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

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

The Government's response to the challenges facing Australia.

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

We've heard a lot about how we're all in this together during the pandemic crisis. Indeed, Australians have been magnificent. Our nurses, our teachers, our early childhood educators, our supermarket workers, our cleaners, our truck drivers and our public transport workers have all kept this nation going. But, from those opposite, what we're seeing is a return to the old ideological positions that they hold so dear, with people being left behind—casual workers, dnata workers, arts workers, university workers and council employees all left behind. That's consistent, because during this crisis we've also learnt that of those who suffered from a previous crisis earlier this year, the bushfire victims, just four per cent have received any support from this government. They too have continued to be left behind, impacted by drought, then by bushfires and then by the pandemic.

Now, of course, the snapback has begun. There we were. On Monday, for childcare workers—essential workers—three days after an absolute guarantee from this Prime Minister that JobKeeper would be in place at least until September, it was announced that it would be ripped away from them from next week. We know that 95 per cent of childcare workers are women. So this is a reverse Titanic from this government—women and children put last by this government.

In just the three weeks since this parliament sat, we've seen the recession announced. Remember last year's budget—the 'back in black' grand statements and the mugs that were produced? Now, it's 'I see red,' from this government. This government promised the budget was back in black. Well, now it is in deep, deep red. Then we saw the $60 billion accounting bungle—$60 billion!—announced late on a Friday afternoon. It is the largest in history—one you could see from space! It's such a mess. Here they were: all of these companies apparently had exactly 1,500 employees, and no-one noticed—not 1,493, not 1,510, but precisely 1,500—a $60 billion error and a three-million-worker error from this government. Such a mess. The dollar figures are so wrong. Frankly, it's only a matter of time until Angus Taylor, in a panic, claims that it was downloaded from the City of Sydney website! It's only a matter of time before that becomes the excuse for this government, which won't accept responsibility for anything.

That was on one Friday and then the Friday after we saw robodebt, a $720 million bungle—373,000 Australians hit with illegal debt notices, notices that the government knew were illegal, and when we asked the question today they wouldn't say when they found that out. We know that there were real human consequences behind the automation that went in from this government. It's time we put humans back into Human Services. But this government would rather just contract out public services. They'd rather bring in automation. We now know that they won't even apologise. Today, again, we saw that contempt. How many people who received these notices have died? We know that it occurred. We know that there was real tragedy involved, as a direct result of the policies of this government.

But it's not just all of these mistakes, one after the other. We then had the housing package, designed so that no-one could access it—more catches than the Rex Hunt Fishing Show. All of those with a lazy $150,000 sitting around who earn under $125,000 can renovate their home—a pretty decent renovation. And today it changed from 'renovation rescue'—it's gone. It has become the slogan that dare not speak its name. If they had spent as much time designing a proper program as they did working out a slogan to describe it, perhaps it would have been better off. We know that there will be very few additional builds because of this. These would be projects that were ready to go anyway, projects that are now being subsidised by the taxpayer. Why have they gone down this track, even though the member for Blaxland and I have been out there campaigning for well over a month now, with practical suggestions for the government? Why? Because they would rather do anything than have something with 'public' associated with it. So, there is no new public housing, no renovation of public housing and not even affordable housing for essential workers, which is being undertaken by superannuation funds and by others in local government—contempt for those people.

They could have looked at the program implemented by the member for Sydney during the GFC—21,000 new homes and 70,000 renovated homes, lifting up that capital value that stays with the public sector, giving people pride in where they live by updating their homes with those renovations. If they did that, they could also have apprentices and trainees on the job, which they can't do under their scheme. The PM says that he believes in miracles. Anyone hoping to navigate their way through this maze had better believe in them too, because it's the only way that you could work that out.

And of course we have the ongoing JobKeeper debacles, with some people missing out as others, working side by side, receive multiples of their income. We have a government in denial, as we saw today, about the arts and entertainment sector. Somehow they're doing okay, according to the minister. 'Everything is just hunky-dory.' We've seen other measures brought in during this period also. Australia Post changes were snuck in under the cover of the pandemic that is out there, providing for fewer workers and fewer services, particularly in regional communities.

Throughout it all, of course, we have seen from this government no transparency whatsoever—the Friday night announcements. Three Fridays ago we had the $60 billion mistake. Two weeks ago we had the $720 million robodebt payment. Last Friday we were waiting. What was this going to be? Well, they realised it was a long weekend, so they kept it till the Monday of a long weekend before they announced that they were ripping off the JobKeeper program from the essential workers who have looked after our kids. It's bad for women and bad for children—essential workers just dismissed by this mob.

Over and over we see this government taking no responsibility for anything. We heard the questions asked by the Manager of Opposition Business. This government takes no responsibility. They never put their hand up and say, under the Westminster system, 'Yes, I got something wrong'—whether it's sports rorts, whether it's the letters that magically appeared or were downloaded from imaginary websites for the City of Sydney, whether it's the debt which they doubled, whether it's productivity going backwards and all the economic indicators that were so shocking. They're just deluded. That's why they could stand up at this dispatch box and say the budget was back in black. The only way that would happen would be if they turned off the lights. That's the only way that that would happen. The budget wasn't back in black. They picked the wrong AC/DC song. This government should be characterised by another AC/DC song, 'Dirty deeds done dirt cheap', because that defines the way that the government operates.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for the call, Deputy Speaker.

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take the compliment from across the chamber: 'They've brought out the big guns for this one'!

In a person's life, and indeed in the nation's history and the globe's history, there are defining moments, and I think what's happened this year—which was obviously not foreseen by anybody for our own personal lives, for this nation's life or for the globe's life—is a defining moment for all of us. What often characterises defining moments is that they are unforeseen. Just last year, in my region, we had things that were proving to be very difficult. We had a one-in-100-years drought. We had fires. We thought that was tough. Little did we know that not only our region, not only our state, not only our nation but indeed the world was going to be facing the threat of this virus. Not only are the health consequences of the virus significant; we have also seen—and we knew it would happen—the economic costs, the economic consequences, and the threat that they pose to everyone as well. There was a lot of anxiety. I think we'll all remember this year vividly, as time goes on—the events that led to us not shutting down completely but as businesses had to shut down, as people couldn't go to work—what those few weeks were when there was a lot up in the air about how far we would have to go to fight this economic crisis.

I want to go back and acknowledge the Prime Minister. I want to acknowledge the national cabinet. I want to acknowledge a lot of people. There was a lot of pressure, you might remember, Deputy Speaker, early on with this, as countries went through the different life cycles of the virus, for us to go with a full lockdown. There was a lot of pressure from the media, a lot of pressure from different sectors of the country, that we needed to lock down and we needed to lock down big time.

One of the most important things the Prime Minister said through all this was that every job was essential and that, yes, we needed to lock down or shut down certain things but we wanted to do that to a bare minimum. First, we wanted to get the health outcomes. It was all about flattening the curve. We wanted to get the health outcomes but we wanted to do the least amount of damage we could to our economy. The Prime Minister has put that message about health being No. 1 but also that we need to manage this economic crisis.

I want to acknowledge the health ministers. I thank the health ministers across all the states. The national cabinet was a wonderful initiative that, again, the Prime Minister initiated so that all the states could be on board and on the same page as best we can in a federation. A lot of great work was done there. The Leader of the Opposition mentioned a lot of people as well. It's become very apparent, the people who are very important to the wellbeing and welfare of our country. They are people like our front-line health workers, that he mentioned, truck drivers, people who work at supermarkets, anyone involved in supply chains of getting essential goods and services to every man, woman and child across this country. While there was great stress on some of those supply chains, I think as a country we have stood up and done very well under that—because of who Australians are.

I want to thank Australians, again, on the health front. We saw situations in other countries, with the health crisis, where it got out of control. We didn't get to that level. Sure, we as governments and state premiers and others certainly set some of the parameters and goalposts around this, but we didn't hit those levels—because of Australians. I think we 'got it' as a nation, the health threat, that we really needed to change what we did. This happened the day we saw everyone on Bondi Beach. I think we all went, 'Actually, that's not okay.' With what we're facing, the real threats, including to our health, that is not okay. I felt it in my community the next day: the social distancing and the hygiene. We just got it. That changed it. When we as a nation, as Australians, got that, that changed the outcome for us and I want to thank everyone who has helped with that.

The Prime Minister spoke very early on, when the debate was happening, of how much or how little we lock down to get the health results and flatten the curve to where we want it, and he was very aware of the economic cost of doing that. There has been significant economic destruction. We have seen jobs lost. The numbers have been well documented, and we have seen assets devalued. We have seen a lot of that happen not just here but across the globe. This is scary—probably not the word I should use—stuff.

This isn't just isolated to Australia. We are seeing the globe under much stress; we are seeing many countries under much stress. If you look at economic contractions of any significant size throughout history, what it usually means is you're going into a less safe world. This is a critical time. As the Prime Minister said, the decisions that we and many countries around the globe make right now over the next three, four and five years will be significant in how we cohabit, trade and relate with each other as a community over the next 30 years.

Not only have we as a country done exceptionally well on the health front, we have done as well as we can—and we've done some great things—on the economic front to try and minimise the impact of this economically. Obviously, not everything is the same as it was. Certainly there are people who are much more economically distressed than they were. But I speak to many people across my community who are very thankful for the increase to the jobseeker payment, for the work we have done with JobKeeper and for a lot of the industry packages that we've announced over the last few months. I want to read a list—it is good to remind us about how much has happened.

If we go back to 21 January, we noted that the human coronavirus had pandemic potential. That is when it first started to come across our radar—in January. Our announcement of the pandemic potential in January was well ahead of the World Health Organization. We were on the front foot very early, which is another reason why the health consequences here haven't been as bad as in other countries. On 27 February we activated the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus. On 5 March we established the National Coordination Mechanism.

On 11 March we announced a $2.4 billion health package that included support for vulnerable groups, primary care, aged care, hospitals, research and a national medical stockpile. We committed to funding over 50 per cent of additional hospital costs incurred by states and territories related to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with or suspected of having coronavirus. On 12 March, the day after, we announced a $17.6 billion economic response to the coronavirus, including cash flow boosts for employers, $750 stimulus payments and assistance for severely affected regions. The next day we established the national cabinet—unprecedented—and it has been a great asset to our management of this situation. On 17 March, nearly a week later, the national cabinet agreed to restrictions on gatherings and measures for the protection of those in aged care and other older Australians, and Australians travelling abroad were encouraged to return home.

On 22 March, the week after that, we announced the next stimulus package—$66.1 billion, including income support for individuals through the supplement and expanding the cash flow boosts to businesses. The week after that we announced $669 million to expand Medicare subsidised telehealth services, domestic violence support, mental health support and a community support package. On 30 March we announced the JobKeeper payment. On 2 April we announced a $1.6 billion package for early childhood education. On 12 April we announced the higher education relief package, providing funding for short courses, $18 billion for domestic students and $100 million in regulatory relief. On 16 April we announced up to $165 million in support for domestic airlines. On 29 April we announced $205 million in payments to keep senior Australians in residential care safe, and we announced another aged-care funding supplement.

On 8 May we started to talk about a road map to reopening, because we were feeling that the health issue was at least starting to be contained. On 12 May the Treasurer delivered his ministerial statement on the economy. On 4 June we announced the HomeBuilder scheme.

As can be seen from that very brief road map, we have come a long way. We have a lot to be proud of and we have a lot to be thankful to our fellow Australians for, for the way they have adhered to the health advice to make sure that we flattened the curve—and so far so good. Touch wood, we will be able to manage any outbreak from here. We still have a lot of work to do, and as a government we will do everything we can to make sure every job is restored.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, the Treasurer announced that, after three decades, Australia was in recession. Three decades since the groundbreaking reforms of the Hawke-Keating Labor government, which have given rise to the longest period of uninterrupted growth in this country, Australia is now going backwards. To put that in context, there are 6.3 million Australians alive today who were not born at the time Australia was last in recession. That's almost a quarter of the population.

This government doesn't own the global coronavirus pandemic, but it certainly does own the state of the economy as it stood when COVID-19 hit. It owns the fact that, for the first time in decades, labour productivity was going backwards. It owns the fact that we were experiencing record low wage growth in our economy. It owns the fact that since 2013, as a government, it has more than doubled public debt. This government also certainly owns the package of relief that it has put forward to get Australians through the global pandemic crisis. It owns the fact that the JobKeeper program was budgeted incorrectly, by $60 billion—the single biggest budgeting error since Federation. What that means is that, for a significant period of time, this government believed that it was going to spend $60 billion—the same amount that was spent during the entire stimulus of the global financial crisis—on precisely nothing. That's what it means to be $60 billion disconnected with reality. What it also means is that there are three million fewer workers who will get access to JobKeeper than this government has claimed. Today in the parliament we've got workers from dnata. When you consider that they're not eligible for JobKeeper because of the ownership of their particular company, and when you think about the thousands of people in universities and the million short-term casuals who are all ineligible for JobKeeper, it speaks to those Australians who are being left behind.

The government own the botched relief for the childcare sector, which also involves an absolutely broken promise, by removing childcare workers from JobKeeper next month. They own the ridiculous HomeBuilder stimulus package. In a sector of a million people, five out of six who have lost their jobs will get no benefit whatsoever from this stimulus package. So, be you a home builder, a childcare worker, a person in university, a short-term casual or somebody who is working at dnata—amongst a whole lot of other Australians—you have been left behind by the relief package that this government has put together. This government will certainly own the recovery after the COVID virus is over.

When I listen to the Prime Minister talk about his road to recovery and the importance of the skills and the VET sector, which is a sector that he has cut $3 billion from and where there are 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees; when I listen to the Prime Minister talk about the importance of manufacturing, when it was this government which goaded the car industry offshore; when I hear this government talking about the importance of harmonious industrial relations, but the only IR policy they've had for the last seven years is a full frontal attack on trade unions; and when I hear the Prime Minister say that each of these is a brick in the wall that he is building in terms of recovery, well, this is a Prime Minister who has spent the last seven years smashing that wall to the ground. What it means is that this is a government that has presided over seven lost years for our nation, because if he sees all of that as the agenda for the future—an agenda, I might say, that looks a lot like a Labor agenda—it is a long way from what has characterised the way this government has operated.

This government has been about an automated debt collection scheme from our most vulnerable, which is seeing $700 million being returned to more than 370,000 Australians. But nothing will compensate for the anguish and the torment—and so much worse—that has happened to those workers. This government owns a debt which is on an upward march to a trillion dollars. So, if Scott Morrison seeks to market himself as a leader of a pale imitation of a Labor government, let me tell you that at the next election voters in this country will get the opportunity to vote for a real one.

Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the past fortnight, I've held another dozen or so mobile offices that I regularly hold around my electorate of Brisbane. From the Powerhouse markets at New Farm to the urban village at Kelvin Grove, from the shopping strips at Wilston and Paddington to the parks of Ascot, it was another perfect opportunity to listen carefully to the thoughts of a wide variety of Australians from all walks of life. While we chatted, I shouted a few of my constituents a coffee from nearby cafes, like the Little Corner Cafe in Wooloowin, so that we could simultaneously help support some of the great local small businesses as they work hard to bounce back as the social distancing restrictions are eased. I have to say that I think the constituents I spoke to at those mobile offices over the last fortnight would generally have a difficult time reconciling their experiences and their thoughts about Australia's response to COVID-19 with what we heard just moments ago from the Leader of the Opposition.

Contrary to what the Leader of the Opposition said in his contribution, most Australians feel that our response to the coronavirus in terms of the health outcomes and the economic outcomes compares pretty favourably with those that we are seeing in so many other countries around the world, including in most of the countries that Australia compares itself with. Most Australians feel positive about the cooperation that they've witnessed between governments and across party lines, particularly through the new national cabinet process that was implemented and is being led by the Prime Minister. I think most Australians would have been left cold and feeling disappointed when they heard the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition earlier, because by about one minute into his speech he was reverting to type, ramping up the politics and the partisanship. I think Australians would have felt that the Leader of the Opposition was trying to make this more about him and more about politics than maintaining the critical focus on the urgent needs of Australians.

By contrast, this government and our Prime Minister and our Treasurer have been both responsive and innovative in our policy responses and have maintained a laser-like focus on the national interest during these unprecedented times. As the member for Page mentioned, it was on 21 January that the government added the human coronavirus with pandemic potential as a listed human disease, well ahead of the World Health Organization, it should be recalled. Before the end of February, as the rest of the world finally began to comprehend the gravity of this global threat, we'd already developed and activated our emergency response plan. Two weeks after that, the national cabinet was established, and not two weeks after that this government announced the JobKeeper payment, a policy measure of unprecedented size and scope to give Australian workers and businesses, not-for-profits and other organisations a vital lifeline to weather the economic storm.

It was the Prime Minister who said in this place at the outset of the pandemic that Australia would have to prove to its critics that open, liberal democracies were up to the challenge of facing a crisis like this. In the weeks that have followed, Australians have proved themselves up to the challenge. This crisis has taught us many things about who we are as a country and where we need to be to continue to secure our prosperity. One of the themes emerging is how now, more than ever, we need policies that strengthen Australia's self-reliance and self-sufficiency, so I am very pleased to say that, amongst many sectors and areas on which the government is working right now, our work in the area of sustainability, recycling and waste is going to deliver Australia a much stronger and larger domestic recycling sector, here onshore, making us less reliant on solutions that may or may not remain available offshore. That is going to create value, prosperity and jobs in this country, especially in the parts of this country where we need them the most.

We know that difficult days and difficult decisions lie ahead. These are uncharted waters, and there's much that remains uncertain. But our government's focus is clear: we will fight the virus and we will slow its spread, we will deliver the economic lifeline Australian businesses and families need to weather the global storm and emerge strong and resilient from this global pandemic crisis, and we will rebuild confidence in our economy and deliver the reforms we need to grow into the years ahead. That will remain our focus as a government. Even if the opposition leader tries to move the focus to himself and to politics, we will continue to focus on the national interest for all Australians.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is not a single part of this country that is untouched by the pandemic, but there are many Australians who have been left behind by this government. For millions of Australians, this is the first recession in their lifetime. Gone are our remarkable three decades of growth, and it's happened on this government's watch. Of course, we did not enter this crisis from a position of strength. Under this government, Australians were already living with the worst wages and productivity growth on record. That was and remains the record of this government. In its response to this crisis and the challenges that it poses, the government has left out countless hundreds—thousands—of Australian workers, leaving them behind. In my contribution, I will focus on aviation workers in particular.

Just yesterday, it was revealed through question time and through the media that the independent administrators of Virgin wrote to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance laying out very clearly how the government's inaction threatens the very future survival of Virgin Australia and the 16,000 workers who rely on it. Unless the Morrison government steps up to the plate, the administration process is in serious jeopardy, and I want to quote from that advice to government: 'We are concerned that any delay in obtaining clarity on these matters may jeopardise a successful conclusion to the sale process and risk liquidation of the airline, as occurred in the case of Ansett in 2001.' This is what the administrators are saying to the government, and it is not the first time that they have raised this in writing to the government. They have written almost every single week, and so far we've had very little response.

Australia's second major airline is in serious jeopardy because of the inaction of this government—because the Morrison government has absolutely no plan for our economy and no plan for the aviation industry in this country. Instead the government has taken its hands off the wheel, let this airline fall into administration and is now putting the future of 16,000 workers in jeopardy. Every single job lost and every single route in this country that is lost will be because of the inaction of this government. This is what they will wear, this is what they will own and this will be their legacy to the economy and to the aviation industry and to all of those workers who rely on it. If Australia emerges from this crisis with just one major airline, it will be because this government has made it so. When it comes to Virgin Australia, our priority has always been to protect the workers and to make sure that we continue to have two strong, competitive airlines in this country that help grow our economy and that those 16,000 workers who rely on Virgin are given the support that they need to get through this crisis.

Through this crisis, of course this government has repeatedly said that it will take a sector-wide view to aviation, when we know that is absolutely not the case, that that is not what they've done. They've also not supported all of our aviation workers. Today the Leader of the Opposition and I and many of my colleagues went out to the lawns of Parliament House to meet with dnata workers. These are workers who clean our planes, who prepare food services for our airlines, who make sure that our bags arrive, who make sure that there are customer service officers in our airports who are able to help people navigate through international terminals. These are workers who we often don't see but who we absolutely rely on every single day to get to our destinations. They're not rich workers. They don't get paid a lot. They live in communities right the way across this country. What they've asked for from this government is support so that they can keep their connection with their workforce, so that they can keep their connection with their employer and so that, out of this crisis, we will still have a strong aviation industry and aviation workforce to be able to restart this sector.

This government has taken an active decision. It has introduced rules—an active decision—to deliberately exclude 5½ thousand workers from JobKeeper. It has made this decision and it could change that with the stroke of a pen. Those workers deserve better. This government has failed them. It has let them down and continues to do so every single time the Prime Minister gets up to the despatch box and tries to pretend, somehow or another, that everything is absolutely perfect and everything the government has done with JobKeeper doesn't need any fixing at all. These workers do deserve the government's support and they deserve the support of this parliament. (Time expired)

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I think about the coronavirus pandemic, like many of the people in this chamber—at least on this side of the chamber—I think of the communities that have been affected. I think of those people across Australia who, through no fault of their own, have faced risks because they're exposed to health risks. It may be because they have immune conditions. It might be because they've been travelling and were caught overseas and exposed to the virus. We think about the families who've lost loved ones and those who have gone into hospital and needed life support to be able to get through the night and the day and to be able to see the other side of the virus.

But we also think about the people who are economically impacted by COVID-19. Those people, through no fault of their own and because of the restrictions and the measures that have been imposed by both the Commonwealth and the states, have seen their jobs disappear overnight. The small businesses that usually flourish, survive and thrive to provide goods and services to consumers suddenly find themselves without a customer base and are trying to support and assist both those people who work for them and sometimes their customers, if they can, through this difficult period.

They face a very real challenge, which is why the Morrison government has implemented such strong measures, both to protect public health—the most significant measure that was taken to protect public health was closing the international border and stopping people from overseas coming to Australia, unless they were Australian residents, in which case they faced challenges and then went into quarantine for two weeks—and through the JobKeeper and the jobseeker programs, to help people economically get through this challenge and so people could support themselves during this time. We implemented a series of measures to make sure that people could stand up and support themselves, like early access to superannuation. Despite the howls and the heckles from those on the other side of this chamber, when Australians were faced with a difficult choice and needed access to their own money to pay off their mortgages, to support their families and to honour their obligations, we stood by them and said, 'We understand the challenges that you face now, and we're going to help you help yourself.'

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And it's critical that we do so, because, when it comes down to it, the alternative from the other side of this chamber—we've heard this through the heckling through my speech just now—and the only response from the opposition has been to reheat old, tired, ideological debates designed to achieve their own political objectives rather than to build the future of this great country.

We, the people on this side of the chamber, know that we are not at the end of this period of difficulty. We know that small businesses and workers will continue to face challenges in the weeks and the months coming. We know that we're not just going to face this challenge here. There is going to be a race towards competitiveness globally, and we have to make sure we build businesses that can support workers and produce goods and services that people demand, sustainably and into the future. Part of that's going to be having a discussion around how we build a tax system that's competitive for the 21st century and how to bring people together to have an industrial relations conversation that breaks down the ideological divide that so many on the opposition benches are wedded to, not just because of their own political interests, though they are, and not just because it empowers them, though it does, but because it comes at the disempowerment of Australians.

We want Australians to be able to stand on their own two feet. It's about having an energy conversation, led by the minister for energy, about how we can have a competitive energy sector to make sure we can support a manufacturing base to match, to meet and to support our geopolitical strategic challenges as well as job creation. At every point, this government has looked to the challenge today and said, 'What do we need to do to support Australians now?' but also, 'What do we need to do to build the future competitiveness of Australians so they can continue to be successful and so we can be successful as a country?' And we make no apology for it. (Time expired)

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think it is fair to say that Australians have done a remarkable job since the onset of the COVID-19 virus, and that means the government, in part, with its health response; the opposition with its constructive response; state governments; business; and our frontline medical staff. Everyone's had a pretty good response to our health situation. I think, for many days of the virus, Australians realised how lucky we are to be Australian.

But I think there is now an emerging concern that, as we move from the public health emergency to the economic challenge, not all Australians are being included in the economic recovery. Too many people are being forgotten. In parliament, we've heard my colleagues in the opposition refer to the staff of universities, many of whom are going to feel the impact of the virus economically. We've heard about the arts sector, which if you ask them—despite the protests of the government—feel largely ignored. We've heard about the disgusting and appalling treatment of dnata workers, who, merely because the company that employs them is based overseas, even though they're Australians paying taxes in Australia, are being abandoned.

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

The member for Goldstein, who's no doubt never seen a foreign equity investment he didn't like, says it is because the company's foreign owned. Well, the Australian workers don't get treated specially or preferentially. They don't get to pass on paying Australian taxes, paying the wages of the member for Goldstein, merely because their company's foreign owned. We talk about local government workers. We talk about accommodation industry people. We talk about the travel industry. There are a lot of people doing it very hard: casuals; people who work in the deregulated employment market; the recipients of childcare support; disability day services, who have now not been funded; and people with disability on their NDIS packages, who are coping with increased costs. Of course, heaven forbid we should ever mention the Centrelink recipients who were unlawfully ripped off by the government over the years! But the Prime Minister says that we're on the road back. Labor's concerned that not everyone is included in his big tent or in his vehicle as they drive on the road back, and that's what Labor wants to do: to make sure that no-one gets left behind.

I'd like to talk about an even larger group of unsung heroes who face the government's policies with some anxiety and trepidation. The unsung heroes I would like to finish on are the three million people who have lost their jobs, the small businesses who closed and the people who have been relying on either JobKeeper or other government payments. What happens to them when the hammer of this government's policy drops in September? These are the unsung heroes. I say 'unsung heroes' because a small business which has had to close its doors, a shop in the high street, a dnata worker, a casual worker or an arts worker—one of those people I listed before—has done nothing wrong. They actually have taken one for the team. Australians have accepted losing their jobs or losing their income because there was a public health emergency. They have understood, without rancour. They have largely taken on the chin that the things which have happened to them economically have happened because the nation needed to close its borders and because we needed to have social distancing, so we couldn't go to the show, assemble in crowds, watch the footy or see the cinema. These unsung heroes—there are millions of them who are on JobKeeper or jobseeker—are anxious about what happens in September, and I think a lot more Australians are anxious about the pace of economic recovery, the mortgage defaults and the pressure on their jobs. Will their employer take the opportunity to lay them off? There are millions of Australians who have tightened their belts and gone through this difficulty—small business people and pay-as-you-go employees. They are anxious about what happens in September.

So, when the Prime Minister says we're on the road back, what is he really saying will happen in September to all of these people who have lost their jobs through no lack of effort and through no fault of their own but because this government couldn't stop the virus at the borders? We're not saying it could. You could argue they should have shut the borders earlier, but we get that it's happened. But there are millions of our fellow Australians, unsung heroes, who have taken one for the team. We put this government on notice: you're not going to be able to drop the hammer on them without coming through us first.

Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In this House we are all acutely aware of the myriad challenges which Australians have faced and are currently facing, from the drought and bushfires to the global coronavirus pandemic and to the devastating financial repercussions it has caused. We're in the midst of a once-in-a-generation health challenge and an associated economic downturn. We invested more than $8 billion to protect the health of Australians, including sourcing additional ventilators and personal protective equipment and making plans for our hospitals to respond to a surge in cases.

To deal with the economic impacts of coronavirus, the government has also rolled out a range of programs to keep Australians in jobs, businesses open and the economy resilient. A total of $260 billion, equivalent to an astounding 13.3 per cent of GDP, is being injected into the economy by the Morrison government and by the Reserve Bank. Our economic support package includes assistance for households and individuals, including casuals, sole traders, retirees and those on income support; and assistance for businesses to keep people in jobs, and regulatory protection and financial support to stay in business. Payments are rolling out for the $70 billion JobKeeper program, and it includes a $1,500 fortnightly wage subsidies for 3.5 million Australians.

Over recent weeks, I've been visiting businesses in my local community in Reid to speak to them about how they have been able to adapt to operating under the COVID safe workplace guidelines. Many business owners have said that the JobKeeper payment has allowed them to keep their doors open. As restrictions have eased, it has meant that they do not need to re-engage or retrain staff to serve their customers. Businesses such as Watergrill restaurant at the Sydney Rowing Club, in Abbotsford, have been able to continue to employ their casual and part-time employees; and, when the club reopened on 1 June, they were ready to serve customers. SASS Hair & Body in Concord received JobKeeper payments for their team and stayed open during the peak of restrictions. Ken Petrino, the owner, has told me that business has picked up over recent weeks as customers have gained more confidence, but he was grateful that JobKeeper was available when things were very quiet.

JobKeeper has provided financial relief not only for business owners but also for workers in vulnerable industries such as tourism, hospitality, entertainment and the arts. It remains the case that, in the absence of the JobKeeper program, Treasury expected the unemployment rate would be around five percentage points higher.

We've expanded the instant asset write-off scheme and increased the threshold to $150,000. We've backed in new capital loans for small and medium enterprises by guaranteeing up to 50 per cent of new loans for eligible lenders. We've subsidised wages for apprentices and trainees in small businesses to keep them connected to their employers—to continue building our workforce. The government has also provided a cash flow boost to businesses and not-for-profit organisations to help them continue to operate. Employers are receiving a payment equal to 100 per cent of their salary and wages withheld, up to a total of $50,000, to help them pay their bills. In Reid, the Children's Tumour Foundation, which is based in Five Dock, have told me that they've been hit hard by reduced donations and limitations on fundraising events. This payment has allowed them to retain their staff and pay their bills.

As restrictions ease, we're focused on generating more jobs across the economy, from bringing forward major infrastructure investments through to small constructions and renovations of homes. In my electorate of Reid, the local road and community infrastructure program will see more than $3 million invested in smaller scale community infrastructure across six councils, including Burwood Council, City of Canada Bay council, City of Parramatta Council, Cumberland council, Inner West Council and Strathfield council. I'm looking forward to seeing these projects rolled out for our community but also for the creation of local construction and planning jobs and for the local businesses supplying materials for these works.

The opposition has given us a great opportunity today to outline the many ways that the Morrison government are supporting Australian workers and businesses, and how we have cushioned the economic blow of the global coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister demonstrated last week that, despite being in recession, we are faring significantly better than many countries around the world. While our road to recovery will not be easy, our government is renewing confidence in our economy and has set a solid foundation for our post-pandemic rebuild, and I congratulate the Prime Minister and the Treasurer for their strong leadership during this extremely challenging time.

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no doubt that this has been a difficult time for Australians—and it's been a difficult time, I have no doubt, for the government. And I will give credit where credit is due: the government has responded well, on medical advice, and has done well in the health crisis. But what I'm concerned about, and I think many on this side of the House are concerned about, are the people that are being left behind—those that are not being acknowledged by this government and not being appreciated by this government. They are being left behind, and it's just not good enough. We on this side of the House make no apologies for coming in here and standing up for them and making sure their voices are heard. Some of the diatribes I've heard from the other side of the House—some of the comments about ideology, going back to the debating style of old—are ridiculous.

I will get up and talk about all those essential workers who have been there during this pandemic. Many of them are such low-paid workers, but they turned up every day—the retail workers; the transport workers; the teachers; all those who helped in the health crisis; the nurses; and those cleaners who have cleaned surfaces across this whole country, putting themselves in harm's way to look after the rest of our community. But one group that hasn't been sung about enough, in my opinion, in the community is our early educators. There was a lot of debate about some of the difficult circumstances that many of our workers found themselves in. Early childhood educators were not often mentioned but they turned up day after day to an environment where you can't actually socially distance. How can you possibly socially distance in an early education setting when you have got to give comfort and care to our youngest Australians? But they turned up and they did it. They understood it was important because other essential workers relied on them. That care and support were critically important, and families relied on that care.

When the childcare industry and the childcare sector were in dire straits, we on this side did call on the government to actually intervene and do something about it. Unfortunately, what we had was a half-baked policy which announced free child care but didn't fund it. But instead of actually rectifying the problems of that system, instead of actually looking at how it could improve it, what the government has done is snap back to the old system that was in place before the pandemic. What the government has done is insult every early childhood educator by ripping JobKeeper away from them without any guarantee for their job and without any guarantee that they will continue to have an income as we move forward. It is just not good enough when we look at the attitude this government takes.

I also want to touch on families because families are doing it tough. Many families have had their incomes, their hours or their jobs slashed yet they still want to try to look for work, they still want to try to build their business and they still want to try to reinvent what they do and how they can participate in the economy. To do that, they do need to send their children to early education and care. In addition to that, they may want their children to actually get the benefits of early education and care. But what this government has said is that, despite being at the depths of a recession, it is going to rip that support away and is going to make sure that parents are going to be charged some of the highest fees in the world for child care. Well, talk about not getting your priorities right.

This government is saying that it wants to stimulate by funding home renovations. Why isn't this government supporting families? Families right around this country are sitting around their kitchen tables, scratching their heads, doing the calculations to see if it's worth taking on an extra shift if they're offered it. They're trying to work out whether or not they can go for a job and whether it will be worth it because of the high childcare fees they will have to pay. This is not the right time to snap back to one of the highest-costing childcare systems in the world. This is not right for families, and what it will do is it will put a handbrake on female participation in the workforce in this country. When women are often already taking the brunt of this crisis, what we have is a government that will not put them first, will not support them and will actually put a barrier that isn't a health pandemic in the way to them gaining employment.

Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance today—the government's response to the challenges facing Australia. Let me begin, as some of those opposite have as well, by making the very clear observation that there are Australians out there doing it tough. This has been very difficult for businesses, for families, for community groups, and we all acknowledge that in this place. So where do we go from here? Well, things, we should acknowledge, could have been a lot worse, and I will stand here and defend absolutely the Morrison government's response through this coronavirus crisis. What I won't cop, as colleagues on this side of the chamber won't either, are accusations from those opposite that the Morrison government's response has been flawed.

Let me start where we should always start—with the notion of leadership. Through my own experience in the military then through business and volunteering and now in parliament, I have had an opportunity to see some pretty good leaders and some pretty bad leaders. I've seen formal theory and I've put theory into practice. I've made mistakes along the way and I've learned from them. But let me start with this notion of leadership. I'll give you one example. From the very start there was the formation of the national cabinet. Rather than our Prime Minister simply saying, 'I'll call the shots; me and my cabinet will tell you how it's going to be,' there was a consultative process established. This was the first time in Australia's history that we've seen a national cabinet formed. And I have tell you that all of the feedback I have received in my electorate has been incredibly positive. I've had people say to me: 'Vince, why don't we continue this? Why don't we replace COAG with this form of national cabinet?' Of course, that's what we've now seen.

I've talked about receiving positive feedback. Let me now quantify that. Yes, I've been stopped and advised, 'We think the government's doing a good job.' Let me firstly make the point that that doesn't go to our heads. The very first thing that Scott Morrison said to us—and my colleagues will remember this—in the party room at the start of this term was: 'We will govern humbly for all Australians, and part of how we will do that is through solid leadership.' So I wanted to test that a little bit. We had a tele-town-hall meeting. I dialled thousands of people in my electorate. The minister for small and family business, Michaelia Cash, joined me, and we answered questions. We said: 'We're not pretending to be perfect. We want to hear if something's working, and, if it's not, let us know.'

I can tell you that all ministers and the Treasurer and the PM have been responsive to those in my electorate whenever I've raised issues. So we said, 'Tell us what's going on.' We got some great questions, and in the middle of it we asked for a little bit of feedback. We posed the question to those who were on the line during this tele-town-hall meeting: 'Do you generally (1) agree or (2) disagree with the Morrison government's COVID-19 response?' People were able to anonymously push either 1 or 2 accordingly. Ninety-three per cent of the people who responded on that call pressed 1; they generally agreed with the Morrison government's COVID-19 response. So this is why I stand here and say: I'm not just running on my perception or on what I hear anecdotally; I've done a bit of analysis around this, and I encourage those on my team and those opposite to do the same. So I will stand here and defend the leadership structures which were set up.

That also branched into decisions that were taken, decisions like stopping travel from China and then from Italy and other regions. That absolutely got us onto a positive footing from the very start. These decisions were not easy, but they were absolutely necessary and they demonstrate that strong leadership. We then saw Australia lead calls for an inquiry: where did this pandemic come from? This is extremely important, and now we're seeing moves towards answering that question.

I want to finish not with the detail—though I could certainly provide a lot—but with the values and principles that underpin my party, the Liberal Party, and which our coalition partners in the Nationals are also passionate about. Three stand out for me: lower taxes, the central importance of families, and small government. Lower taxes—thank god we didn't come into this with the additional impost of $387 billion of taxes on the Australian people. We can all understand how crippling that would've been as a starting point. Family—this is why we've had a mature response to child care and a support package which will see $2 billion this quarter go to eligible families. Small government—well, small businesses are at the centre of this response, not government. We will fight for those values always. (Time expired)

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

The discussion has concluded.