Senate debates

Thursday, 18 February 2021

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

JobKeeper Payment, COVID-19: Tourism

4:11 pm

Photo of Andrew BraggAndrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this debate to take note on COVID-19 and the economy. I will start these remarks by reminding the Senate of the economic position of the country coming into this pandemic. Senator Ayres talks about the 'Morrison recession'—what a ridiculous turn of phrase that is. This has been the most significant economic shock in a century, and we have seen Australia's economic performance in the absolute top quartile. There are few countries other than Australia that people would want to live in during this pandemic. We're top of the pops in economic performance and very strong in health performance. There's been minimal community transmission of coronavirus over the past 12 months, and people want to have a debate about the pace at which the vaccine will be rolled out. The reason that we can do it in an orderly fashion in this country is that there isn't enormous community transmission like there is in the US and UK, where in many cases the virus simply wasn't taken seriously. We have taken this virus very seriously. We've opened the nation's chequebook. We've spent a lot of money to ensure that the country could get through this huge economic shock.

Coming into this recession, unemployment was closer to five per cent. When we came to office in 2013, unemployment was closer to six per cent. Over that period, we have done all we can to create more jobs. Over the course of the past year, there's been a big drop in employment, but we've now re-established about 90 per cent of the jobs that were lost in some form. In taking the virus seriously, it was our judgement that the borders should be closed and there should be innovations, as you've seen in the form of national cabinet, which has given the country a more cohesive way of managing serious challenges like this pandemic. No-one, as far as I am aware, has bemoaned the loss of COAG, and I think we now have a model of managing the Federation through the national cabinet process which will endure. Yes, there have been different ways that the virus has been managed at the state level. I don't think that the Australian people are interested in hearing about sectoral and state based wars and arguments. They're not particularly constructive. But I would say that I think that the New South Wales government has had a good plan to manage the pandemic as opposed to some other jurisdictions where their plan to manage has been to simply close the borders.

But this is a federal discussion. We will spend $100 billion on JobKeeper, which is the most serious economic policy in terms of expenditure in the nation's history. That has been essential in getting us through to the other side. We've also taken a novel approach to opening up superannuation for people to use during the pandemic. That is their own money. Three million people have decided to use that. People have been able to take up to $10,000 of their own money to improve their personal balance sheets. It is true that the Labor Party, for ideological reasons, don't like people being able to get into the locked box of their own money, but that has been a successful policy. Perhaps for the first time people have thought: 'This is my money. I am going to use it to improve my personal balance sheet. I'm going to use it to pay down my mortgage or reduce my debts.' That has been very successful.

What are the enduring reforms that will come from this era? Having spent so much money to help the country get through this pandemic successfully and as we look at the mass vaccination of Australians, what will be the signature economic policies? A few of them are already before this parliament. You've seen lending reforms designed to improve the flow of credit in the economy whilst maintaining consumer protections. Equally, there has been an agenda to try to attract more foreign investment and the best foreign minds to our country. We have always been a country that has competed for the finest minds and the best capital. The process that the Prime Minister has established through the Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce will be very important as we seek to compete with other centres, like Tokyo and Singapore, in attracting more jobs and more growth.

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