Nearly one-third of Australia's largest listed companies have pocketed $1.8 billion in government subsidies during the COVID-19 crisis, with the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme accounting for more than half that amount.
A total of 81 companies received government subsidies, comprising of $934 million in JobKeeper and $850 million of other countries' subsidies or other government programs, according to a report by governance firm Ownership Matters. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's JobKeeper scheme has helped out Australia's largest listed companies to the tune of $1.8 billion.Close to 40 per cent of the companies that received the JobKeeper subsidy also disclosed executive bonuses, totalling $24 million for the year, while a number of companies also paid dividends off the back of government stimulus.
One company highlighted by Ownership Matters was youth-focused retailer Accent Group, which received a total of $23.9 million in subsidies,"The cultural signal of a board deciding to pay – and a management team electing to receive – bonuses in a year where a listed entity received significant government subsidies is an important one for investors to consider," the governance firm said.
"At a time when you've got a handout from the government it's bewildering that companies would be paying bonuses that were seemingly reliant on government welfare," he said.The four largest JobKeeper recipients were Qantas , Crown , G8 Education and Star Entertainment , which accounted for over half of all JobKeeper payments. The report did not include Myer, which reported its results on Thursday and received $93 million in JobKeeper payments.
domp During times of crisis, the rich get richer. Why? Because large corporations always find a way to siphon every bit of government/central bank stimulus, QE, liquidity injection.....because they can. It’s capitalism.
domp Shame, shame, shame !
domp And then they make redundancies, living extravaganza lifestyles these CEO yet many are struggling to ends meet. They should repay back these funds they stole from the same people they fired after paying tax starting from Qantas, VirginAustralia and many more companies
domp How many hundreds of millions doled were out in dividends & bonuses to corporate bigwigs need to be publicised. There r many corporate bad apples that exploit free money to pad up executive pay. LiberalAus ScottMorrisonMP JoshFrydenberg
domp And I thought Germany is generous with his industry...
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