The Australian Financial Review’s Aaron Patrick says the government’s $60 billion JobKeeper accounting error is only a short-term political problem, but is a “medium and long-term political advantage”.
The government on Friday revealed a costing error by Treasury meant the wage subsidy scheme was initially forecast $60 billion higher than was required.
It is now estimated the JobKeeper program will cost the government $70 billion and will cover about 3.5 million workers.
Mr Patrick described the mistake as a “colossal own goal” for the government but has worked out entirely in its favour, and suggested it “keep the money in their pocket”.
He said the $60 billion discrepancy “opens up the door” and makes it easier for the Labor Party to “argue that the stimulus package isn’t as big as it needs to be”.
Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine told Sky News host Sharri Markson the accounting error is “symptomatic” of what has existed since the beginning of the pandemic, which is how the “modelling of experts has turned out to be way overblown”.
Image: Getty
