728,000 employers, sole traders and organisations have accessed JobKeeper and provided an income for around 4.7M employees.
That is amazing and historic.
This is a scheme the breadth and width of which has never been seen before and it was delivered within six weeks. There is nothing more to say than to acknowledge those who made it happen: the Morrison Government and particularly Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and his Treasury Department for the courage and imagination in developing the scheme; the executive and staff of the ATO for moving Heaven and Earth (and a few rules) to get desperately needed money to people in need; and to the industry association leaders and staff who worked tirelessly to develop an understanding of how the scheme works to their small business members.”
COSBOA notes this announcement was made on 30 March 2020 in response to the major economic impact from the coronavirus. Just 6 weeks later, the details of the $130 billion JobKeeper payment scheme have been finalised; more than 700,000 organisations are participating, and payments have started rolling out to reimburse businesses for payments made to around 4,300,000 employees.
Mr Strong added “there are of course imperfections and more work to be done, yet we should never forget the enormity of the problem, the speed of the reaction and the constructive approach from those involved. Well done.”
Mr Strong also added “now that the JobKeeper initiative is in place, it is time to start the rebuilding process and use the same focus and resolve demonstrated in recent weeks to get Australia’s economy moving again. Also please download the #COVIDSafe app.”