JobKeeper Payment

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:25): My question is to the Premier again. Will the state government step in and provide any direct support to those workers who have been stood down by his government who are not eligible for the JobKeeper allowance as the Premier responded in his previous answer?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:26): Thank you very much, and I hope that the opposition can remain civil during my answer to this question, because we are in the middle—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: You dilettante!

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —of a global pandemic, and I think there is a higher level of civility that is required when the government is providing answers to important questions.

As the leader points out, we do not have enough work in every single aspect of every single agency within the government. I think one of the examples that he has given is with regard to Adelaide Venue Management. I would like to commend the board and the chief executive there for working on programs to keep as many people employed in that organisation as possible. You would have seen, sir, in some of the media, which I think has been widely distributed, that Adelaide Venue Management skills are being applied to producing meals for many of the organisations in South Australia that have lost their volunteer workforce.

I think this is an excellent program, and I commend Adelaide Venue Management for doing that. They are looking at all sorts of ways that we can better utilise the skills that we have. I would point out that some of our staff who work in those government agencies will actually be capable of taking out the JobKeeper wage subsidy, and I will tell you the way that this works, although I am not aware that it has actually passed the federal parliament.

If somebody has been working in a casual environment for more than 12 months in a non-government role they will be eligible for this. They will be eligible for it once, and so many people who are working who are in roles and who may not have been there for 12 months, or who may be working for a government organisation, will also have a second casual role. This is quite commonplace.

In fact, when I have spoken to some restaurant owners who have been very concerned that they haven't been operating for 12 months, they have gone back and checked with their staff, and their staff have 12 months' casual employment in another entity, so they will qualify for it. I make the point that they qualify for it only once; so it is not as if somebody has four different casual jobs and they can get the $1,500 per fortnight in each of those jobs.

Many people who have part-time casual employment will have another part-time casual employment which qualifies for this. The information that we have received from the commonwealth is that there are approximately six million people who could potentially qualify for this JobKeeper payment. We know that does not necessarily mean that every person will qualify for it. We need to wait to see what the final deal through the federal parliament actually is, but it is an excellent program. It is not fair to say that every person who has been on a casual employment basis in South Australia and who doesn't meet the strict requirements of it with one employer will not meet it with another employer.