Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer inform the House how the Morrison government's unprecedented financial support and its decisive economic management are keeping our economy resilient as we move towards a national plan to return to life after the COVID-19 pandemic? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies?

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

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question and acknowledge her strong support for the policies of the Morrison government, which are designed to help create jobs and to help Australia get through the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression.

Last year, at the height of the pandemic, we were staring into the economic abyss. Treasury thought that the unemployment rate could reach as high as 15 per cent—that's more than two million Australians potentially unemployed—and that economic growth could contract in the June quarter by more than 20 per cent. That's nearly the size of the Victorian economy. That's what Australia faced at the height of this pandemic.

And we responded with overwhelming and unprecedented amounts of economic support—direct economic and health support now totalling more than $300 billion. That economic support has seen a strong rebound across the economy. In the back half of last year we saw the strongest growth numbers in more than 50 years. We have seen our unemployment rate come down to 4.6 per cent, the lowest in 12 years. I point out to the House that when we came to government the unemployment rate was 5.7 per cent, and I point out that today—as of the end of the June quarter—our employment levels are 1½ per cent higher than they were going into the pandemic. In Canada, they're 1½ per cent below. In the United States they're 4½ per cent below.

So we have put in place policies that have helped support the economy. One of those policies was JobKeeper. JobKeeper supported 3.8 million Australians and around one million Australian businesses. It's a program that was described by the Governor of the Reserve Bank as a 'remarkable' program. And the Australian National Audit Office said that the ATO, in administering the program, was highly effective in its management of risks. We also know from a Treasury review, in their words—the federal Treasury—that the program was 'well targeted'.

Now, am I aware of alternative approaches? I am, from those opposite—those opposite who seek to diminish from what has been the most remarkable economic support program this country has ever seen. It's a program that has helped support millions of our fellow Australians. And now the Labor Party is seeking to destroy a fundamental tenet, a fundamental position, in our tax system to force the tax commissioner to dump data before the Senate. That is a dangerous precedent, and that is one that has been called out by business groups.

Our programs throughout this crisis, including right now with the COVID disaster payment and the business support payments, are designed to keep Australians in jobs.