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

I thank the member for Stirling for his question and acknowledge his distinguished service as an officer in the Australian Army, including serving abroad, as well as in the private sector, before coming to this place.

COVID-19 is a wrecking ball through the global economy. It's helped destroy some 500 million jobs. According to the World Bank, we will see more economies contract this year as a result of COVID-19 than at any time since the year 1870. More countries will see their economies contract than at any time since the year 1870.

In relation to us here in Australia, the economic cost has been very high. It's the highest right now in the state of Victoria, where people are doing it extremely tough with the stage 4 restrictions. That's why, as the Prime Minister has outlined, we're providing every resource possible both on the health side and on the economic side. But we are also seeing, outside of Victoria, the jobs starting to come back. Our effective unemployment rate is at 9.9 per cent today. It was 14.9 per cent in April. In the last two months, we've seen 340,000 new jobs—340,000 jobs have come back. Importantly, 58 per cent of those went to women and 44 per cent of those jobs went to young people. We have seen particularly strong growth in the state of New South Wales. Of the 1.3 million people who either lost their jobs or had their hours reduced to zero, more than half have now come back—around 700,000. So there is light at the end of the tunnel. The road will be bumpy, the road will be long, there is great uncertainty but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

This is where the JobMaker plan is doing its work in trying to get people back into work, with tax incentives, including the accelerated depreciation at 50 per cent and the extension of the instant asset write-off. What we're doing is bringing forward around $10 billion worth of infrastructure projects—340,000 new positions and places, in terms of skills, training and education. The work we're doing is to make it easier for businesses to stay in business, whether it's e-signatures and virtual AGMs or the work that the state treasurers and I have been doing in relation to harmonising occupational licensing. And, of course, the 50 per cent wage subsidy for apprentices, and some 180,000 apprentices will benefit. This is the JobMaker plan. This is how we get people back into work after the biggest economic shock this country has ever seen. The plan is there and it is working.

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