Australia's finance minister has lost his cool in a tense interview over the federal government's JobKeeper program, which handed out $13billion in Covid subsidies to companies that actually increased their profits during the crisis.
Veteran 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett grilled Liberal Party Senator Simon Birmingham over the cash splash demanding to know why none of the 150,000 companies who made more money during the pandemic were asked to pay it back.
JobKeeper was set up at the start of the pandemic last year to help businesses retain staff, ensuring workers stayed employed while lockdowns crippled many industries.
But the money was intended to go to companies which lost money during the pandemic, not those that faired well - or even better - than before.
'What about the public money that was given out?,' Bartlett asked.
'It's not your money. You realise that don't you? You are on the public purse and we are paying you.'
A furious Mr Birmingham replied: 'I don't need smart a*** questions, thanks'.
Veteran 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett (left) grilled Liberal Party Senator Simon Birmingham (right) over the JobKeeper program - and got a snappy response
Under the generous JobKeeper scheme brought in to save jobs when the coronavirus crisis struck Australia in March last year, businesses with a turnover of under $1billion a year only needed to show or predict a 30 per cent fall in turnover to qualify.
Then, the government happily shelled out cash for the business to pay their workers.
For larger firms with revenue of more than $1billion, a 50 per cent fall in turnover was required to qualify - but again, this needed to be nothing more than a forecast.
The problem, which became evident after the first three months following a treasury report, was that about one in six businesses that forecast losses actually saw their profits increase.
Domino's Pizza, in just one example, received the handout even though their sales soared and their share price tripled with more people ordering takeaway food at home in lockdown.
'The idea that we should be giving taxpayer cash to firms that are doubling or tripling their revenues is reprehensible,' Labor MP Andrew Leigh told ABC's 7:30.
'This is the sort of flagrant misspending
