PM Scott Morrison Unveils ‘JobMaker’ Economic Recovery Plan

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference following a National Cabinet meeting on May 15, 2020 in Canberra, Australia. (Rohan Thomson/Getty Images)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled the government’s “JobMaker” plan to get the country out of “intensive care” by focusing on job creation that is driven by comprehensive reforms.

Top of the prime minister’s agenda is focussing on skills and industrial relations.

Speaking at the National Press Club on May 26, Morrison said: “We need Australians better trained for the jobs businesses are looking to create because that’s important.”

Morrison wants training to be responsive to the demand for skills by employers, and to make it easier for students to decide on qualifications and see the quality of training providers, and the employment outcomes for those courses.

To that end, the government wants to reform the current National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development between the states and the Commonwealth which Morrison said is “fundamentally flawed and it has to change.”

Morrison revealed that the Minister for Industrial Relations will immediately lead negotiations involving employers, unions, employees, and governments to establish a new industrial relation compact that boosts employment and productivity.

“The purpose is simple and honest, to explore, and hopefully find, a pathway to sensible, long-lasting reform with just one goal—make jobs,” he said.

Morrison warned that the recovery could last up to five years, given the enormous challenges of a record deficit, debt rising above 30 percent of GDP, unemployment at around 10 percent, and global trade falling by up to one-third.

He also warned that emerging from the crisis shutdown is riskier than the lockdown itself, saying that success “cannot be assumed.”

“It will not be business as usual. Opening up will be harder than closing down,’’ he said. “We will all have to retrain to live and work in a way that creates a sustainable COVIDSafe economy and society.”

Morrison said the country is in “unchartered territory” and that there will be “trial and there will be an error.”

Jobkeeper Program

The prime minister also said that companies on the temporary Jobkeeper payment need to “get off the medication” before “becoming too accustomed to it.”

“We must enable our businesses to earn Australia’s way out of this crisis. And that means focussing on the things that can make their businesses go faster.”

He said that while Jobkeeper and other temporary economic measures had provided a “vital economic bridge for so many businesses and workers,” the government could not remain at the centre of Australia’s economy as those measures were put in place to soften the impact of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic (commonly known as novel coronavirus).

This is in line with the “business-led” recovery approach he has promoted before.

Epoch Times reporter Caden Pearson contributed to this article.