Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Birmingham. The national accounts released today show that the Australian economy contracted by 1.9 per cent in the September quarter. Can the minister confirm that growth in the September quarter is the worst out of the 28 OECD countries that have reported so far?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Gallagher for the question. I can confirm the release of the national accounts today, which show a contraction of 1.9 per cent through the September quarter. This is the result and the price of lockdowns. It is not an unanticipated result, although it is in fact ahead of market expectations in terms of what the result was likely to be.

I'd don't have the precise tally for the quarterly figures across OECD countries that the senator asked for. But it is certainly the case that Australia's economic performance in recovery through the pandemic is in the top 3 across advanced economies across the world, with our performance in recovery and three-year growth stronger than Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and many others.

Through the course of this year there have been many disruptions. Since the delta variant became the dominant variant of COVID-19 there have been lockdowns or state of emergency declarations in at least 81 different countries. That has obviously had significant impacts right around the world. But, in Australia, growth remains up 3.9 per cent throughout the year. Growth remains up 3.9 per cent throughout the year, driven by strong performances in a number of sectors, with our rural exports, in particular, driving strongly, increasing by 47 per cent throughout the year. The terms of trade and trade surplus for Australia are now the highest on record. This is a demonstration of just one area of the policies that our government has pursued to create the maximum range of opportunities for Australian businesses and exporters. Our government is delivering for them, and delivering for the nation as well.

Slade Brockman (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Gallagher, a supplementary question?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the September quarter, America's economy grew by 0.5 per cent, the UK's by 1.3 per cent, Canada's by 1.3 per cent, Germany's by 1.7 per cent and France's by 3.0 per cent, but the Australian economy contracted by 1.9 per cent. If the Morrison government was doing such a great job managing the economy, why is our September downturn the worst in the OECD so far and the third-biggest downturn in the history of the national accounts?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you have to ask what the cause of the economic impact in the September quarter was then, clearly, you don't understand much about how the economy operates. The cause was very clearly the lockdowns that occurred across the country. That's evident from the fact that the dominant factor in relation to the downturn was the decline in household consumption. Unsurprisingly, household consumption declines when people are living under lockdown restrictions. But we know that the rebound is strong. We know that because the ABS payroll jobs data shows 350,000 jobs coming back from September already—350,000 jobs coming back in that short period of time. We know that Australia's global performance, as I said before, is, on the three-year growth, from the depths of the pandemic, in the top 3 in the world. Those opposite can seek to select a narrow band of time, but we have the demonstration and the evidence that Australian jobs and— (Time expired)

Slade Brockman (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Gallagher, a second supplementary?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister confirm that, if Mr Morrison had done his two jobs on vaccine and quarantine, the Australian economy and Australia would be in a much better position than they are in now?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor Party do not understand the cause of economic distress that comes from lockdowns, and the Labor Party seem to think the Prime Minister of Australia only has two jobs to do. They are wrong on all counts. What is helping to fuel that recovery, the 350,000 jobs that have come back just in the space of a month or so, are the policies our government has implemented. Our economic recovery plan, fuelled by the fact that Australians have more money in their pockets through tax cuts we have delivered—$1.5 billion a month, on average, of support going through—fuelled by policies outlined in the budget to encourage businesses to invest more, particularly across machinery and equipment, which we have seen such strong growth of, will make sure that we do not just have the growth now but that we have more productive and competitive businesses to fuel the export boom we are seeing across Australia, and growth across so many other sectors. (Time expired)