Commentary It did not take long for commentators to label the revised joint Commonwealth and state financial support package for the economic victims of COVID-19 restrictions as “JobKeeper lite.” This will doubtless irritate Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg after they invested precious political capital in burying the JobKeeper subsidy scheme at the end of March and insist they are not resurrecting it. However, the new package has much in common with JobKeeper, despite being different in significant ways. The real issue is not how the new package should be labelled, but whether it should have been provided at all. First, the differences. JobKeeper cost the Commonwealth budget $90 billion over its 12-month life. The new package will not reach anything like that figure, even if it proves to be needed for many months and across several states. This is because its provisions are much less generous, …