Speaking to media, Scott Morrison said that the federal government’s stimulus response “eclipsed” those taken by the states, and that “while it does not take issue with that” it also doesn’t want to burden taxpayers with a hefty stimulus bill.
“We can now switch over to medium- and longer-term economic policy settings that support private sector, business-led growth in our economy, because you simply cannot run the Australian economy on taxpayers’ money forever. It’s not sustainable,” Mr Morrison said.
But while Mr Morrison said that that the winding back of JobKeeper and JobSeeker was “consistent with the principles that (he) set out a year ago”, he also flagged new ongoing support for industries still struggling with snap lockdowns and border closures.
“While it is necessary to draw JobKeeper and the JobSeeker COVID Supplement to a close, we do understand that ongoing targeted measures will be necessary to maintain our aviation and travel sectors, while assisting those regions that are heavily reliant on international tourists by boosting domestic tourism demand in those areas,” Mr Morrison said, adding that more would be revealed “in coming days”.
The Morrison government has so far refused to bake stimulus measures into the budget, preferring to make decisions on the fly about when and to where money will flow while banking on strong household spending and vaccine roll-outs to lift Australia from the economic doldrums.
“It is also reassuring to know that the unprecedented support we have provided to the Australian economy during this past year will continue to support activity once these emergency measures come to an end,” Mr Morrison said, adding that newly increased JobSeeker rates would provide a safety net to those still unemployed as a result of the pandemic.
