Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed is encouraging the government to extend the $70 billion JobKeeper program beyond September for hard-hit industries while winding back the flat rate wage subsidy for those getting more in their pay packet than before the pandemic began.
"JobKeeper has been an enormous success and as a nation we should congratulate everyone involved," Mr Reed said, acknowledging it has helped with the wellbeing of employers and employees.However, he said it had been an "enormously expensive program" for the country and should be phased down after September, when it is currently scheduled to end.
The coronavirus welfare supplement is also scheduled to stop in September, which would see the JobSeeker payment drop from $1100 a fortnight to $550. "We are going to have quite a few people unemployed and we want them to be in a mental place where they can pursue work, where they can go and get training and be ready to go back to work and to do what you need to make sure you've got the money to survive."