For some time now, Labor has been calling for an extension to the JobSeeker and JobKeeper programs.

It has been abundantly clear to me that the old base rate of JobSeeker was too low and is inadequate – $40 per day is not enough for someone to live on.

With up to 4 908 businesses in Macarthur and their employees relying on JobKeeper to make ends meet, we have been consistently calling on the Government to maintain support for struggling industries.

Under the Liberal-National Government’s proposed changes to these programs, the Macarthur region stands to have an extraordinary amount of money ripped out of its local economy.

With up to $27 976 500 being ripped out of the local economy each and every fortnight, had JobKeeper been cancelled too early, the cost of any changes to these programs cannot be underestimated.

Disappointingly, the Government’s announcements fail to address some of the original flaws and gaps in the JobKeeper program, including the deliberate exclusion of millions of workers, including many casual workers in industries that have been hardest-hit by Government restrictions.

The Government should not have deliberately excluded millions of workers from JobKeeper.

Their announcement does nothing to create jobs for the hundreds of thousands of workers that have already lost their jobs, despite Treasury forecasting even higher unemployment in the JobKeeper review.

It appears to me that the Government has based these changes off some very optimistic assumptions about job creation, with little substance in terms of policy to facilitate growth.

This is the first recession we have seen in three decades, and the Government must prioritise job creation in regions such as Macarthur.

We do not want to see unemployment too high, for too long.

It is imperative that the Government support industries, such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and clean energy in order to stimulate the economy and create local employment opportunities.

Similarly, the Government ought to be supporting our construction industry through the creation of affordable housing, rather than presiding over a housing scheme that to date is only accessible to residents in Tasmania and South Australia.

Having introduced support for the economy too narrowly and too slowly, Australians can't afford for the Government to withdraw that support too quickly or too bluntly.

Macarthur residents need access to local jobs, in order to kickstart our economy.

I will continue to work with the Government to look for solutions to these complex issues, and foster employment opportunities for Macarthur residents. However, the Government must do a better job with this next phase of support than they did the first time around.

Delays and weeks of uncertainty have only pushed more workers into the unemployment queues, and forced more businesses to close their doors.

Our economic recovery must include a plan to keep people out of poverty, create local jobs and keep our local businesses open.