A major retailer is paying back around $1.7 million in taxpayer-funded JobKeeper payments after posting record online sales.
Super Retail Group - which owns and operates Supercheap Auto, Rebel, Macpac and BCF - returned the JobKeeper payments last week.
Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lauded the move.
“What that says is people know when they need it, and they appreciate it when they need it, but they don’t want to take advantage of it,” he told 2GB.
“We can’t run the Australian economy on government money forever.
“It’s all taxpayer money, it’s all debt, and it’s got to be paid back.
“We’ve got to be very careful with how we deal with these programs, they can’t just continue endlessly.”
With JobKeeper set to end in March, the prime minister conceded people on these temporary welfare payments would find it challenging when the benefits are cut.
“That is the case,” Mr Morrison said.
“We have to reset it and that’s what we have been doing, we haven’t done it overnight.
“Before this COVID crisis, we were at the lowest level of welfare dependency in 30 years. I want to get back to that as soon as we can.
“That’s going to be achieved by creating jobs and getting businesses investing.”
Should more businesses follow Retail Group's lead? Do you think the government should mandate such behaviour, if retailers have enjoyed good online sales throughout the pandemic?