Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Most economists expect that economic growth had slowed in the June quarter and is now going backwards in the September quarter. Why doesn't the Prime Minister take responsibility for the fact that Australia's economic recovery was always hostage to his failures on vaccines and quarantine?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is one of few countries in the world that, after the COVID-19 recession of last year, saw its economy grow back to a level higher than it was before the pandemic started—that was before delta hit—and saw a million people get back into work. That was the product of economic policies that provided significant, in fact, unprecedented, economic support not only to individuals who had lost hours and indeed had been stood down through JobKeeper, but also through the cash flow boost and the many other measures that supported businesses to see their way through at a time, particularly last year, at the outset of COVID, when the uncertainty was at such a level that it was like looking into an economic abyss. The certainty that was provided by the government to step in with the single largest economic intervention in Australia's history gave businesses, gave families, gave individual employees the confidence to be able to get up the next day and see it through, and do it again day after day, month after month. The product of that was a million people getting back into work, particularly women and particularly young people. That is something that this government did at a time of great challenge to the nation.

We continue to do it as we work through these most recent challenges, when we have a country that is beset by lockdowns as a result of the delta strain of the virus. It doesn't just affect Australia; it affects countries all around the world, including across the Tasman in New Zealand, where they also fight this same challenge. As we go through these more recent months with the delta strain of the virus wreaking its impact, I tell you what will happen: we will get through it again. This government will continue to have the back of Australians and Australian businesses. We won't be going after them, like those opposite. We'll be there to support them and we will continue to be there to support them. And with the national plan, with those vaccination rates, which are at world-leading levels on a weekly basis per capita, we will see the Australian economy come back from the challenges that it is currently experiencing. We will see that. How do we know that? Because we've done it once and we will do it again. We've done it by supporting the ingenuity and the resilience and the determination of Australians and Australian businesspeople.

The people of this country have been through a lot, but I know that they will come through and they will be able to restore their livelihoods. They will be able to restore their lives, and the path to that is the national plan.