Almost 1 million businesses were saved with $30bn Jobkeeper stimulus during the pandemic said Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister for Finance Cormann today in a joint statement:
The Government’s swift and decisive response, made possible by our strong budget position leading into the crisis, has saved lives and livelihoods and has seen Australia outperform most advanced economies and trading partners in health and economic outcomes in 2020.
This unprecedented economic response has been designed to be temporary and targeted with measures to support individuals, households and businesses through the crisis, without undermining the structural integrity of the budget.
This includes the $85.7 billion JobKeeper Payment, expanded eligibility for income support payments, the Coronavirus Supplement, support payments for households, temporary cash flow support for employers, and increasing and expanding access to the instant asset write-off.
More than 960,000 businesses and not-for-profits and more than 3.5 million individuals have been covered by the JobKeeper Payment. As at 16 July, payments totalled over $30 billion.
On Tuesday, we confirmed the Government’s commitment to the recovery and reopening of the economy with the extension of the JobKeeper Payment and Coronavirus Supplement for those on income support.
The Boosting Cash Flow for Employers measure has provided more than $16 billion in payments to more than 750,000 employers across Australia as at 16 July 2020.
As part of our economic plan we are also investing $2 billion to give hundreds of thousands of Australians access to retraining and upskilling in sectors with job opportunities, as the economy recovers from COVID-19.
This investment includes our $1 billion JobTrainer Fund, jointly funded with the states and territories, to provide up to an additional 340,700 training places to help school leavers and job seekers access short and long courses. We are also expanding and extending the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy which has supported around 83,000 apprentices and trainees, and around 48,000 employers. As at 16 July 2020, payments totalled $377.6 million.
Our HomeBuilder program is assisting the residential construction industry by encouraging the commencement of new home builds and substantial rebuilds this year. Over the month of June, sales of new houses rose by nearly 80 per cent.
Families, farmers, business owners and communities are being supported as they recover from the devastating bushfires of 2019-20 through the $2 billion National Bushfire Recovery Fund.
