Former Federal member and fresh face of the Laundy portfolio, Craig Laundy, has taken a swipe at a system and the workers being paid high subsidies by government while freshly re-opened pubs struggle to cover shifts.
On Monday Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted to 2GB that if unemployment benefits, the “dole”, was too high, it would be a disincentive for unemployed people to seek work.
The government’s allowance doubled in April, to $1,115 per fortnight, and the PM stated the concern now is the country “can’t allow the JobSeeker payment to become an impediment to people going out and doing work”.
The JobSeeker increase in some ways served to undermine the emergency JobKeeper program intended to help businesses survive whilst retaining staff during the pandemic closure period, both by providing a no-obligation handout that rivalled JobKeeper, reducing the incentive an employee might have to stay employed, and providing greater peace of mind for employers not willing to enter the scheme and keep staff on the books.
Laundy followed Morrison’s concession with calls for underemployed Aussies to “get off their back-side” and get back to work, in the wake of Laundy Hotels struggling to fill shifts across its collection of pubs.
He relayed some staff are content to stay on an allowance, offering they would rather “spend time with the kids” or generally recuperate. Employers can terminate staff who refuse to work under JobKeeper, but some have provided medical certificates to avoid shifts.
The Laundy Group ambassador suggests employers often take a mental list of who has been naughty and who has been nice, and given reduced trading conditions, for some time pubs will need far fewer ongoing staff than they did pre-COVID.
The Federal programs are due to wind up at the end of September, and Australia’s unemployment rate currently sits at 7.1 per cent.
Government is now considering a Treasury report into the JobKeeper scheme, hearing significant feedback businesses of all sizes are encountering problems getting staff back to work, amid calls for fiscal stimulus to remain in place.
This week Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Guy Debelle said the economy is recovering swiftly, and the right instruments must be engaged to give the economy the best possible chance out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
“Notwithstanding the better than feared outcomes, the fiscal and monetary support that has been provided was, and remains, warranted.”
