Senator SCARR (Queensland) (15:47): I acknowledge Senator Sterle's contribution to the debate and place on the record my sympathies for the dnata workers. The unfortunate issue is that not only are they owned by a foreign entity; they are owned by a foreign entity which is 100 per cent controlled by a foreign government. As Senator Sterle knows, the legislation we passed in this place some time ago to deal with the JobKeeper payment excluded payments to wholly owned foreign entities owned by foreign governments. But I do acknowledge the comments he made. With respect to Senator Brown's contribution, it perplexes me how Senator Brown can think there was any confusion whatsoever about what was going to happen with the JobKeeper and jobseeker payments. When we passed the legislation here in this chamber some months ago it was clear that both measures were intended to last for six months. That was absolutely clear. So I'm not sure why there is some confusion when the government has simply stated that it intends to maintain that course. I am not sure where the confusion is coming from. The government has been absolutely clear in that respect. Let me also say that I have absolute sympathy for all of those workers who are at the moment on either the JobKeeper or jobseeker payments, because that reflects that the businesses for whom they work are not in a position to trade as they were trading before the coronavirus pandemic. If Senator Brown is concerned about those workers, if they're located in Queensland please pick up the phone and talk to the Premier of my home state, Premier Palaszczuk, and give her three messages. I'll even write the messages for you. First: open the borders so the tourism industry can get back on its feet again. Just today, Premier Palaszczuk appears to be backsliding on the 10 July date. The tourism industry doesn't want to hear that. The tourism industry in my home state of Queensland wants to get up and running again. It wants to take advantage of that winter tourism season, and Premier Palaszczuk again is making comments in the Queensland parliament during question time that she's concerned that— Senator Urquhart: On a point of order, Madam Deputy President: could I remind the member that we're taking note of the answers to the questions that were asked by Senator Wong of Senator Cormann and Senator Ruston. We're not talking about the Queensland government and borders. We're actually talking about the questions that were asked in question time. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Urquhart. It is a wide-ranging debate, and Senator Scarr started off on that footing. I'm listening very carefully. I expect he will go back to the taking note response. Senator SCARR: He will, absolutely, and he'll go back on the basis that we could have more of the certainty that was sought from those sitting opposite with respect to the JobKeeper and jobseeker payments if we had more certainty as to when the borders were going to open. The two are linked, because employment prospects of people coming off both the JobKeeper and jobseeker payments are linked to the opening of the borders. The two are absolutely entwined. They're connected; they're related to each other. It's absolutely relevant. This government could not have done a better job in terms of dealing with this once-in-100-years event than it has, and the facts demonstrate that. Australia is in the bottom three of countries across the whole world with respect to the lowest rate of GDP fall. That's how well we've done as a country. No government anywhere has done a better job than this government in terms of protecting lives and protecting livelihoods. Just this week we've heard how the government is going to be fast-tracking a number of infrastructure projects, and that's all about getting people off JobKeeper—their companies back running in accordance with normal trading conditions—and getting people off the jobseeker payment. That's how you provide the certainty and get people off JobKeeper and into their company's normal trading conditions and get people off the jobseeker payment and back into work. We're on common ground in that respect. We all want to see that happen. But the reality is that, in my home state of Queensland, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is backsliding on opening the borders, and that has a negative impact on people coming off the jobseeker payment.