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

As the Governor of the Reserve Bank said just yesterday, the fundamentals of the Australian economy remain strong. He pointed out that unemployment will remain elevated for some time, and this is consistent with the Treasury's view. As I said to the House in an earlier question, unemployment today is at 7.5 per cent, and the expectation is that it will reach around 10 per cent by the end of the year, but, as the honourable member for Rankin knows, the situation in Victoria has been a major drag on the national economy, with Treasury saying that up to 400,000 people in Victoria will either lose their jobs or see their hours reduced to zero as that state is subject to stage 4 restrictions. As a quarter of the national economy, the impact of what we're seeing in Victoria does have a much broader consequence for the country.

Our JobKeeper program is continuing, it's expanding, it's being extended and, at $101 billion, it's the single largest program any Australian government has ever undertaken. We are transitioning that program, because seven out of the eight jurisdictions in this country are managing the virus. But, in my home state of Victoria, it's a different situation—

Mr Brian Mitchell interjecting—

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