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

I withdraw, Mr Speaker. There haven't been many questions that have come my way from the shadow Treasurer. The reality is that the budget has a series of assumptions in it, as the shadow Treasurer said, about lockdowns. It also has a series of other assumptions, including the vaccine rollout and the gradual opening of international borders from mid next year. But with this budget we understand that we have put in place policies that take into account the fact that the pandemic is still with us. That includes $41 billion of COVID economic support measures, tax cuts for more than 10 million Australians, immediate expensing provisions and the loss carry-back measures that have been extended for another year and that have helped see machinery and equipment investment go up by more than 10 per cent in the last national accounts. That is right across the country, including extending the skills programs and including $15 billion of infrastructure spending.

These are the measures that account for the fact that there could be further lockdowns, that there could be further outbreaks, that the pandemic is still with us. What this budget also says is that the unemployment rate will come down over time, and there's an expectation that by next year we will see unemployment come down below five per cent. And I point out to the shadow Treasurer that today unemployment—

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