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

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on today's national account figures and how the Morrison government is working to cushion the significant blow of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australian workers, families and businesses?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ryan for his question and I commend his work in this place on behalf of his constituents and indeed all Australians. Today we received devastating economic news. GDP fell in the June quarter by seven per cent. To put that in perspective, it was the single largest fall on record since the series began in 1959. Prior to today, the single largest fall was a two per cent fall in 1974. Our record run as a nation of 28 consecutive years of economic growth has officially come to an end. While we are talking about these numbers in this place, Australians are living these numbers. Some 1.3 million Australians lost their jobs or saw their hours reduced to zero since the start of this crisis.

The numbers we saw today here in Australia were very severe and very hard to take. But we also know that COVID-19 has wreaked havoc around the rest of the world, and that the falls that we have seen in other economies have been more severe than what we saw today. In the United Kingdom—

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

Cold comfort.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is cold comfort. The member for Rankin is absolutely right: it is cold comfort for many people who are doing it tough, but it does indicate the significance of COVID-19 on global economies and they also underscore the significance of the actions that we have taken and what they have delivered. The United Kingdom saw their GDP fall by more than 20 per cent, France fell by around 14 per cent, the United States fell by around 9.1 per cent, Canada fell by 11½ per cent, Germany fell by around 10 per cent. Around the world we have seen devastating GDP numbers in June.

But we are focused on the road out. This is the JobMaker plan: investing more in infrastructure; tax incentives for businesses to get them to invest; 340,000 new training places for people who need to re-skill and re-equip themselves to get a job; and, of course, cutting red tape to make it easier to do business. Today was a hard day to take, but we are focused on the road out and getting Australians back to work.