National Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has expressed concern about the reduction from Jan. 4 of the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme—a federal government measure to cushion the economic impact of the CCP virus. The economic measure was put in place when the pandemic first struck Australia and was intended to help businesses keep workers on the books. Albanese told the ABC that while JobKeeper should be phased out, it will remove critical support from the economy to do it now. “The withdrawal of support when we’re still very much dealing with the economic impact of this crisis is premature,” Albanese said. But the support is being tapered off, not withdrawn. JobKeeper was initially legislated to be in place until Sept. 28, 2020, but was extended until March 28, 2021, in two stages, and at reduced amounts. At first, the wage subsidy provided businesses $1500 per fortnight, per employee during the height of the …