Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Leichhardt for his question, and acknowledge that in his electorate around half of his local economy is supported by tourism: the Great Barrier Reef and other wonderful national parks. The impact of the coronavirus has been devastating on Australia's tourism sector, not just because the international borders have been closed but also because of the restrictions and limitations on domestic travel. So our thoughts are with the people of Leichhardt, as they are with Australians right around the country.

We are in the midst of a hundred-year event with the coronavirus. It's a health and an economic shock like this country has ever seen before. The fact is that some four million people globally have contracted the virus: 280,000 lives have been lost. In the United States, 80,000 lives have been lost and in the United Kingdom 31,000 lives have been lost. Tragically, 97 people have lost their lives here in Australia but, through our early response and the wonderful work by our health professionals and our health system, we haven't had the same number of cases as many other comparable nations.

In terms of the economic shock: it's been significant, with the Australian Treasury forecasting GDP to fall by around 10 per cent in the June quarter—the largest fall on record—and unemployment to reach around 10 per cent, a doubling of the unemployment rate. Our response has been comprehensive in scale and in scope, and is unprecedented in terms of the amount of fiscal financial support that is making its way into Australian households and Australian businesses.

Our JobKeeper program has seen 5½ million employees to date be covered by those businesses that are formally enrolled in that program. Our cashflow boost, a $32 billion program, has already seen over $8½ billion go out the door to nearly 500,000 businesses. Our $750 cash payment has seen $5.2 billion go to seven million Australians on income support—pensioners, people with a Commonwealth seniors health card, disability support pensioners, veterans and those on family tax benefits. And we've also given people access to their own money through the super system, and some $11 billion has been accessed, tax-free, by the Australian people. And the progress that was made by the national cabinet to see a gradual easing of restrictions has been estimated to contribute over $9 billion a month to the Australian economy.

So Australians need to follow the health advice and Australians need to get back to work, and that will be good news for the Australian economy.

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