Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House how strong economic recovery is helping the Morrison government to provide support during unprecedented events like the COVID-19 pandemic and also the severe flooding that we are currently experiencing in large parts of the country?

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

I thank the member for Robertson for her question, and I acknowledge her experience in the private sector as a very fierce and staunch advocate for the people of the Central Coast. More than 17,000 people in the member's electorate have graduated from JobKeeper. I had the opportunity to visit the member's electorate and to meet with one of the successful small businesses, Terrigal Electrical Services, to hear how the government's apprentice incentive scheme has helped see that business take on its first female apprentice electrician.

The Australian economy has been tested over the course of the last 18 months. We have seen the drought, we have seen floods, we have seen fire and, of course, we have seen the COVID-19 pandemic. Today our economy is being tested again, in Queensland and New South Wales, with the terrible floods. The government is responding with payments of $1,000 to adults and $400 to children as well as income support, getting that money out the door as quickly as possible to those communities in need.

When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have committed, as a government, $251 billion. That's the equivalent of around 13 per cent of GDP. It's more than twice what all the states and territories combined have committed. More than $150 billion is out the door already, with $86 billion on JobKeeper, $35 billion on the cash flow boost, $20 billion on the coronavirus supplement, and $12 billion in four payments—two of $750 and two of $250—to millions of veterans, carers, pensioners and others across our community, who are on income support. This economic support is helping drive the economic recovery.

We saw economic growth in the December quarter of 3.1 per cent. The first time our country has seen consecutive quarters of economic growth of more than three per cent. What was particularly pleasing is it was being led by the private sector, with higher business investment, higher investment in housing, a greater number of motor vehicle sales and, of course, higher household consumption. We've seen our labour market rebound strongly, with an unemployment rate of 5.8 per cent. I've said to this House before that Chris Richardson, a noted economist, said it was a stunning result in our labour market, with 5.8 per cent unemployment and the fact that all of those 88,700 jobs created in February were full-time jobs, with more than 80 per cent going to women and more than 40 per cent going to younger people. Our economy is being tested, but we are delivering jobs, jobs and more jobs.