KYLIE GILLIES: With JobKeeper due to run out in September is this just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to unemployment? And what might the rest of 2020 look like? Michaelia Cash, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business joins us live from Canberra. Thanks for your time, Minister.

MINISTER CASH: Good morning, Kylie, and good morning, Larry.

LARRY EMDUR: Morning.

KYLIE GILLIES: Just last week we saw around 10,000 jobs shed across some of the country’s biggest companies, should we be bracing for more bad news to come, do you think?

MINISTER CASH: Look, COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the economy both here in Australia and globally. But that is why, in particular, the Government implemented $260 billion worth of support measures, and one of those measures, of course as you know, was the JobKeeper payment. That has now kept that really important connection for about 3.5 million Australians with their employer; that is a good thing. But we also know that as more people are out there looking for work, you will potentially see a rise in the unemployment rate. But that is why the Government is working through what is the additional support measures that we are going to need. And in what form post September.

LARRY EMDUR: Yeah. So these job losses that we mentioned at the top there, they’re going to have a knock-on effect of tsunami-like proportions. Which sectors have been hardest hit?

MINISTER CASH: Well look, certainly tourism - tourism without a doubt. I mean, when you close your international borders and you’re one of the best destinations in the world for people to come to, it has a huge impact on that particular part of Australia's economy. And Larry and Kylie, as we know, we have to put the health and welfare of Australia's first - so we don't see our international borders opening any time soon. So what we do need to go as a government though, we say to ourselves, okay, what else can we do for that particular sector? And that is why it is so important to get that domestic tourism going again. We have the greatest country in the world, the greatest backyard. We need to have those state and territory borders reopened so Australians can start domestically travelling and spending money to support tourism in Australia.

KYLIE GILLIES: But Victoria in all sorts of trouble at the moment.

MINISTER CASH: Look, absolutely devastating what's going on in Victoria. But what it also does show is, we went for a suppression strategy in Australia, as you know, not an eradication strategy. What we have done is ensure that our hospitals and our ICUs in particular have the capacity, in the event of a surge – they now have that capacity. So, there’s no health reason as to why state borders should remain closed. What we do need to see now is those restrictions easing, Australians being able to travel across borders. And in the event that if there is a breakout, we have the policies in place to jump on it as quickly as possible and contain it. And that is what we need to do effectively as a country.

LARRY EMDUR: Alright. Let’s jump back onto JobKeeper for a second. Many calls to extend JobKeeper beyond that September deadline. What’s your position on that?

MINISTER CASH: Okay. So, we’d always said the measures we’d put in place were temporary measures, but they’re also scalable. We have legislated JobKeeper, really important; 3.5 million Australians have maintained that connection with their employment because of JobKeeper. But it was always going for a six-month period. But what we’d also said is, we would review it at the halfway mark which happens to be July. The government is currently doing that and, as you know, the Treasurer will provide an economic update on 23 July.

The Government absolutely understands – and I say this to so many of the small and family businesses who are listening in this morning – we understand that there will be businesses that, post that legislative six-month period, are going to require support. We are currently looking at that next body of policy measures that we may need to implement. So yes, in six months’ time obviously, we’d always said that first stage of JobKeeper would end. But we're currently looking at, and announcements will be made, as to what further levels of support may be required for particular industries.

KYLIE GILLIES: Can you give us a hint of what sort of thing you might be talking about?

MINISTER CASH: If I gave you a hint unfortunately I’d get a call from the Prime Minister. But no. But, I think what you can look at the Government and say is this, when COVID-19 first hit, many were saying, what will the Government do? I think, by any analysis, the measures that the Government took were good measures that have literally given a lifeline to so many businesses and so many Australians. We are not immune to what is going to occur when JobKeeper ends in September. We also know though that there are some businesses out there now – and good on these businesses - who are actually doing well, and they no longer need JobKeeper. But we also know there are plenty of businesses that are still going to be impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions, and that’s the policy work we’re doing at the moment.

LARRY EMDUR: And Minister, what do you say to the people at the moment who are now looking down that long dark tunnel going, I’m not sure how this is going to end, I don’t know how to feed my family beyond September, beyond 2021. What to say to those people?

MINISTER CASH: There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And as the Prime Minister has said time and time again, we’ve done this before. When we were elected in 2013 the economy was not in great shape and the labour market was not necessarily where we wanted it to be. Jump forward to 2020. When we entered COVID-19 we had a record number in the Australian labour market - that is a good thing - we also had 28 years of uninterrupted economic growth - also a very, very good thing. Hence, we were able to respond to COVID-19 with the $260 billion in support measures.

We’ve done it before - we’ve got the economy back to where we needed to be. The Prime Minister is very clear; we will do it again. And I can assure you, that Cabinet and ministers, we are working day and night to ensure that there is that light at the end of the tunnel. The Prime Minister reminds us, almost on a daily basis, never ever forget you are dealing with people's lives and their jobs, and that is forefront of our minds.

KYLIE GILLIES: Lot of talk about upskilling to future proof workers. What roles are we hoping to see come out of the pandemic, do you think?

MINISTER CASH: Look, and as a government we’ve already released two short courses. So that people who are looking at changing careers but think, ‘I don’t have that relevant skillset’, are able to go into it. So we’ve released an entry care level aged and disability care skillset, so you don't have to have any background at all - you can do this skillset and get a job in what we know is an industry in demand. But not only that, you can work your way up to almost be anything you want to be.

We also have a fabulous skills match tool. Just go onto the Government's job outlook website - all you need to do is put in your work history, your skillset; it will then bring up all of the other industries that actually can use those skills and it will tell you where those jobs are that you may wish to apply for.

But certainly going forward, we’re seeing an impact- an uptake in retail, in welders, certainly with the $72 billion that we’re bringing forward in conjunction with the states and territories, that infrastructure spend. Logistics, you know, we’ve got to get stuff around Australia, and if you can’t fly, you get to drive it. So, there are some opportunities, but it may well be changing careers.

LARRY EMDUR: Look at you getting through a tough interview on The Morning Show without a call from the Prime Minister. Well done! Good on you, Minister, thank you very much for joining us.

MINISTER CASH: [Talks over] Great to be with you both.

LARRY EMDUR: We covered a lot of ground there, it’s nice to hear from you. Thank you.

MINISTER CASH: Thank you very much.

KYLIE GILLIES: Thank you, Minister.