Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday, the Treasurer admitted that only $85 billion of the $314 billion of economic support has been delivered by the government. Are today's figures better or worse because the Prime Minister failed to deliver most of the support he announced for families and businesses doing it tough in the worst recession for almost a hundred years?

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

The commitment that the government has made through the JobKeeper program, through the JobSeeker program, through the cash flow support, through the many measures—whether they be HomeBuilder, JobTrainer, all of these programs, including the balance sheet support that is being provided by the Reserve Bank, through which there has already been some $50 billion of support to keep rates low and to support the investments that have been made by businesses—these investments that are being made by the Australian government are not just for today, they're for tomorrow. They're extended out to the end of March and, for many of these programs, well beyond that.

The shadow Treasurer may be unaware that when you make funding commitments you do it not just now but over the next few years. That is how budgets work. I know the shadow Treasurer has never put a budget together and I know these are not matters that he may be well versed in, when his mentor on this was former Treasurer Swan, but I can let the shadow Treasurer know that the support we have announced is not just for today. It's for tomorrow and for the many months and quarters and in some cases for the years ahead. What is important as we move through this crisis is that we give that support both for today and tomorrow but also that we provide the road back for Australian businesses as they seek to make their way back.

Today's news is terrible news. It's devastating news. While it is true that, through the measures we've put in place, we've been able to cushion the blow with the expenditure already undertaken and the expenditure still to come, which Australians can count on, because it's been committed in the way we've set out, we have been able as a country to suppress this virus so much more than so many other countries around the world today, despite the very significant outbreak we've had more recently in Victoria. The same has been true to mitigate the impact, and far more devastating economic impacts that have been experienced in so many other places. There has been a 13 per cent fall through the year in Canada, a 19 per cent fall in France, an 11.3 per cent fall in Germany, a 10 per cent fall in Japan, a nine per cent fall in the United States, a 21.7 per cent fall in the United Kingdom and in Australia a 6.3 per cent fall. Devastating as that is, what I can also say is the death rate in Canada is nine times higher than in Australia, it's 18 times higher in France, it's four times higher in Germany, it's 21 times higher in the United States and 23.8 times higher in the United Kingdom. Australia is getting the balance right to save lives and livelihoods in a crisis. (Time expired)

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government, through its continued investment in critical infrastructure, is working to create every possible job and to support our economy as we come out the other side of the COVID-19 recession?

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Berowra for his question. As the Prime Minister just pointed out, the national accounts figures have been devastating, and behind all of those job losses, of course, are individual families, extended friends and loved ones, and they're all feeling it.

So our great task is to rebuild those jobs over the years ahead, and one of the big levers that we have, as the member alluded to, is through our Infrastructure Investment Program. As members would know, we have a $100 billion investment program, and that means projects right around Australia are being undertaken right now. Since November of last year, we've brought forward new money—$10 billion of extra funding into the forward estimates—to get even more projects underway and get more jobs underway.

One of those very large-scale projects, in the member for Berowra's electorate, is NorthConnex. That project alone—which I know the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, along with the member for Berowra, visited just recently—is creating 8,700 jobs, a massive jobs boost for that area. Of course, it will have a huge impact across the northern suburbs of Sydney when it's complete as well, taking 5,000 trucks off Pennant Hills Road in the process. That's just one major project which is underway right now.

Across Sydney, we've just recently announced, as the member for Lindsay is aware, the Western Sydney Airport rail. That will be underway later this year, and 14,000 jobs will be created just in that project alone. That, of course, is on top of the 10,000-plus jobs being created during the construction phase of the Western Sydney Airport itself.

Down in Victoria, where we need so many jobs because we've been hit so hard down there with the restrictions, later this year we're going to see the monster North East Link project get underway. That will be 10,000 further jobs for the residents of Melbourne—and jeez we need those jobs! Of course, the contribution we're making to the M1, as the member for La Trobe knows so well, is equally creating thousands of jobs, as are the M80 and so many other projects.

We have other projects creating thousands of jobs around the rest of Australia, including the Metronet for Perth, as the member for Curtin and other members know, as well as projects in Adelaide and Tasmania and elsewhere. This is such an important part of our recovery efforts. We've got projects underway now. There'll be more to come, because it creates jobs, which means supporting families, supporting livelihoods and getting us back on track.

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

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