Coronavirus: Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese tread warily into ‘snapback’ war

Scott Morrison at Parliament House on Tuesday. Picture: AAP

The real political fight over the handling of the COVID-19 virus has begun but it’s not about the success in handling the health crisis. It’s about recovering from the economic crisis.

The gloves are coming off politically and the solemn niceties about the deaths and sickness from the pandemic are disappearing into the background as the depth of the economic recession and the length of the recovery take precedence.

Even before it is possible to say the coronavirus has been defeated – still in the shadow of a second disastrous wave – it is the financial cost, not the health cost, which is emerging as the top priority.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are now squaring off over their respective economic management skills, fundamental principles, political philosophies and social values.

The politics are also about whether Labor’s big spending, high taxing alternative to the Coalition’s pre-pandemic restrained spending and cost cutting which won Morrison the last election is still out of favour with the electorate.

It is an economic confrontation that has been deliberately shaped from the first days of the global crisis and, given the success of Australia in limiting the impact of the virus in global terms, is the only avenue for political gain.

It is also a reversal of priorities for Labor which initially rejected the Prime Minister’s characterisation of a twin crisis facing health and the economy with the Opposition arguing that the health threat had to be addressed first.

Now, with the resumption of parliament, the Opposition Leader has unveiled his own alternative vision for recovery built on deliberate divergence with the Coalition.

Albanese is also building on his previous attacks on Morrison’s credibility and portrayal as an empty spinmeister from marketing.

Morrison is trying to keep the focus on “right here, right now” and warning against complacency about coronavirus but recognises the coming months of political testing of his strategy, leadership and economic management.

In parliament he’s readjusting his definition and schedule for snap back, a term he has stopped using as Labor weaponises it against him, adopting the language of a U-shaped rather than V-shaped recovery and declaring his priority is getting people back to work.

“What I’m looking at is getting Australians back to work”, he told parliament on Tuesday after Albanese asked him whether he regretted suggesting the economy would snap back when restrictions lifted.

Labor has even taken to writing “SnapBack” as a satirical marketing phrase and seeking to measure Morrison’s success at economic recovery based on the idea that unless the economy is back to normal as soon as restrictions are lifted and 850,000 people are returned to work the Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg have failed.

Morrison’s response is that the forecasts for recovery have changed as the depth of the global economic crisis has deepened and that the recovery forecasts are looking beyond September not the end of July.

His arguments are that the emergency is not over, that there is still a twin health and economic crisis, huge amounts of money have been spent to avoid even more calamitous economic downturns but those crippling social security burdens can’t be sustained forever.

Morrison said the focus for many months ahead has to be “getting the momentum back into our country”.

His solution is “not more spending forever” – that is, the JobKeeper program and other assistance have to be finite – coupled with helping business recover and grow to re-energise the economy and create jobs and wealth.

“The answer is not spending more or spending forever. The answer is that Australian businesses small, micro, medium, large will rebuild, will re-employ, will restart and engage in this COVID safe economy and do what they’ve always done,” he said.

“Theirs are the shoulders that Australians will stand on, those businesses that will provide the employment and provide the opportunities,” he declared in a classic free-market, business-led and wealth creation plan to restore the economy, avoid depression and put people back to work.

“At the end of the day, it’s that economy. You know, governments, we have no money of our own. The only money we have is what is provided to us by the Australian people and the hard work of Australian people and the success of Australian businesses.

“And that is our road map to recovery. That is our road ahead. By spurring those businesses on to ensure that they can provide the livelihoods that Australians desire on the other side of this crisis,” he said.

Albanese is adopting a classic Labor response which includes infrastructure spending, extending social security benefits, legislating to protect workers’ rights, push up wages and spend on social housing.

After making it clear he would criticise the “flaws” in JobSeeker and superannuation payments he wanted foremost “security at work”.

“One of the things that has really been shown is that people are really insecure that the casualisation of the workforce, the contracting out, the labour hire companies have meant that people are more and more insecure in their work. And that the values that have seen us through this crisis, of fairness, of security, of looking after each other, are values that need to be in place for the recovery as well,” he said.

Labor wants more long-term infrastructure spending and extended and expanded JobKeeper payments.

The argument over the success so far of limiting the spread of the virus is essentially over, it’s a futile and counter-productive area for Labor to pursue, particularly given the number of Labor Premiers at the heart of the response, but the scale and timing of “SnapBack”

is what it is all about now.