With news last Friday that the centrepiece of Australia’s coronavirus stimulus package, jobkeeper, will cost $60bn less than forecast, the federal government has an opportunity to rethink its approach to address what economists are referring to as “the cliff”.
The cliff, or “gap”, refers to the fact that almost all of the stimulus measures put in place by the government to soften the blow of the Covid-19-induced economic shutdown will run out by September. And then what?