Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Siewert. As I have mentioned in this chamber on a number of occasions in the last few weeks, the coronavirus supplement that was made available to people who were on working-age payments at the start of the coronavirus pandemic was put in place for the period of the pandemic. We made it very clear at the time that all of the measures that we put in place, not just the coronavirus supplement, were time limited, they were timely and they were to be targeted to make sure that we were able to help as many Australians as we possibly could get from where they were at the time with the pandemic—and the implications of the pandemic on the economy and on their employment prospects—to the other side of the pandemic.

We are absolutely committed to making sure that we continue to support Australians so that they can manage their lives during this pandemic. But, over recent days, we are now starting to see the economy opening up again. We are seeing restrictions able to be lifted. We are seeing jobs being created again in the marketplace. In fact, today we were pleased to report that we are starting to see the earliest of green shoots, with increased job creation, above the levels of job creation we had actually anticipated.

Today we are working our way through making sure that we can put in place all of the things that we need to do so that the economy can open up and so that those people that you refer to that are currently receiving payments through income support are able to get back into the workforce so that they can make provisions and can improve their wellbeing. So, Senator Siewert, the coronavirus supplement was time limited, it was temporary and it was targeted.