Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister outline for the House how the Morrison government is supporting Australian workers and businesses to recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and why it is so important that we do not suffer from a second wave of infections?

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

These are incredibly extraordinary times. They are extraordinary in so many different ways, but this week the OECD handed out its forecasts for this current year, and Australia was ranked third in those economies that were assessed, but third with a forecast which said that our GDP would fall by five per cent—yet we were still the third-ranked economy on this measure. These are extraordinary times. The idea that your economy would fall by five per cent but that would still place you in the top three of those countries surveyed by the OECD is an indicator of the times and the challenges that we are facing.

The great challenge that we face is dual: it is to stay on top of the health pandemic, as we have always said, but it is to address the economic crisis. We have always believed that both of those had to be addressed in equal measure. That view was not shared by those opposite, but it was certainly where we started and we continue to this day. The economic challenge is addressed through the economic supports and lifelines that we have put in place at record levels, in record time, and extended over a period to give Australians confidence. But what we have also done, through the JobMaker program, is embark on the decisions that we have to make on changes in our economy, whether they be in industrial relations, skills, deregulation, infrastructure or, in particular, energy, to make sure that Australian industry can get the gas it needs—and I welcome the decisions that have been taken by states to open up the gas. In all of these areas, that's where you grow the economy, because that's where the jobs are going to come from for all of those thousands, indeed millions, of Australians who have got fewer hours and who have lost their jobs.

We have made great, great progress, but the challenge ahead is even greater, so the decisions we make now are about the next five years, and the five years of changes we make will set up the next 30 years of prosperity, and we cannot put it at risk. So that's why I say to those who are contemplating on engaging in a mass rally this weekend: don't do it. Follow the health advice. Don't attend. Do the right thing by your fellow Australians. Protect the lives and the livelihoods. Protect the businesses. Now is the time not to talk about what people want to tear down but what we're going to build up together. And I would urge those who are considering this—I say it in total respect for the issues they wish to raise—please find another way to do it and do it with the support of your fellow Australians.

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.

Does the Leader of the Opposition want to support that? I was just going to give him indulgence. I thought he was going to speak on indulgence.

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

Is the Leader of the Opposition seeking the call?

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

Yes, Mr Speaker. I'm quite happy to take up the Prime Minister's invitation. How long would you like me to have, Prime Minister?

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

It's me that grants the indulgence.

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

I have consistently, as the Prime Minister knows full well, said that people should follow the medical advice and should not participate in gatherings against that medical advice.