‘It will make a real difference’: The Treasurer’s plan to keep six million Australians employed

The Morrison government will provide a flat $1500 per fortnight JobKeeper payment to eligible workers in a massive $130 billion package designed to help businesses keep roughly six million Australians employed for the next six months.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg tells Brooke Corte the package will “help underpin the economy at a very challenging time,”

“It’s more generous than the New Zealand scheme, it applies to am much broader range of workers and businesses than the United Kingdom scheme, and I think it will make a real difference at this time,” he said.

Full-time workers, part-time workers, sole traders, and casuals who have been employed for more than 12 months are eligible for the JobKeeper payment, provided the business can demonstrate a drop in revenue of 30%, or 50% for businesses with a turnover in excess of $1 billion.

Employees who were made redundant after March 1 are eligible for the payment, provided the business is prepared to re-hire them. Payments will begin hitting accounts in May and will be backdated to April 30.

The payment is roughly equivalent to a pre-tax annual salary of $50,000, or about 70% of the median salary, but the Treasurer says this is appropriate for many of the sectors hit hardest by the coronavirus.

“It’s around about 100% of the median wage in particular industries, like the retail industry, or the tourism sector, or the hospitality sector,

“In terms of other sectors, you may have wages of workers that are higher, this is the minimum payment that will be received by those workers because employers may continue to pay them the higher amount,” he said

Click PLAY to hear Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speak with Brooke Corte: