Treasurer calls end to wages subsidies

PRESSURE is mounting on the federal government to extend its JobKeeper wage subsidy beyond March in the wake of recent lockdowns and border closures.

But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the program, which has already given $77bn to businesses, was not the only economic support in place.

“JobKeeper was always intended to be a temporary program,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“We extended it for another six months but it is a program that goes until the end of March.”

He said the government had put a mosaic of economic measures in place including; tax cuts, support for the tourism and aviation industries, HomeBuilder and JobMaker hiring credit programs.

Speaking at Cotton On Group’s Avalon distribution centre on Monday, Mr Frydenberg said the retailer was hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Now, their business and their workers have graduated from JobKeeper as the economy has picked up,” he said.

Cotton On CEO Peter Johnson said JobKeeper gave the company the confidence to retain staff and plan for the future.

But he remained tightlipped on how the broader business community would fare once the subsidy ended.

“In Australia we had all of our 650 stores closed at one point in time so to have the support of the federal government during that period was incredible,” Mr Johnson said.

“We’ll focus on what we can control.”

Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers accused the government of being out of touch. But the Australian Industry Group’s Innes Willox said businesses could not continue to rely on the multi-billion dollar program.

“It’s just not sustainable to keep it going in its current form,” he said.