Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It was much better with a teleprompter than what we just saw, what was just delivered then—I thought that was one of the more remarkable aspects of yesterday. It's clear—there's no doubt—that most countries around the world look at Australia and what we've been able to achieve with some envy. There's no doubt that in his discussions with world leaders that the Prime Minister has had those world leaders asking us: what have we done?

Of course this MPI is predominantly focused on the economy, but there's no way we can discuss the state of the economy, where we've been, where we're going, without reflecting on the health achievements. Because the devastation we have seen in the economy, the devastation to businesses, to individuals and to families from an economic let alone a health perspective has been driven by something that nobody saw even months ago. Even at the beginning of this year when we were returning from summer, preparing for a new parliamentary year and families preparing for the year ahead—whether that was school, whichever prospects they had in their jobs, their businesses, their lives and their holidays planned—nobody could have foreseen what we have faced.

It was only a few weeks ago that things, I think, looked extraordinarily grim. As we looked at the experience of other countries from a health perspective, getting on top of the health issue was the only way that we were going to be able to chart a strong path back to economic recovery, and that's what we've done. And the opposition leader talks about being cooperative, but it absolutely kills him to come out and acknowledge that fact. In fact, he didn't do it for 10 minutes. He did not once acknowledge that Australia by any measure has done almost as well, if not better, as any other country that's faced what we have faced. And it's because of the decisions of this government working cooperatively through the national cabinet process, the genesis of which was the Prime Minister's foresight to bring governments around the country around a single table making those decisions. Not once was that acknowledged by the Leader of the Opposition, yet that is the bedrock for the economic recovery that we will be charting.

The immediate issues that individuals, families and businesses are facing are still the focus of the government. There's no doubt in question time that we saw a whole lot of fairly petty questions—what date, what time will this happen into the future—when people are still grappling with challenges now. We are six weeks into a significant health and economic challenge, and I think it's worth reflecting on what we've done.

We've obviously spoken a lot about the JobKeeper package. As the Treasurer said in question time, 5½ million employees covered by about 800,000 businesses are now utilising that scheme to remain in business, maintain where they are unable physically to conduct business, as there are many, and maintain a connection with employees who aren't able to work. We've already seen $25 billion flow to households. In addition to the $130 billion JobKeeper, we've had a $750 payment go to retirees and other recipients of government benefits. They will be in receipt of a second payment providing those families with the immediate support they need. We have put in place a cash flow boost for small business and, again, we have seen billions of dollars paid out to small businesses to help them keep afloat—a minimum of $20,000 up to $100,000 for small businesses. So whether it's vulnerable households with direct payments, whether it's small businesses with the lifeline of direct grants from the government through the cash flow boost or whether it's the JobKeeper package, there is $130 billion to maintain that connection between employees and businesses that can't operate. It also acts as a very strong wage subsidy for those businesses that have continuing operations but have seen, in the case of small and medium businesses, a 30 per cent downturn in their total turnover, or in the case of large businesses, a 50 per cent downturn in their turnover.

These are three incredibly important measures that just complement the health response. And then there's the health response, whether it's sourcing PPE or sourcing hundreds of thousands of tests. This has all been conducted and funded cooperatively through the national cabinet process but more often it's funded directly by the federal government, which has enabled the health outcomes that I speak about.

We now have ICU capacity that gives states and territories the comfort that they need to reopen their economy or certainly to start the process through the staged process that the federal government, through the national cabinet, outlined last week.

In addition to all of that, early on we saw the need to improve the social safety net for those people who, through no fault of their own, were going to be left without a job and left without an employer who would be able to avail them of JobKeeper, and that was the coronavirus supplement, which effectively doubled jobseeker to the, as the Prime Minister outlined today in parliament, over a million people who are now receiving that approximately $1,100 a fortnight payment. Again, that is another part of this government's plan to ensure it's good for individuals and it's also good economics.

Making sure we support those households, those individuals, those small businesses, those large businesses, those employees who maintain a connection with their business is, in the end, a huge impost on the Treasury coffers—and the Treasurer referred to $320 billion—but that will repay dividends in spades. I think there's good evidence to show that Australia will be in a very good position in comparison to other countries when we come through this global pandemic, which, quite frankly, has affected every single one of our major trading partners in a similar way to varying degrees.

We've also put in place additional measures that will help in the recovery, including the instant asset write-off expansion and the support for apprentices and trainees that we're providing. Quite early in the coronavirus pandemic we saw how devastating it would be for an apprentice who's part way through their apprenticeship, who's done the hard yards, whether they're in their first year or their fourth year, who, through no fault of their own, would have almost the entire future direction of their career potentially devastatingly impacted by COVID-19. Putting in place that $1.3 billion subsidy for apprentices builds on all of the other measures that I've outlined. They, in the end, will be good economics for this country—a huge impost now but a huge investment into the productive capacity of the Australian economy. I am confident that Australia, an outward-facing, trading economy, will ensure that that productive capacity, whether it's in our SME space or an individual skill set or the economy more broadly, will be in a better position to take advantage of the inevitable opportunities that have come from this extraordinarily difficult time in the global economy.

I say to members opposite: at times your criticisms would carry more weight if you acknowledged that outstanding work that's been done and if you acknowledged the integral role and leadership that the Prime Minister and this government have provided. It's been the bedrock that has made Australia the envy of the rest of the world. When the Leader of the Opposition sits there criticising a state government opposition, he sounds awfully like the opposition that he's criticising, and he did that even without a teleprompter!

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