Labor’s decision to let big corporations keep JobKeeper profits is a complete capitulation, the Greens say.

“We know that $13 billion went to boosting the bottom line of profitable companies during the pandemic,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“The fact that Labor is happy for big corporations to keep this money just shows that they are far more focused on their big donors than helping people who need it most.”

One Nation has let the Government off the hook on JobKeeper rorts, just as public pressure is mounting to unsustainable levels, the Greens say.

“Reporting which publicly listed companies received JobKeeper isn’t nearly enough as most of this information was already available,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“This stitch up covers less than 5% of the $90 billion in JobKeeper payments made  - private companies, private schools and foreign entities will be exempt, and we may never know how much they received.”

In response to new research showing $4.6 billion in JobKeeper went to businesses that increased their turnover through the first wave of the Covid pandemic, the Greens have urged other parties to support Greens’ legislation to force JobKeeper profiteers to pay back public money they didn’t need.

The Greens’ Coronavirus Economic Response Package Amendment (Ending JobKeeper Profiteering) Bill 2021 is currently before the Senate.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

The Morrison Lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne are taking a political toll on the Prime Minister, but the Greens say the long-term damage of the mismanagement will land hardest on young people, and are calling on the Prime Minister to ensure no-one is left behind by lifting JobSeeker back to $1,100 a fortnight and implementing JobKeeper 2.0.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

“These Morrison lockdowns are hitting many people just as hard as last year, so the Prime Minister must give people the same level of support as before.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt will announce the next steps in the Greens campaign to make the billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share today, with a Budget push for the Morrison government to force the billionaires and big corporations who profited from JobKeeper to pay it back.

The Greens have laid the blame for Brisbane’s three-day COVID lockdown at the Morrison government’s door, saying its failure to ensure all frontline healthcare workers are vaccinated has triggered a necessary public health response that will damage already struggling businesses and force more workers into unemployment.

The more than 130,000 people currently receiving JobSeeker in Brisbane will have their safety net slashed to below the poverty line on Thursday after the Coalition and Labor refused to support the Greens’ proposal for an $80 a day payment.

The Greens have welcomed Labor’s backflip on its utterly reprehensible claim that JobKeeper payments to low-hours workers were ‘waste’ that was wrongly adding to the country’s debt.

“Labor claimed that JobKeeper payments to low-hours workers previously earning less than $1,500 were wasteful. Labor launched an utterly reprehensible attack on low-paid, insecure workers and we are pleased that they have now back-flipped,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

The Australian economy is experiencing the best of times and worst of times, as both company profits and share prices soar, while on the other hand a million Australians are now unemployed and workers’ share of earnings are going backwards.

Today’s announcement of a quarterly drop in GDP of 7.0%, combined with the 0.3% fall from the March quarter, confirms that Australia is in recession for the first time since 1991.