The National Accounts released this week have confirmed Australia is in the deepest recession of our lifetimes, with the economy experiencing the sharpest contraction on record.

Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann said the Blair electorate had been hit badly by the coronavirus crisis, and the Morrison Government was not doing enough to support jobs and growth in the region.

“It beggars belief that the worst recession since the Great Depression has not been enough for the Morrison Government to bring forward a proper jobs plan.

“Australia’s 29-year run of uninterrupted economic growth has officially come to an end on Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg’s watch, and their lack of a jobs plan threatens the recovery.

“A record one million workers are already unemployed and an additional 400,000 are set to join the jobless queues by Christmas.

“Here in Blair, unemployment has risen to around 8.5 per cent and youth unemployment is even worse at 20 per cent.

“In the middle of this jobs crisis, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg are abandoning more than 1,700 workers at the JBS Dinmore meatworks in my electorate by excluding them from JobKeeper.

“When I asked Scott Morrison about this in Parliament this week, he said he was happy for these meatworkers to join the unemployment queues in the middle of the worst recession in almost a century. 

“What’s more, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have a plan to wind back JobKeeper, cut wages, cut super, freeze the pension, point the finger and shift the blame – but no plan for jobs.

“This week’s data show that the virus has turbocharged longstanding weaknesses in the economy under the Liberals and Nationals,” he said.

Mr Neumann said the most important test of the Morrison Government’s management of the recession and its aftermath was what happens to jobs.

“Only $85 billion of the claimed $314 billion of economic support has actually been delivered by the Government, and too many businesses and workers have been left out and left behind.

“Morrison and Frydenberg’s failures on the economy are costing jobs, and their failures on aged care are costing lives.

“Workers, businesses and communities need and deserve a plan from the Morrison Government to promote growth, protect and create jobs, support business and set Australia up for the recovery,” Mr Neumann said.