Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The first point I would make is that, yes, we are going through a challenging period, as a result of a very serious external health shock. The measures that we've had to take in order to save lives and protect people's health have required us to make decisions which have had a very negative, devastating effect on the economy. We are now coming out, somewhat, on the other side, which is why we've been able to see some of the early phases of the easing of restrictions taking place around Australia. But this is an incredibly challenging period. Australia is in a better position than many other countries around the world. We are winning the fight against the virus. But there is still a lot of risk.

The shadow minister for finance asked me about our expectations in terms of the unemployment rate. Well, the Treasurer and Treasury had already announced, some time ago, that the expectation was for unemployment to reach 10 per cent during the June quarter. If it hadn't been for our measures, the expectation would've been that that would've been 15 per cent. Again, if you look, on the economic front, at some of the other countries around the world, you will see unemployment rates of 15 per cent and higher in many economies around the world that have also had to deal with this challenge.

We are not making firm forecasts now. We've shifted the budget to October for a reason, and that is because there is too much uncertainty, in terms of the economic context, to make credible forecasts now. We will be providing a further update to the economic statement in June. That is what we have publicly announced. In that economic statement, which will come after the March quarter national accounts have been released in early June, we will be providing further assessments of our expectations on economic parameters like the ones Senator Gallagher has referenced. But it would be premature to say more than we have now. (Time expired)