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Coronavirus Australia live update: treasurer delivers 'sobering' economic update – latest news
Coronavirus Australia live update: treasurer delivers 'sobering' economic update – latest news
(32 minutes later)
Josh Frydenberg says in statement in lieu of the federal budget: ‘There is no money tree. What we borrow today we must repay in the future.’ Follow the latest news live
Josh Frydenberg says in statement in lieu of the federal budget: ‘There is no money tree. What we borrow today we must repay in the future.’ Follow the latest news live
The ACT will also be loosening restrictions:
Dan Tehan is allowed to speak, from a prepared dixer answer.
Chris Bowen opens up the questioning:
Baby steps.
Jim Chalmers (reading from his phone, which is how you know it is a new one just lobbed up) to Josh Frydenberg:
Frydenberg (with a tad bit more energy)
He tried to make a joke. But only proved he is very trying.
Scott Morrison continues, and we have definitely moved into defensive mode:
Clare O’Neil to Scott Morrison:
Why does the prime minister say the economy will snap back after the coronavirus crisis when the Reserve Bank is forecasting unemployment as high as 9% at Christmas?
Morrison:
Josh Frydenberg is still very, very down it seems, over having his big Churchill moment hijacked by a tickle in his throat:
Oh, and we are back to auspol as usual with this line from Scott Morrison:
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
Does the prime minister regret saying that the budget was already back in black?
Scott Morrison:
Scott Morrison:
After speeches from Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese, the parliament has a moment of silence for leading senior constable Lynette Taylor, constable Glen Humphris, senior constable Kevin King and constable Josh Prestney.
But couldn’t the prime minister just use the crystal ball he used to declare:
Labor has decided that it too will attempt a disallowance motion in the Senate to allow universities to access jobkeeper.
The deputy prime minister is now talking about the value of being able to send text messages:
The motion would allow universities to count their losses over one month, rather than six, to qualify for the wage subsidy and change rules so that payments by the Commonwealth will not be included in a university’s calculation of its projected GST turnover and current GST turnover.
And he says this while waving around the phone on which he received a baggage of abusive text messages from NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro, which were later leaked to the media.
Michael McCormack is summoned to the despatch box and suddenly hiding under the doona seems like a very attractive option.
John Howard has released a statement on Alan Jones’s retirement from radio:
Question time is to begin shortly.
First, the House is acknowledging the deaths of four Victorian police officers who were killed during a traffic stop on the eastern freeway.
You just know that in question time Michael McCormack is going to trot out the Australians are “great” and have “great” things. You just know it.
Also by the by:
We hear that in his address to the Coalition party room, Michael McCormack spoke about how Australia had numerous great things, such as the Great Australian Bight and the Great Dividing Range.
While many Australians were going through a tough time, the deputy prime minister observed, they were also showing their greatness in dealing with that hardship.
He added that people needed to continue to behave responsibly.A couple of other points:
We are not aware of anyone raising concerns over the CovidSafe app legislation in the Coalition party room.
Moving on from the jobkeeper eligibility questions that we mentioned earlier today, a couple of Coalition members spoke about getting the tourism industry going again and needing to get people back into national parks and B&Bs in a safe manner.
A couple of Coalition members raised concerns over the behaviour of General Motors in dealing with its dealership network. The PM replied that he and the industry minister had met dealers to discuss the problems.
Some perennial issues: other comments from Coalition members touched on the need for action to ease insurance premiums in north Queensland and also to cut red tape on mining approvals.
The ACT has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
It remains (active and known) Covid-free.
Madeleine King, Simon Birmingham’s opposition counterpart, says Labor is also concerned about the suspended abattoirs:
Over in the chamber, Christian Porter has entered the legislation needed for the Covid tracing app.
Queenslander David Littleproud looks like he is slowly freezing to death in this press conference, which is strange, because I would have thought the light from his garish green and gold Nationals tie would have been enough to keep him warm.
Simon Birmingham says he and David Littleproud are working on the issues with the processing plants:
A bit more on what the Coalition spoke about in the joint party room meeting today (via Daniel Hurst).
After some issues were raised about the jobkeeper program, Josh Frydenberg told them the government had been clear with principles like not paying for local government employees.
It’s understood the eligibility concerns were about the exclusion of entities owned by foreign governments.
They were concerned for welfare of those employees who miss out.
The treasurer responded the government had been clear on its principles from outset: the program was not intended to extend to government or government-owned entities, including foreign government entities.
During the meeting, there was a single comment regarding China. A member raised the issue of the call for an international investigation into the Covid-19 origins and handling and thanked the PM and other ministers for the comments they had made on that front
Simon Birmingham is holding a quick press conference on the situation with China delisting Australian abattoirs. Daniel Hurst is there.
Josh Frydenberg and the never-ending coughing fit, as seen by Mike Bowers.
The Coalition joint party room met for a little under two hours, Daniel Hurst tells me. He also reports:
After the speeches, discussions touched on the eligibility for jobkeeper. Some Coalition members had examples of how jobkeeper had been successful but some highlighted businesses that weren’t eligible.
Another raised compliance issues.The treasurer responded that the government had been clear with principles like not paying for local government employees
