Why the government is facing a push for transparency over its multibillion-dollar JobKeeper program

The Federal Government is resisting pressure to claw back billions in JobKeeper payments from profitable companies, after it was revealed thousands of businesses doubled or tripled their earnings, while on the wage subsidy scheme. @ShubaSKrishnan pic.twitter.com/VCizUGqSGf

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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has repeatedly defended the wage subsidy program, which he says was implemented in the face of an "economic abyss”.

“The reality is that JobKeeper helped save our economy,” he told parliament on Thursday.

“The great deal of uncertainty in the economy at that time meant that we gave businesses certainty. We gave businesses the ability to plan for their future.”   

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The $1,500 a fortnight wage subsidy program was announced last March for businesses hit by COVID-19 lockdowns as the economy sat on the precipice of a recession.

Businesses and charities had to demonstrate either an actual or projected drop in income to qualify for the support.

The scheme paid out some $90 billion in JobKeeper subsidies over the year to the end of March this year.

The way the program was set up means it’s completely legal for profitable businesses to keep their JobKeeper windfall - but pressure on these businesses continues to grow.

The ABC on Thursday revealed data from the independent Parliamentary Budget Office showing thousands of businesses doubled or tripled their earnings while on the wage subsidy scheme.

The data seen by SBS News shows nearly 20,000 of these firms tripled their turnover but still pocketed approximately $368 million in subsidies in the first three months of the program.

An additional 15,000 firms also doubled their earnings compared to the same quarter in 2019 but took in approximately $320 million in JobKeeper.

'If there has been no rorting, there is nothing to hide'

Labor, the Greens and independent Senator Rex Patrick have led a push in the Senate trying to force the disclosure of JobKeeper details to increase transparency around the program.

The effort comes as retailer Harvey Norman this week declared it had repaid $6 million of an estimated $22 million in JobKeeper funds it received, following months of pressure. 

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Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh has campaigned for profitable firms to repay their JobKeeper windfall and obtained the latest data from the Parliamentary Budget Office.

He said more than $13 billion in these payments had been given to businesses, which recorded increases in revenue during the first six months of the program last year.

“Any firm that saw their revenue increase and received JobKeeper should pay it back,” he told SBS News.

“The vast bulk of that went to unlisted firms and so that's in the shadows.” 

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Source: AAP

Listed entities on the Australian Stock Exchange are already required to include JobKeeper funds in public reports to the corporate regulator.

But estimates from shareholder lobby group Ownership Matters show these companies only accounted for around 3 per cent of JobKeeper payments.

Ownership Matters director Dean Paatsch said this meant the vast majority of companies were exempt from this transparency.

“What we need to know is where the JobKeeper went for the 97 per cent of the program that currently remains in the dark,” he told SBS News.

“That group we know absolutely nothing about their identity - the only thing we know is that they are under no obligation to pay. If there has been no rorting, there is nothing to hide.” 

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Mr Paatsch said other countries like New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States had established transparency registers for their wage subsidy programs.

Critics have noted that New Zealand has received 5 per cent back from companies that repaid the money, compared with just 0.25 per cent in Australia, where there is no such public register.

‘Looting of taxpayers money’

Senator Rex Patrick has warned the JobKeeper program has led to the “looting of taxpayers' money” by profitable companies, urging that more transparency is needed.

“It's clear that a whole number of companies have received JobKeeper and have then gone on to profit from their business over the period,” he told SBS News.

“Companies that have made more money than they ever anticipated don't have to give [it] back and that is a massive prudential failure.” 

His attempt to force firms turning over more than $10 million annually to disclose their payments was defeated in the Senate on Thursday, after lodging an amendment on unrelated government treasury legislation.

One Nation instead won support for its own amendment requiring publicly-listed companies to report their Jobkeeper receipts and for the corporate regulator to publish a consolidated report on these companies. 

But Senator Patrick has criticised this measure as “meaningless”, indicating that the businesses were already required to report this information. 

He has also threatened ATO commissioner Chris Jordan with contempt of parliament proceedings for declining an upper house order to disclose big companies' JobKeeper receipts. 

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts on Thursday said the party still wanted to work with other minor parties to establish a “real” audit of the JobKeeper program.

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The government has also come under criticism for chasing debts from ordinary Australians, who were wrongly put on the scheme.

SBS News has seen debt letters from the Tax Office upwards of 10 thousand dollars, sent to people 12 months after being told they were eligible for the payment. 

A review of the scheme by Treasury found the program had been “well-targeted” with an average decline in turnover of 37 per cent last April for JobKeeper firms.

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