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

My question is to the Treasurer. The government's budget assumes there'll be a one-week lockdown in Australia every month for the rest of this year. Hasn't Treasury been forced into these assumptions because of the government's failures on vaccines and quarantine?

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

I thank the shadow of a shadow Treasurer for his question.

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

The Treasurer will withdraw.

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

I withdraw, Mr Speaker. There haven't been many questions that have come my way from the shadow Treasurer. The reality is that the budget has a series of assumptions in it, as the shadow Treasurer said, about lockdowns. It also has a series of other assumptions, including the vaccine rollout and the gradual opening of international borders from mid next year. But with this budget we understand that we have put in place policies that take into account the fact that the pandemic is still with us. That includes $41 billion of COVID economic support measures, tax cuts for more than 10 million Australians, immediate expensing provisions and the loss carry-back measures that have been extended for another year and that have helped see machinery and equipment investment go up by more than 10 per cent in the last national accounts. That is right across the country, including extending the skills programs and including $15 billion of infrastructure spending.

These are the measures that account for the fact that there could be further lockdowns, that there could be further outbreaks, that the pandemic is still with us. What this budget also says is that the unemployment rate will come down over time, and there's an expectation that by next year we will see unemployment come down below five per cent. And I point out to the shadow Treasurer that today unemployment—

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

The member for Rankin on a point of order?

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

Yes, on relevance: lockdowns, quarantine, vaccinations.

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

I've referenced the fact that we are rolling out the vaccine. I've referenced the fact that there'll be lockdowns. I can also reference the fact that in the budget we put nearly half a billion dollars towards increasing the quarantine facility in Howard Springs. The reality is that this budget is predicated on the fact that the pandemic is still with us. That is why we've extended the LMITO, the low and middle income tax offset, a temporary measure. That is why we've extended immediate expensing. That is why we've extended the skills program. That is why we've extended and expanded the infrastructure program. And that is why we are seeking to drive unemployment down. But the inconvenient truths for the member for Rankin are that under us unemployment today is 5.5 per cent, that even after the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression the unemployment rate today is lower than when we came to government, that more than 900,000 jobs have been created since the pandemic started, that more people are in work today than when the pandemic began and that our economy is bigger today than when the pandemic began. These are the inconvenient truths for the member for Rankin. (Time expired)