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COVID, crisis, and unordinary order- A critical analysis of Australia’s JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme as an exceptional measure800.85 kB
Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
COVID, crisis, and unordinary order: A critical analysis of Australia’s JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme as an exceptional measure
Jindal Global Law Review , Vol.13(1), pp.39-68
2022
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Carl Schmitt's famous articulation of the relation between sovereignty and the exception emphasises not simply the basis for a suspension of the law in a state of emergency, but the role of the sovereign in deciding upon the existence of the 'nor-mal situation', the 'everyday frame of life' which the law requires to function. Our pandemic times have included extreme biopolitical measures deployed to manage the health crisis, but also unprecedented political responses to regularise or stabilise the economic order. One example is Australia's historic JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. As law, it was given life by an executive power predicated on nationhood and enlivened by crisis. As policy, it was intended to help businesses retain workers through targeted, proportionate support. In reality, it also provided significant pro-tections and even windfalls to corporations and their investors, leading to critiques of the scheme as corporate welfare. However, rather than highlighting deficiencies of the JobKeeper programme, these outcomes underscore its ultimate function. This article analyses the relationship between norm, exception, and order in the context of Australia's flagship economic-policy response to the pandemic. First, by analysing the mutually constitutive relationship between norm and exception, employing the theories of Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben. Second, by critically examining the legislative basis for JobKeeper, its political narrative and practical outcomes. Third, by demonstrating that the scheme, though an extraordinary departure from policy, can be understood as fundamentally a different and exceptional method to secure and reproduce our neoliberal corporate order in a state of exception.
Details
- Title
- COVID, crisis, and unordinary order: A critical analysis of Australia’s JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme as an exceptional measure
- Authors
- Vincent Goding (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Society
- Publication details
- Jindal Global Law Review , Vol.13(1), pp.39-68
- Publisher
- Springer (India) Private Ltd.
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1007/s41020-022-00166-9
- ISSN
- 2364-4869; 0975-2498
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99645079202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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