Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Unlike the Labor Party, the Australian people understand why we're here. They understand the impact of the COVID recession on our budget because they understand that, as a result of one million Australians losing their job in one month, this has had a severe impact on our government revenue and will have a severe impact on government revenue for some time to come. Tax receipts over the forward estimates are projected to be $227 billion lower than anticipated in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, without having made any decision but just as a result of parameter variation.

You seek to make the comparison with your period in government. Let me tell you: the GFC was nothing compared to what we're dealing with at the moment. The contraction in global growth was 0.1 per cent. We are dealing with a contraction in global growth 45 times as high as you were dealing with.