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

I thank the member for Bowman for his question and acknowledge his contribution to the medical profession before he came to this place and his deep commitment to improving Indigenous health and mental health. The member for Bowman and others on this side of the House acknowledge the fact that there's been a once-in-a-century economic shock that saw 1.3 million of our fellow Australians either lose their jobs or have their working hours reduced to zero at the start of the pandemic. In the June quarter we saw GDP down by seven per cent—a record fall. But, importantly, the economic recovery is now underway. A total of 446,000 jobs have been created in the past four months. Consumer sentiment had its biggest increase in a budget month since the series first began back in 1974. Australia's AAA credit rating has been reaffirmed. Last week the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia said that our fiscal strategy is the right fiscal strategy and that we are on the right track.

I can confirm to the House that today consumer confidence is up for the 10th straight week, at an eight-month high, and business confidence is up by nine points—up for trade, up for transport, up for construction and up for mining. The measures that we introduced have helped support that recovery. They are measures that contribute the equivalent of 26 per cent of GDP. JobKeeper: we have got $70 billion out the door. The cashflow boost: $32 billion out the door. The coronavirus supplement: $15.6 billion out the door. Two $750 payments to pensioners and carers: more than $9 billion out the door. And the one that those on the other side of the House don't like to acknowledge, which is that we on this side have allowed Australians to access their own super: more than $36 billion out the door, helping to support the economic recovery, giving Australians access to their own money.

Today we took another step forward by extending the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement, at $150, out to the end of March, at a cost of $3.2 billion—another measure that will help provide support to those who need it. That is economic support to help get Australians back into jobs, economic support to help our economic recovery, economic support to help Australians right across the country to get through the biggest crisis of the last century. (Time expired)

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