Anyone who watches the ASX announcements feed will by now have noticed that lots of listed companies are producing announcements — like this one from Perth-based Iluka Resources — which detail the amount of JobKeeper they received over the last two financial years, how many employees it was for and whether any of this taxpayer funding has subsequently been voluntarily repaid.
These announcements are the result of new pressure from Parliament imposed on hundreds of public companies, following a compromise deal between the federal government and One Nation. The Coalition was trying to persuade Pauline Hanson to not support independent Senator Rex Patrick’s sensible proposal to produce a public register of all JobKeeper recipients which have annual revenues north of $10 million.
The result is that we have negligible visibility over 97% of the unprecedented JobKeeper largesse, but even more disclosure of the 3% that went to the public companies we pretty much already knew about.
However, it is still useful to get the disclosure in a standard format, and the new requirements do appear to be increasing the number of public companies refunding part or all of their JobKeeper receipts.
Some public companies, such as debt collector Credit Corp, attempted to hide their JobKeeper receipts and then decided to pay the funds back once they worked out that disclosure was unavoidable.
Credit Corp’s JobKeeper announcement dropped on October 28, detailing that $12.7 million had been claimed and then returned over two financial years. This was news to most people who follow the stock, although the company stresses that it never put this through the profit and loss account, hence it didn’t feel it needed to be disclosed.
There’s also an interesting trend developing where public companies are holding back their JobKeeper disclosure to the ASX until after their AGMs. Here are some examples:
- Qantas: Held AGM on November 5 and disclosed enormous $885 million JobKeeper haul for 27,419 staff on November 11
- Star Entertainment: Held AGM on October 28 and disclosed $157.4 million JobKeeper bailout for 7040 staff at 4.10pm on November 11
- Domain Holdings: Held AGM on November 4 but didn’t lodge disclosure about $6.5 million JobKeeper refund until November 8
- Domino’s Pizza: Held AGM on November 3 and informed ASX on November 8 about fully repaying $1.71 million in JobKeeper.
The other interesting trend is how some of the biggest and most controversial JobKeeper claimants are dragging their heels on ASX disclosure. We’re yet to hear from the likes of Crown Resorts, Seven West Media, Premier Investments, Accent Leisure, Harvey Norman and Eagers Automotive.
You can work out the JobKeeper situation with most of these companies from their financial accounts, with the exception of Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments, which has never revealed its gross haul. (Stand by for a likely 8pm announcement some Friday night after the December 2 AGM.)
It was certainly clear at Nine Entertainment’s AGM on Thursday that chair and former treasurer Peter Costello is no fan of the widely rorted scheme, which Nine managed to avoid taking. (The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that $38 billion of the $88 billion paid out went to employers which didn’t qualify under the revenue reduction requirements.)
At the AGM I asked him whether Nine should have followed other companies’ lead and grabbed whatever it could get, or if the company took an ethical position not to rort the scheme.
Costello replied:
We hoped that we wouldn’t qualify and I think for us you had to anticipate a 50% downturn. As it turned out, we didn’t have a 50%. We were able — I’m quite proud of this — we were able to get through coronavirus without taking JobKeeper and without terminating people’s employment. That shows what you can do when you’ve got a strong media company.
If only some of our greedy billionaires like Kerry Stokes and Solomon Lew took a similar view rather than hopping into JobKeeper when the public companies they control went nowhere near the required 50% drop in revenue.
As News Corp’s Terry McCrann explained in a well-argued takedown of JobKeeper, if only Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had followed the New Zealand model and built in an ability for the ATO to claw back taxpayer funds from those who over-claimed.
Thats $38 billion – 43% – of an $88 billion program that went to companies who failed to meet criteria, didn’t need it to keep their business afloat during Covid. And Frydenberg says keep it, it’s only taxpayers money, it’s legal for you to keep it because that’s the way we set it up.
So the $38 billion is wasted – obscene – not achieving the program’s goal. The LNP have run out a program with 43% waste, and mainstream media is mute.
Remember how the media frothed, with daily outraged headlines screaming about Rudd / Swan’s economic stimulus via school spending, which saved us going in to recession in the GFC?
The Oz National Audit Office assessed the ALP’s program at 1.5% wastage, which is acceptable in a public or commercial national project / program, implemented quickly. What does that tell us about our mainstream media giving the LNP a free ride?
And the BER program that gave very worthwhile infrastructure to schools, all still in use. The $25000.00 scheme for building works, with all of the strange criteria for qualification around it, is not an effective stimulus tool either. Construction is overwhelmed and materials are limited. Not sure what the aim ever was- ? Do they know? Inept-
So glad that you did not use the deliberately, derogatory misnomer for BER, one of the most successful, efficient, effective and cheapest federal initiatives of recent years.
The last one I recall was preLapsarian, the AAP (Australian Advancement Plan) from Whitlam. That gave money directly to community groups for so many projects of real benefit (neighbourhood playgroups, if anyone remember and benefitted from those!) and by-passed the ticket clippers and state governments.
For years to come, insulated homes, refurbished country schools and similar worthwhile achievments will be yielding benefit to the individuals and community.
Also the small matter of providing and creating ground level employment when the GFC sent the rest of the anglosphere into a tailspin.
Those that went hard on austerity fell into an ideological pit from some have still not escaped.
A programme the ALP/DLP has never defended since, so terrified is it of annoying its Big Business patrons.
Who ever designed and had oversight of the drafting of the the legislation leaving it with no clawback or penalty provisions should be banned for life. Any idea who that would be Josh? I’m waiting for the spreadsheets to be leaked and (eventually) the Australian National Audit Office report on the shameful act.
What happened to ‘can do capitalism’? It appears many capitalists are ever so willing to dirty themselves with socialism by grasping the Oz taxpayers’ trove.
But according to Joe Hockey, entitlement means you appreciate minimal social welfare when you’ve fallen in hard times. Go figure.
The whole Jobkeeper scandal must eventually be properly investigated, regardless of the companies and individuals who will be shamed and embarrassed. Those companies who did not need the assistance must repay it. This will only happen if there is a change of Govt- the ALP cannot just let it go. When Fraudenberg and the Liberals talk about economic management, Jobkeeper has to mentioned. He has no credibility in this area but the electorate must be constantly reminded of the stupidity, waste and collusion.
Agree John. Rudd refused to have an enquiry in to the Oz Wheat Board supplying a UN trade sanctioned Iraq, after he had made it a major political hot potato in opposition. Abbott initiated enquiries that managed to haul in both Gillard and Rudd on lesser matters.
The ALP should look at inquiries in to Jobkeeper, Robodebt and the French Submarine contract mismanagement, since it cost us around $3 billion to exit, also putting a rocket up the ADF management of contracts.
Enough to keep an ICAC busy for years. Just enough time to build the new prison with views of Parliament house from all cells. The Liberals in Victoria in conjunction with a federal Liberal continue to attempt to use the east-west link as a political points issue . The Labor pre-election statements clearly stated they would not build the link . Unknown to Labor, the Liberals had signed a “letter of comfort” on the eve of the election allowing the tenderers to claim loss profit on a project never started. Nice little earn.
Let’s hope no letter of comfort was signed by the federal Libs in relation to the French nuclear sub we had converted to a diesel sub and then came up with a BS excuse we need a nuclear sub and send a smoke signal to cancel the deal. So much for damaging sovereign risk status . Who will ever believe a contract with Australia could be honorable again?
Does this monkey ever shave? He should go the full Dutton, Then we would have Potatoes in Suits, P1 and P2 with our leader in rapture hallucinating about end of days, My god how did they get here? Colonialists!!!!! and Capitalists waging war on innocent bystanders. This has all gone extremely bad for us, thanks to these braindead politicians
None
Any chance of leaks from principled insiders, so we can know who to boycott?
Must be a Whistleblower from Tourism Australia or New Zealand who is prepared to spill the beans. Maybe Fran Bailey will be the one .
When will the bucket finally tip on our deceitful PM ? When a fellow international leader calls you a liar and a large number of Australians believe you lie how can you say you have never lied to us. PM that is a LIE