How business lobbyists drove $40b in JobKeeper waste

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Callum Foote and Michael West have made explosive allegations that the business lobby pressured the federal government not to amend JobKeeper when it was discovered by Treasury three months in that billions was being paid to companies with neutral or rising turnover.

Accordingly, the federal government kept the fiscal tap wide open, showering businesses with billions of dollars more free tax funds:

It turns out that the foxes were advising the farmer on the henhouse; and when the henhouse broke, it appears they advised the farmer not to fix it. The result was Treasurer Josh Frydenberg squandered $40 billion in the biggest transfer of wealth yet from Australian taxpayers to large corporations in history.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.