Premier Daniel Andrews defends state’s JobKeeper share

“If you look at jobs created in the five years before this pandemic we fully accounted for half the new jobs in our nation,” the Premier said, adding he could not predict what future events might affect the state’s debt by 2024.

“Victoria is part of this nation. This is not foreign aid, and I won’t have that suggested. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Victorians received $12 billion in JobKeeper payments by September and are expected to make up 60 per cent of the 2.24 million Australians receiving JobKeeper in the October quarter, according to federal Treasury figures.

Mr Andrews also took aim at the Morrison government for failing to formally introduce paid sick leave for casual workers – an issue that came to the fore at the height of Victoria’s second coronavirus wave and has also caused concern following South Australia’s latest outbreak.

The centrepiece of this week’s state budget was a plan to create 400,000 new jobs in Victoria, with the government projecting net debt will reach nearly $155 billion within three years, more than 28 per cent of Victoria’s total annual economic output.

Mr Andrews said he could not provide a long-term debt repayment plan but argued debt would begin to be paid down “once we have the economy growing and once we have healed the wounds in our economy and communities and repair the damage that has been done”.

“The repayment of these borrowings and the repair from this pandemic will be long-term … There will be costs incurred by many Victorians,” he said.

“I do acknowledge these are unprecedented borrowings, but these are unprecedented times.”

Mr Andrews indicated his government would not increase any taxes in order to improve the budget’s bottom line, saying a competitive tax system that encouraged business investment would be key to growing the economy.

The Premier, who has made interventions in several policy areas usual the domain of the Commonwealth, said his government decided to counter the negative effects of insecure, casual work because of a lack of national leadership on the issue from the Morrison government.

Casual workers in industries including cleaning, hospitality and aged care will receive five days sick and carer’s leave under a “secure work pilot scheme” that will eventually be funded by an industry levy, the government announced this week.

“This is the sort of leadership that should be, I think, provided across the whole nation. But if others aren’t prepared to do it, we are and we will push forward and hopefully we can convince others to join us,” Mr Andrews said.