Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When I think about the coronavirus pandemic, like many of the people in this chamber—at least on this side of the chamber—I think of the communities that have been affected. I think of those people across Australia who, through no fault of their own, have faced risks because they're exposed to health risks. It may be because they have immune conditions. It might be because they've been travelling and were caught overseas and exposed to the virus. We think about the families who've lost loved ones and those who have gone into hospital and needed life support to be able to get through the night and the day and to be able to see the other side of the virus.

But we also think about the people who are economically impacted by COVID-19. Those people, through no fault of their own and because of the restrictions and the measures that have been imposed by both the Commonwealth and the states, have seen their jobs disappear overnight. The small businesses that usually flourish, survive and thrive to provide goods and services to consumers suddenly find themselves without a customer base and are trying to support and assist both those people who work for them and sometimes their customers, if they can, through this difficult period.

They face a very real challenge, which is why the Morrison government has implemented such strong measures, both to protect public health—the most significant measure that was taken to protect public health was closing the international border and stopping people from overseas coming to Australia, unless they were Australian residents, in which case they faced challenges and then went into quarantine for two weeks—and through the JobKeeper and the jobseeker programs, to help people economically get through this challenge and so people could support themselves during this time. We implemented a series of measures to make sure that people could stand up and support themselves, like early access to superannuation. Despite the howls and the heckles from those on the other side of this chamber, when Australians were faced with a difficult choice and needed access to their own money to pay off their mortgages, to support their families and to honour their obligations, we stood by them and said, 'We understand the challenges that you face now, and we're going to help you help yourself.'

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