Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The need to manage the economy in the interests of all Australians.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This would normally have been budget day, and we well recall that day, one year ago, when the government declared that the budget 'was back in black'—not that it would be but that it was, as a statement of fact. What we saw from that point on, as we had seen in the preceding years, was a government that didn't have a plan for the economy. Post May 2019, they engaged in a victory lap, running around thinking how good they were, telling us how well the economy was going and being totally complacent about the need to keep their eye on the ball. What we saw was a doubling of debt under this government. At a time when incredible prices were being paid for our resources and our exports and when, overall, the global economy was powering along, they still doubled the debt. We saw stagnant wages, we saw business investment down and household debt up, we saw consumer confidence down, we saw productivity actually going backwards and we saw, in response to that, nothing but complacency. There they were with their 'Back in Black' mugs, congratulating themselves while they were treating the Australian public like mugs, as they have ever since, because they had no plan going into this crisis and they clearly have no plan going out.

The fact is that the Australian people during this crisis have answered the call. I pay tribute to the nurses, the cleaners, the supermarket workers, the public transport workers—all those people who in an age of celebrity have just gone about their jobs. People don't know their names. People do know, though, that we have all relied upon them. And it's about time they were treated with respect by this government, because this pandemic, if it's shown anything, has shown that Labor's values of fairness, of security, of the power of government to make a positive difference in people's lives are the right ones in a crisis and they are the right values for the recovery, because, as the Prime Minister says from time to time, we are indeed all in this together.

But what we actually have from this government is the idea of snapback, and what snapback means is cutbacks. The idea is that the economy can just snap back to where we were: snap back to insecure work, snap back to stagnant wages, snap back to contracting out essential services, snap back to a time where we ignore the need to have an energy policy or to have a climate change policy in this country, snap back to a time where people were paid $40 a day trying to seek work even though the government has acknowledged that that simply wasn't good enough and that that's why they had to introduce the jobseeker payment.

We saw in their narrative again today a dismissal of the role that Labor played in saving Australia from the last time there was a crisis: the global financial crisis, where Labor invested to keep us out of recession. Unlike the rest of the world, which was going negative and where millions of people lost their jobs, here in Australia we kept the economy going forward. The fact is that we present vision statements and they present a rear-vision view of the world. Back, back, back is what they want.

The fact is we can emerge from this crisis with strength, can increase work security and can learn the lessons which are there. All those people who are working from home are changing the nature of work, boosting productivity and increasing the quality of life for the individual workers, and we can deal with issues like urban congestion by taking cars off the road. These are the sorts of issues that we should be discussing at this time. There is the need to drive manufacturing. We need to increase Australian capability. We shouldn't have been in a situation whereby we didn't have personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and essential workers, but we were there. We're seeing the price of this government begging the car industry to leave this country: the loss of innovation, the loss of investment in skills, the loss of investment in capital.

The fact is that they also have said to us during this crisis that one of the reasons why we are doing better than many countries is that we're listening to the science. Who knew? We're listening to the science and listening to experts. Well, we need to listen to the science all of the time, not just sometimes. And they've discovered valuing early childhood education. They say that a policy that was dismissed as communism during the last election campaign they have now adopted but only for a brief period of time. We need to support pay and giving our people the skills for the jobs of the future. We need a safety net that doesn't consign people to poverty.

Labor has not been and will not be obstructionist. Contrast our actions with the actions of those opposite during the global financial crisis. We can have a bit of an insight into what they would do if the positions in the chamber were reversed: have a look at the behaviour and opportunism of the Victorian Liberal opposition. Have a look at other Victorian Liberal federal members here: Minister Tehan and his angry meltdown on the Insiders program, accusing Dan Andrews of taking a sledgehammer to the education system. Of course, he had to withdraw just a couple of hours later with so much egg on his face you couldn't tell the bloke from the yolk!

The fact is that this government has a whole bunch of Victorian backbenchers—there's another one: the member for Deakin. The member for Higgins referred to flu as killing more people than the coronavirus. At a time when the whole government is saying that we need to give people the message about being responsible, that was her position. And then we had, of course, the member for Goldstein, who said about the Victorian Premier:

… he's probably enjoying the clampdown too much …

That's what he said. People have died. They have families. People have lost their jobs. People are isolated, and the response is that the Victorian Premier is enjoying the clampdown. That's the response that we've seen from those opposite.

The fact is it contrasts greatly with the way that we have engaged responsibly. We have supported each of the stimulus packages. We have suggested wage subsidies even when they opposed them. We have supported increased support for mental health. The shadow minister for health has been out there making practical suggestions. The shadow Treasurer has been out there making practical suggestions; making a difference; looking for solutions, not arguments; and making sure that the principle of no-one held back and no-one left behind is at the core of this issue. But the fact is some people have been left behind: casuals, workers at dnata, visa holders—many people who've just been forgotten during this crisis.

The fact is we want an economy that works for people, not the other way around. That's why we're putting forward practical suggestions on housing through our shadow minister, the member for Blaxland. During this period our homes have been a fortress, and housing can help our recovery as well. The alternative is that it's about to drop off the cliff in three months time, and those opposite are completely oblivious to this. What we need is a package that supports social and affordable housing. You have industry getting together with unions all calling for this. And during this crisis as well, when they needed it, the anti-union rhetoric stopped. But wait for it to start up again; wait for the old class war rhetoric to be cranked up. The fact is unions and business do have common interests, and we've seen the trade union movement work during this crisis to ensure that people are kept safe, that people are allowed to stay in their jobs and the economy's kept going forward.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was much better with a teleprompter than what we just saw, what was just delivered then—I thought that was one of the more remarkable aspects of yesterday. It's clear—there's no doubt—that most countries around the world look at Australia and what we've been able to achieve with some envy. There's no doubt that in his discussions with world leaders that the Prime Minister has had those world leaders asking us: what have we done?

Of course this MPI is predominantly focused on the economy, but there's no way we can discuss the state of the economy, where we've been, where we're going, without reflecting on the health achievements. Because the devastation we have seen in the economy, the devastation to businesses, to individuals and to families from an economic let alone a health perspective has been driven by something that nobody saw even months ago. Even at the beginning of this year when we were returning from summer, preparing for a new parliamentary year and families preparing for the year ahead—whether that was school, whichever prospects they had in their jobs, their businesses, their lives and their holidays planned—nobody could have foreseen what we have faced.

It was only a few weeks ago that things, I think, looked extraordinarily grim. As we looked at the experience of other countries from a health perspective, getting on top of the health issue was the only way that we were going to be able to chart a strong path back to economic recovery, and that's what we've done. And the opposition leader talks about being cooperative, but it absolutely kills him to come out and acknowledge that fact. In fact, he didn't do it for 10 minutes. He did not once acknowledge that Australia by any measure has done almost as well, if not better, as any other country that's faced what we have faced. And it's because of the decisions of this government working cooperatively through the national cabinet process, the genesis of which was the Prime Minister's foresight to bring governments around the country around a single table making those decisions. Not once was that acknowledged by the Leader of the Opposition, yet that is the bedrock for the economic recovery that we will be charting.

The immediate issues that individuals, families and businesses are facing are still the focus of the government. There's no doubt in question time that we saw a whole lot of fairly petty questions—what date, what time will this happen into the future—when people are still grappling with challenges now. We are six weeks into a significant health and economic challenge, and I think it's worth reflecting on what we've done.

We've obviously spoken a lot about the JobKeeper package. As the Treasurer said in question time, 5½ million employees covered by about 800,000 businesses are now utilising that scheme to remain in business, maintain where they are unable physically to conduct business, as there are many, and maintain a connection with employees who aren't able to work. We've already seen $25 billion flow to households. In addition to the $130 billion JobKeeper, we've had a $750 payment go to retirees and other recipients of government benefits. They will be in receipt of a second payment providing those families with the immediate support they need. We have put in place a cash flow boost for small business and, again, we have seen billions of dollars paid out to small businesses to help them keep afloat—a minimum of $20,000 up to $100,000 for small businesses. So whether it's vulnerable households with direct payments, whether it's small businesses with the lifeline of direct grants from the government through the cash flow boost or whether it's the JobKeeper package, there is $130 billion to maintain that connection between employees and businesses that can't operate. It also acts as a very strong wage subsidy for those businesses that have continuing operations but have seen, in the case of small and medium businesses, a 30 per cent downturn in their total turnover, or in the case of large businesses, a 50 per cent downturn in their turnover.

These are three incredibly important measures that just complement the health response. And then there's the health response, whether it's sourcing PPE or sourcing hundreds of thousands of tests. This has all been conducted and funded cooperatively through the national cabinet process but more often it's funded directly by the federal government, which has enabled the health outcomes that I speak about.

We now have ICU capacity that gives states and territories the comfort that they need to reopen their economy or certainly to start the process through the staged process that the federal government, through the national cabinet, outlined last week.

In addition to all of that, early on we saw the need to improve the social safety net for those people who, through no fault of their own, were going to be left without a job and left without an employer who would be able to avail them of JobKeeper, and that was the coronavirus supplement, which effectively doubled jobseeker to the, as the Prime Minister outlined today in parliament, over a million people who are now receiving that approximately $1,100 a fortnight payment. Again, that is another part of this government's plan to ensure it's good for individuals and it's also good economics.

Making sure we support those households, those individuals, those small businesses, those large businesses, those employees who maintain a connection with their business is, in the end, a huge impost on the Treasury coffers—and the Treasurer referred to $320 billion—but that will repay dividends in spades. I think there's good evidence to show that Australia will be in a very good position in comparison to other countries when we come through this global pandemic, which, quite frankly, has affected every single one of our major trading partners in a similar way to varying degrees.

We've also put in place additional measures that will help in the recovery, including the instant asset write-off expansion and the support for apprentices and trainees that we're providing. Quite early in the coronavirus pandemic we saw how devastating it would be for an apprentice who's part way through their apprenticeship, who's done the hard yards, whether they're in their first year or their fourth year, who, through no fault of their own, would have almost the entire future direction of their career potentially devastatingly impacted by COVID-19. Putting in place that $1.3 billion subsidy for apprentices builds on all of the other measures that I've outlined. They, in the end, will be good economics for this country—a huge impost now but a huge investment into the productive capacity of the Australian economy. I am confident that Australia, an outward-facing, trading economy, will ensure that that productive capacity, whether it's in our SME space or an individual skill set or the economy more broadly, will be in a better position to take advantage of the inevitable opportunities that have come from this extraordinarily difficult time in the global economy.

I say to members opposite: at times your criticisms would carry more weight if you acknowledged that outstanding work that's been done and if you acknowledged the integral role and leadership that the Prime Minister and this government have provided. It's been the bedrock that has made Australia the envy of the rest of the world. When the Leader of the Opposition sits there criticising a state government opposition, he sounds awfully like the opposition that he's criticising, and he did that even without a teleprompter!

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I extend our sincere apologies to the minister, who claims that he has not yet received enough praise from the Labor opposition—our sincere apologies! Can I say to the minister that, when praise has been deserving, it's been received. But, with a million Australians out of work and thousands of businesses closing their doors, with Australians not knowing whether they're going to have a job at the end of the year, what this country needs is not a cheer squad. It needs a parliament, it needs an opposition, it needs a plan for the future, and it has none of this.

What this country needs is competent administration. It requires an open and transparent government and a vision for the future, but, instead of competent administration, too often we find a good idea poorly implemented—I refer, of course, to the JobKeeper arrangement—or we find ourselves with a bad idea put in centre place for a national recovery project. I refer, of course, to the superannuation early access scheme. Instead of an open and transparent government, we have a Prime Minister who closes down parliament. Why is he hiding? Instead of a vision for the future, what we find is the same old ideas like yesterday's dinner reheated in the microwave of policy—competent administration, competent implementation.

We sat there with genuine excitement when the Prime Minister promised Australians they were going to receive free child care only to have that excitement replaced by disappointment when we discovered that, instead of free child care, we were going to have thousands of childcare centres have their income cut. Thousands of Australians, at a time when a million Australians are out of work, are trying to get back to the workplace and they can't do it because they can't get their kids into a childcare centre. This is a cruel hoax. This isn't free child care. This is a free ride for the Prime Minister.

The JobKeeper scheme is a genuinely good idea, and one we suggested to the government, but, sadly, some jobs apparently are not worth keeping. If you're one of the hundreds of thousands of Australians who were working in serial casual employment with multiple employers—perhaps you're in the entertainment and arts industry, perhaps in the hospitality industry—then clearly to this government your job is not worth keeping. You're a seeker not a keeper. We think those Australians deserve more than this.

The only thing worse than ignoring a vast number of Australians is to say, 'We've actually got worse plans for you in the future.' I ask you to consider the situation of those thousands and thousands of young Australians—the women, the workers in the service industries—who have been in the front row of those industries that have been shut down.

The government say that in the future they want to see more flexibility in our labour market. We have never seen more flexibility in our labour market! It has been the women and the young people who have been the bumper bar as this economy grinds to a halt, and what does this government say they have to look forward to? Cuts to penalty rates, cuts to overtime arrangements, and changes to their annual leave and superannuation arrangements. That's what these workers have got to look forward to. At a time when the Prime Minister says, 'We need to give Australians more confidence to get back to work and to be more entrepreneurial,' he's saying to hundreds of thousands of Australians, 'Be confident, but you can't be confident in the amount of money you're going to take home next year, because we've got industrial relations changes in front of you.'

What this country needs at the moment is not a cheer squad but a plan for the future. It needs competent administration and it needs parliament to be open so that we can put the spotlight on the failures of this government. And, yes, we'll praise it when it gets it right, but our job is to ensure that the Australian people get the government and the parliament they deserve. (Time expired)

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's great to be back in parliament and be able to speak today. A lot of Australians are doing it tough right now, more than ever before. The coronavirus is unprecedented in our lifetime. We've never seen anything like this current health crisis. The Morrison government is acting to ensure that all Australians are supported through this crisis. We've seen firsthand how the government is managing the economy in the interests of all Australians. We're seeing that right now, beginning with the effective management of our current health crisis.

Australia's position, of course, is the envy of the world. We know that Australia and some other countries, like Taiwan, are doing exceptionally well. Australia, with our low death rate, low infection rate and high testing rate is brilliant. But what the Prime Minister has said to me and others is that, while that's good, in order to really measure success we need to maintain that great health record and open up the economy. The Australian government, of course—and the Prime Minister, working within the National Cabinet—has shown strength and acted efficiently and effectively to deliver, for Australians, best international practice. The government hasn't left people behind. We've seen massive investment, some $320 billion, to keep Australians in jobs and connected with their employers, keeping businesses in business, supporting households and keeping investment flowing. These measures of course include the JobKeeper payment, which keeps employees connected with their employers, because without that payment so many more people—tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands more—would have been looking for work.

The jobseeker payment has helped so many people who, for the first time in their lives, have actually been looking for work and dependent on government. These are people who have never depended on government before, who have been getting on with their life, raising their family, paying off their house and working hard, and who, through no fault of their own or their employer's, have found themselves without work.

We've supported the community with things like the Community Support Package, with emergency relief for food, petrol and all sorts of things. I was down at Encircle in my electorate of Petrie the other day, with the driveway service, loading parcels into cars for people who haven't used that service before—and I'm not talking about homeless people. In relation to homelessness, of course, we invest over $1.6 billion a year through the states and territories. And I must say the states and territories have done a great job in helping people to be housed, particularly those people at risk of coronavirus—people who are in boarding houses, sleeping rough or in overcrowded situations. And don't forget Commonwealth rent assistance. We invest over $4½ billion a year there.

When I talk to people in my electorate, the feedback they give me is important, and I'm listening. Any good federal member should. Ryan Elson said today: 'I think the federal government, on the whole, is doing a great job. We need to have business return as soon as possible, though. In our future, less reliance on overseas manufacturing is a must and we must return to manufacturing in Australia.' Today, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology spoke about Packer Leather, in my electorate, which employs some 100 people. I think also of Ty Hermans, a man who lives in my electorate. Ty runs Evolve Group, which is reshoring manufacturing from China back here. Evolve currently makes PPE equipment and Seabins. The Seabin is a new product now being manufactured at Evolve. They go to cleaning up our oceans, collecting plastic and so forth. I've just installed three of them at Newport Marina.

Here is another comment, from Ian Leslie: 'Given the circumstances, the Australian government is doing a great job. Yes, there is a lot of spending, and we can build our way out of it by Australian programs.' Christine Standfast says: 'We need to open businesses that can. This 10-person hospitality venue is too restrictive.'

Not only do we need to listen to health professionals; we also need to listen to our businesses about how they can make their businesses COVID-safe, so we can open up the economy as quickly as possible and get people back to work. I'm so proud of my electorate, the people in it and what they've done. I put that on the record.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Skills) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are competing views about what a post-COVID economic landscape will look like. There is the back-to-the-way-it-was scenario, held by the government. Whether this is a snapback or a slow return seems to be in debate amongst those opposite, but they definitely want to go back. But there is another view, which is that COVID-19 has changed our world fundamentally and will change, in significant ways, the way we work, invest and develop. The Leader of the Labor Party yesterday outlined a vision for this country, a vision of what could be with the right will and policies. The shadow Treasurer today spoke of an opportunity to ask what sort of country we want in this next stage of our history, post the COVID crisis. Both speak of hope and the opportunity to build a better future, not going back to what we know was a world of anxiety, underemployment, insecure work and an economy being put in reverse, where inequality was growing.

Our Labor leader has defined a new view to build a better future, putting everyday people at its heart. It's a view that governments have a role to play in steering that future. Those opposite do know there is a role for government in pulling levers to drive the economy. We know they know because they've done just that during this crisis. They've worked with the opposition and trade unions to work out what the levers have to be, because it's not in their DNA to even begin to understand that type of response. We were happy to help.

It isn't perfect. We've highlighted the significant shortfalls with the jobseeker and JobKeeper schemes—about those tragically left without support. I notice that the previous speaker, the member for Petrie, did not mention the workers at dnata—many of which are in his electorate—who have been tragically left out. We worry about the future under this government—that this new-found role for government in supporting incomes and livelihoods will evaporate in an ideological cloud.

The Leader of the Opposition has said that the crisis should change our social and economic priorities. It has shown us the importance of focusing on skills and training, supply chain diversity, research and development, commercialisation of ideas, advanced manufacturing with local markets, regional development, social housing, retirement, social income and, so importantly, job security, decent work with decent conditions and of course the support of the unions that look after their members. This vision is not fanciful.

In the northern suburbs of Melbourne, around Geelong and in many other places we have hundreds of small, innovative, brave manufacturers. Many are exporting. Manufacturing still employs around 900,000 Australians. They're good jobs. But there could be many more. With proper collaboration between universities and companies, with incubators and investment funds, with real assistance for exporters and with procurement policies we could double the size of our manufacturing sector. But governments at all levels have to believe in it and have the courage to act—the courage for change.

Social housing projects will see the sustainability of the construction industry and more jobs. The crisis has shattered businesses and people's incomes. It has highlighted the fragile nature of the workforce. That's why a focus on skills, a return to decent jobs and the jobs compact will be a key requirement. If we are to maintain social cohesion and have a workforce able to build the infrastructure of the future, then the unemployed, older workers needing to re-enter the workforce and others will need real support. As a nurse, I particularly welcome the view of our leader that we need to have decent jobs in the public sector, including in the rapidly growing health and welfare sector. We've seen in the crisis the importance of these jobs.

I'd like to thank everyone in this House, including the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and so many of my colleagues, for their thoughts and condolences during a very difficult time for me and my family. It meant a lot to us. I thank you. My father-in-law, Mike, died of coronavirus. He was a thoughtful and wonderful man. We saw firsthand the role that nurses played in caring for him and others affected by the virus. Today is International Nurses Day, and I want to send a big thank you to all the nurses.

We've seen in this crisis that jobs like nursing are essential. They're not second-rate jobs. They're not just add-on jobs for women to work part-time for a bit of extra money. They are real, critical and economy-stabilising jobs. The looming problem for our social and economic transformation will be the political battle to come and how we view things like the care industry. The conservatives amongst us will want austerity, deregulation, lower wages, fewer environmental and workplace protections, and a host of other changes. We on this side of the House have a vision that we can build a better future.

Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the very important subject that the government must manage the economy in the interests of all Australians. Well, it's a good thing we are. I don't need to explain to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that we are currently fighting a war on two fronts—the public health of the nation, including ensuring the mental health and wellbeing of individuals is cared for and considered, and the economic impacts of a shutdown that we had to have and that has protected our nation's health. To make a successful and prosperous nation you must have a strong and solid economy. You need consumer confidence in the markets, strong trading partnerships internationally and a mix of small, medium and large enterprises that support a strong workforce. As John Howard once said, 'You can't fatten a pig on market day.' During successive Liberal-National governments we have balanced the budget and we've ensured that when times get tough there is enough in the bank to help us all survive, and survive we will. The swift and decisive action of the Morrison government meant that protections were in place for the economy when they were needed. The JobKeeper package offered to businesses to help them to ensure that they endure the shutdown means that they will still be there when our society resumes, when we are back eating at cafes and in restaurants, visiting clothes stores and going to the gym.

In my electorate of Higgins I have had hundreds, if not thousands, of emails and phone calls thanking the Morrison government for the JobKeeper program. Small business owners, whose work is their passion, are the best people to run their businesses. They have put in the long hours, employed people in our community and given their all. Often the margins are slim, the rent is high and it costs a lot to keep the lights on, but they keep going because they are committed to the survival of their business. The Morrison government knows this. We know the extra hours spent balancing books and doing rosters and time sheets. When the government had to make tough decisions and ask Australian businesses to help us help the nation, they did just that, so it was only right that the government returned the favour.

In Higgins alone I can see the results of the JobKeeper program. Hema Maps in Caulfield is owned by Sam, who lives in my electorate. It's a wonderful business. Hema Maps employs 44 full-time staff and produces a range of award-winning maps and navigational products, including apps for tourists to visit regional Australia, New Zealand and North America. There's not a lot of travelling going on at the moment. In late February they were drawing up plans to stand down 80 per cent of their workforce, effective immediately. Sam knows the importance of providing people with the dignity of employment. You can't imagine how thrilled he was at the JobKeeper program. Sam has been able to keep his staff employed. He will be able to get his business going through the tough times and be positioned to meet the recovery when it comes.

There's also Tailored Cafe in Korrnang Road Carnegie. It's owned by Sean. He is delighted by the JobKeeper program because it's keeping two of his staff employed. It will enable him to keep his business afloat. By being able to stay open, when things get back to normal he'll be able to increase his business and return to work and trading.

Levi's is a fantastic cafe in Murrumbeena. In fact, it's got the best eggplant toasties in Australia. Go down there. They're absolutely amazing. Harry tells me that we have helped him to save his business. He has had five full-time staff who have been kept on the books and the business is dynamic enough to weather this storm with those staff. He only opened recently and he's thrilled that he can keep going.

In Australia we know that there's a forecast that the GDP will fall by 10 per cent in the June quarter, our biggest fall on record. This is not a small issue. We know our unemployment rate is expected to reach around 10 per cent, but if we didn't have JobKeeper it would have been 15 per cent. These are incredibly important measures. I'm proud of the strong leadership of Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg, the executive and our government to help Australia to ensure that we recover.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today in his statement the Treasurer pronounced the pandemic to be, 'A health and economic shock the likes of which the world has never seen'. He is, of course, right. So why, in the face of this catastrophic economic and health outlook, is he refusing to protect everyone in Australia? Why is he planning to cut back supports for everyone else on 24 September?

We have seen a good response from the government and I absolutely acknowledge that. Introducing the JobKeeper wage subsidy, that Labor and the union movement had advocated for from day 1, was absolutely a good thing. People needed to keep their jobs and be supported to do so through this crisis. Doubling the rate of jobseeker, formerly Newstart, is also a very good move, but it shouldn't take a pandemic to realise that people can't live on $40 a day. There are significant gaps in the package. This government has left behind students and young people; arts and entertainment workers; disability support workers; temporary visa holders, including recently arrived refugees; international students; childcare centres, and the parents who rely on them—if you're going to have free childcare you have to support the centres to actually deliver it—councils, and the communities who rely on them; and universities, and the students who rely on them.

Today would have been budget day. We had the Treasurer's speech this morning which was devoid of vision, devoid of a vision for what comes next as we rebuild after this crisis. He ended his speech by invoking the 'fighting Australian spirit'. What is the fighting Australian spirit, Treasurer? Are you saying that people are literally going to have to fight to survive when you turn off support for the almost seven million Australians who will access jobseeker or JobKeeper in the next few months? We have a government returning to their tired old playbook, calling on working people to bear the brunt of COVID-19 through lower wages and poorer conditions. We have a government that talks about aspiration but has cut out people from jobseeker for having the aspiration to change their job in the last 12 months—one million casual employees. We have a government asking people to pay for their own assistance by compromising their superannuation, their retirement savings.

This is a government that will snap back to their tired, old conservative ways after this crisis. In fact, they have already committed to snapback to inadequate assistance for jobseekers from 24 September. The coronavirus has demonstrated just how important a strong social security system is. It has demonstrated its power to alleviate poverty and to stabilise the economy. This, throughout our history, alongside decent wages and conditions provided through our tradition of arbitration, has been so important to making us the society we are today.

This crisis presents an opportunity for us to address inadequacies in the current system by building on its strengths. By doubling the jobseeker rate with the temporary coronavirus supplement the Morrison government has acknowledged that people cannot live on $40 a day. This is about a choice. We can build an economy and a society that supports all of us to have an opportunity based on decent wages, decent working conditions and decent social security for all of us when we're out of work.

Yesterday the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, outlined a vision for rebuilding after this crisis based on egalitarian values, on listening to science and on an inclusive economy. We have a once-in-a-century opportunity to rethink and review, to really rebuild. Government has a real role in building that, not only in crisis, and in delivering a society that enables all of us to have happy, healthy and fulfilled lives.

As the shadow Treasurer said this morning, 'The Australian economy wasn't strong before the pandemic,' and we on this side of the chamber were saying that on a daily basis in this place. It was like speaking to a stonewall. This government would not acknowledge the serious problems with the economy before the crisis. We've had seven years and three treasurers. The pandemic arrived without warning but the economic downturn certainly did not. What we are likely to see from this government after this is a double-down on trickle-down, an agenda of austerity and deregulation. The snap back is a fallacy and the long reel of stats provided by the Treasurer today makes that clear. The government will snapback to usual—no plan, just a tired, conservative agenda.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Unprecedented' is an overused word at the moment. This is an unprecedented pandemic with unprecedented cost and unprecedented responses from this government. But the fact remains that everything we are seeing right now is unprecedented to most of us. There are only a tiny fraction of our constituents who were alive during the Spanish flu and even less who remember it. We have to go back to the Great Depression to remember times of economic destruction as bad as these and back to wartime to remember the last time Australia faced a determined enemy and a national response this big. Half of my office are even too young to remember the 1990s recession—not me.

We have been forced to act big and act quickly in response to this crisis. Thankfully, this government has been supporting our economy to ensure it has been growing strongly for years. Unemployment was low—the participation rate was near a record high, at 66 per cent—and, for the first time in over a decade, we were back in surplus, albeit briefly. We were fortunate that we faced this crisis from a position of budgetary strength, which has allowed us to take the tough decisions to survive this crisis intact and, then, to pave the road to recovery better than before.

This government moved fast and thoroughly. There is no time here to talk to every measure the government has put in place, which is testament to the huge amount of support we are providing. A total of $320 billion is being injected into the economy by all arms of government in order to keep Australia in work and to keep businesses in businesses. That's equivalent to 16.4 per cent of the GDP. This includes $17.6 billion for the government's first economic stimulus package, $90 billion from the Reserve Bank of Australia, $15 billion from the government to deliver easier access to finance, $66.1 billion in the second economic support package and $130 billion in the JobKeeper payments. As the Treasurer mentioned earlier, there have been over 80 regulatory changes made since the virus broke out, all designed to facilitate the continuation of business—the survival of business. Our economic support package includes support for households, including casual sole traders, retirees and those on income support; assistance for businesses to keep people in a job; regulatory protection; and finance support for businesses to stay in business.

The government is taking unprecedented action to strengthen the safety net for Australians who are stood down or lose their jobs and is increasing support for small businesses facing a tough six months ahead. However, the biggest improvement to our budget is the huge benefits we will see from keeping Australians alive and healthy. We are not alone in facing an economic crisis but our country is one of the lucky few that does not also have a massive health crisis to mitigate. Australians will be able to return to work and social life sooner because we have not let this crisis run free and because we have all listened to the critical health advice. Today, on International Nurses Day, we must remember and thank from the bottom of our hearts all the health professionals who have kept us safe. They will allow us to get back to normal sooner. But we must also thank everybody who has been staying at home rather than going out, calling their friends rather than meeting them, and putting the health of their neighbours ahead of their personal freedom. Thank you, everyone.

We must stay vigilant. As the Treasurer mentioned, it will cost New South Wales alone $1.4 billion per week if they have to go back into lockdown. Nationally, that's $4 billion per week. This will all be over soon and we will need to find new ways to get our economy rolling, infrastructure projects to stimulate our economy and grow our settlement, new funding mechanisms to limit the damage to our budget and get better value for our taxpayers. These are the sorts of things we must do to get our economy back on track again. The government has done incredibly well to bring our economy back to a place of strength over the past seven years. Now we have dealt with this new crisis with speed, clarity and efficiency. Soon we will be in the fifth set, and I am confident we will have the projects, policies and ideas to bring us back to prosperity.

Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by acknowledging that today is International Nurses Day and I pay tribute to all the nurses in Fraser and in Australia more generally. I pay tribute to my colleague Ged Kearney and to all the other nurses and healthcare professionals in this chamber. I also pay tribute to my father, a nurse for more than 30 years, who served and saved many. Of course, as other speakers have pointed out, there has never been a time when it has been more appropriate for us to pay tribute to our nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Today we are talking about one aspect of the crisis that we face. It is true to say that our healthcare professionals have dealt incredibly well the health dimensions of the crisis that we currently face. It is important that this chamber also examines the way in which we, as a society and as an economy, deal with the economic aspects of the crisis that we are currently facing. As the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer have pointed out, we come to this place as a constructive opposition. I might point out that we currently don't come to this place as frequently as we'd like, but, nonetheless, when we do get to come here, we come as a constructive opposition. That doesn't mean that we lazily acquiesce to all that's put forward to us by the government, because to do so would be to abdicate our duty as an opposition. But it does mean that we are here to focus on solutions and not to pointscore. It is in that spirit that I make some observations on the way in which this economy has been managed in the past, is managed in the present and may be managed in the future.

One of the speakers opposite said that you can't fatten a pig the day before market. In fact, the context here is that, if we look at the economy and the way in which it had been managed, it is a pig which had been getting thinner over the last seven years, in the lead-up to this crisis. This was not a pig being fattened for market. If it, as a pre-COVID economy, had been taken to market, the returns would have been very lean. We saw productivity growth go backwards for the first time on record. We saw wages growth at its worst on record. We saw household incomes going backwards for an extended period of time. This was an economy that was underperforming. What were the consequences? The consequences—for example, for fiscal policy—were that debt had doubled. We had an economy where there were claims that the budget was back in black when, in fact, it wasn't. On the fiscal policy front, we had far less flexibility than we ought to have had. On the monetary policy front, the independent Reserve Bank had felt the need to reduce interest rates on multiple occasions to far below GFC levels. So, when it came to fiscal policy and monetary policy settings in the lead-up to the COVID crisis, we were in a far weaker position than we ought to have been.

Now it's true to say that nobody could have predicted the exact timing of this pandemic; nobody could have predicted the exact severity of the bushfire season we've just come out of. But there were many, many experts who had said that a pandemic would occur at some point; it was clear that bushfires were getting more and more severe. So it is true to say that we should have been more prepared than we were. Even though we didn't know exactly when these events would occur to disrupt our economy, we knew they would probably occur at some point, and it is fair to say, I think, that our economy was far less prepared than it should have been.

What about the present? We have been a constructive opposition; we have voted for every single piece of legislation this government has brought to us in this chamber, but let's look at the current scheme. Let's look at the JobKeeper program—as the shadow Assistant Treasurer has said, a good idea being badly implemented. When I've talked to dnata workers in my electorate and they asked me: 'Why am I not covered by this when I've worked for years and I've contributed taxes for years—when I've been a good citizen, contributing to this society and economy for years? Why am I not covered by this scheme simply because of a quirk in the ownership of the company that I work for?' I've had no good answer. All I can say to them is that I'll come to Canberra when parliament sits and I'll call on the Treasurer to do what he can do under the regulations: to fix these anomalies at a flick of his pen. And I'll do the same for all the other groups who are currently being arbitrarily excluded from this scheme.

I was approached with a similar question by casuals who have worked for less than 12 months but who have a real connection with their employers. They are casuals who have worked for many years in an industry but who may have switched between employers. I say to them, 'I'll come into this chamber, when I'm given the chance to, and call on the Treasurer to fix these anomalies.'

And what about the future? As other speakers have said—as the previous two speakers on this side have said—the Australian public deserves so much better than snapback to an economy that wasn't working; to an economy that was growing too slowly. We need to move forward to a positive vision—an egalitarian, progrowth vision that this society yearns for. That's why, when we look at economic management of the future, we need to look for a positive, visionary statement, as we— (Time expired)

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The need to manage the economy in the interests of all Australians has always been important to the Morrison government and, going forward, it is more important than ever. I'm sure, like many in my northern Tasmanian community, I started 2020 with a great sense of optimism of what the year may bring. In the electorate which I am so proud to represent there were so many positive signs of economic progress—positive employment figures; construction and tourism were booming; and Tasmania was in a stage of unprecedented economic growth. I have spoken before of my desire to keep that momentum going and to build on it.

Though the murmur of coronavirus was there in the background, it suddenly seemed to loom large and urgently and, as a government, we needed to act quickly and decisively to protect the health of all Australians, while balancing the devastating economic impact this unprecedented crisis would bring. And though this is far from over, I stand here today incredibly proud of the decisions made by this government to ensure that the lives of Australians are safe while also ensuring that the financial lives of Australians are protected. We only need to look to other countries in the world to see the potential devastation we could have faced.

The leadership that has been shown during these challenging times has been exceptional. In my own community over the past few months, while there are certainly stories of financial pain and hardship—particularly from small business owners—there have also been so many who have expressed their relief and gratitude to the government for initiatives such as JobKeeper which have enabled them to stay afloat and keep on much loved and highly valued staff. Indeed, Northern Tasmania's business community has strongly endorsed the actions of the federal and state government responses.

On JobKeeper: the Launceston Chamber of Commerce noted that there will be many local businesses who will reap great benefit from this, and that it will be the difference between a business closing for good and one which can hibernate until the recovery can occur. Peter Barron, owner of Flinders Island Aviation, is providing essential passenger freight and mail deliveries to the Furneaux islands. Peter's business is receiving JobKeeper for his four employees, from pilots to admin staff, to keep his operation afloat. It is incredibly important for these remote island communities that the business was able to carry on operations and not suspend services.

Karen Burbury, owner of multiple restaurant businesses across Bass, which were always booked out prior to COVID-19, had to see the businesses that she has seen years building up close suddenly. Karen has been able to access JobKeeper for a significant number of employees, and has also accessed cashflow boost options. And, just today in our local newspaper, Jason Kerrison, owner of the very popular Prospect Fish Shop, described the JobKeeper initiative as 'sensational'. Others, like Gray's Hotel in George Town, have bent over backwards, and stretched and scrimped, to do what they can to diversify their business so that they could keep their employees going until they were able to access JobKeeper.

For those who were unable to access JobKeeper, jobseeker has also given relief to those searching for work and those who suddenly—many for the first time—find themselves unemployed. For these members of our community and those who have suddenly lost a second, but essential, income stream, accessing super has also become a lifeline. I recently encountered a mum with two children. She works part-time, but also held a second casual job in the beauty industry. After seeing all her hours lost in her secondary job, she has been able to access part of the $10,000 super allowed to keep them going for a few months and to provide some additional relief.

Of course this is a situation that nobody wanted or expected to find ourselves in, but we cannot deny that we're in a strong economic position to deliver that much-needed economic program that will allow thousands of businesses across Tasmania to get up and running over the coming months. We should not forget that we went into this health and economic crisis in a strong and stable financial position, which ensured that we had the capacity to respond quickly. There will be an increase in government debt, and we understand that this may take many years to repay, but I commend the Treasurer and his team for designing these measures in a way that protects the structural integrity of our budget into the future.

I look forward to the ongoing work with my community during the months and the years ahead to ensure that we can emerge from this stronger and more resilient than ever before.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has concluded.