Companies which received JobKeeper to remain secret as federal government rejects push to name them

Big businesses that received JobKeeper will be able to keep the financial support secret, with the federal Coalition rejecting a bid to make it public and the Labor Party backing down from insisting on it.

The JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme saw at least $4.6 billion go to businesses whose profits went up during the crucial months of COVID-19 lockdowns last year. 

Companies such as retailer Harvey Norman have come under pressure to repay the money after posting profits in 2020, given the wage subsidy was designed for companies experiencing at least a 30 per cent drop in turnover.

Last week, independent senator Rex Patrick successfully amended the government’s legislation for the new financial support for workers and businesses affected by COVID lockdowns.

“The amendment requires the Tax Commissioner to publish all of the companies who earn more than $10 million who have received JobKeeper and the amount they have received,” said Senator Patrick.

The same requirement would apply to companies receiving payments under the new financial support scheme.

“It’s a transparency amendment,” he said.

While it passed the Senate with Labor’s support, the Coalition rejected it in the House of Representatives, which means the bill is now back before the Senate and due to be voted on again today.

Senator Patrick is urging the Labor Party to stand firm in its support.

“They are absolutely aligned with me and others that JobKeeper payments should be made public,” he said.

“I hope the Labor Party will support my amendment and insist that it remain in the bill. If they don’t … that just means they are pretending that they stand for something.”

While Labor is yet to formally declare what it will do, the ABC understands it will not insist upon the amendment.

Backdown came after heavy push by Labor MP

The backdown will be an embarrassment for Labor MPs such as Andrew Leigh, who has run a strident campaign calling for more accountability on JobKeeper.

Just last week, the shadow assistant minister for Treasury stood in the House of Representatives calling for a transparency scheme, albeit one with a higher threshold.

“We should have a public register whereby every firm with a turnover above $100 million has their details published,” Mr Leigh said.

“If you’re a firm … getting government handouts to support you through the pandemic, then the Australian public should know about it.”

Mr Leigh was not available for comment, nor was Labor’s Senate Leader Penny Wong.

While supportive of Senator Patrick’s amendment, the Labor Party is concerned that insisting upon it could be seen as standing in the way of the new COVID-19 financial support scheme.

“A senior cabinet minister once told me that they love playing chicken with the Labor Party because they always swerve,” said Senator Patrick.

Leigh still naming companies that received JobKeeper online

Andrew Leigh has been naming and shaming individual companies pocketing JobKeeper while posting profit increases through social media.

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Publicly-listed companies such as Cochlear, Premier Investments, Iluka Resources and Domino’s Pizza have all returned at least some of the JobKeeper funds they received.

So far, around 90 per cent of JobKeeper subsidies that have been returned to the Commonwealth have come from publicly-listed companies.

But large, privately-held companies can easily evade scrutiny as they have no obligation to publicly reveal the state of their books.

Senator Patrick believes a published list of JobKeeper beneficiaries would lead to better corporate behaviour.

“In New Zealand, the government publishes the amount of wage subsidy that they’ve given any company throughout the pandemic. They have returned 5 per cent of the payments, just by having transparency,” he said.

“In Australia, where there is no transparency, only 0.25 per cent of JobKeeper funds have been returned to the government.”