Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House how the Morrison government's actions to address the coronavirus pandemic have helped Australia avoid the worst effects of the virus and put our economy in a better position to recover, to create jobs and to rebuild livelihoods?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ryan for his question, and I thank him very much for all of his input over these recent months as we've worked through the COVID crisis and for the leadership he is showing in his local community in Brisbane. Australia, it is recognised, has been leading the world in our health response to the COVID-19 crisis, and that is a great credit not only to the many men and women who work right across our health system in this country at state and federal level, but I pay credit to the leadership shown by my colleagues, the premiers and chief ministers around the country, working together with the federal cabinet and working together particularly with the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy.

But also the OECD has confirmed today that Australia is also leading the world in our economic response through this crisis and, indeed, is one of the top three nations in terms of the economic outlook of the report released by the OECD. As heartbreaking as it is that we're expecting a five per cent fall in GDP in this calendar year, that compares to 7.3 per cent in the United States, eight per cent in Canada, 8.9 per cent in New Zealand and 11½ per cent in the United Kingdom, and it has been Australia's swift and targeted and comprehensive actions that have ensured that we've been able to provide the confidence and support and the economic lifeline that Australian workers need, that Australian businesses need, that Australian investors need and that the Australian economy has needed.

And this has been backed up when we've gone to market, as we've raised the considerable funds that we had to raise to support these lifeline measures—some $120 billion raised in debt markets around the world with many times coverage, particularly on those bond raisings and the syndications. That is a vote of confidence in this country. It is a vote of confidence in how Australia is leading when it comes to our response to the COVID crisis, not just on health but when it comes to the twin crisis with the economic crisis as well. We have always acknowledged, right from the beginning, that there was a battle on two fronts. We've been waging that battle and, for the sake of Australians, we have been succeeding in that battle on their behalf. Consumer confidence, under the Westpac survey, has restored to pre-COVID levels and, under the NAB survey, business confidence has 70 per cent recovered to its pre-COVID levels.

Our focus, though, is not just on the short-term needs and the short-term responses but what is needed over the next five years. And our JobMaker plan, which goes over those next five years, is not just intended to make sure we get those jobs back in the economy; it is intended to set up another generation of great prosperity and economic success in this country, as has occurred before. That's what we're planning to deliver. (Time expired)