Coronavirus: one-day sitting if the ayes have it

The House of Representatives is set to meet next week to pass the government’s $17.6bn economic stimulus for the coronavirus ­pandemic.

Anthony Albanese has said ‘parliament we will be supportive of any measures in terms of economic stimulus‘. Picture: AAP

The House of Representatives is set to meet for just one day next week, with a skeleton parliament convening to pass the government’s $17.6bn economic stimulus response to the coronavirus ­pandemic.

The main item on the agenda on Monday will be the Morrison government’s multi-billion-dollar “safety net” package to support the worst-impacted Australians throughout the crisis, which Labor is expected to rubberstamp.

“Next week in the parliament we will be supportive of any measures in terms of economic stimulus,” Anthony Albanese said.

“It may well be that we have constructive suggestions to improve that legislation.”

If the legislation is passed by the Senate and does not require further consideration by the house, parliament could be adjourned as soon as Monday evening.

People tuning in to watch question time will also notice a scaled-back parliament, with just 90 of 151 MPs sitting in the lower house — a move designed to reduce the number of politicians and their staff having to travel to Canberra.

Some variations will be made to procedure to enable members and senators to observe “social distancing”. T he public gallery will also be closed. The Senate will similarly work to a truncated timeline and operate with fewer numbers as most of the upper house crossbench will remain at home.

Once the economic injection passes, 6.5 million people, including 2.4 million pensioners, will ­receive a one-off payment of $750 in their bank accounts from March 31.

While the Labor caucus will meet on Monday morning (with some dialling in via teleconference) to discuss the bills, a ­Coalition partyroom gathering is not scheduled.

Scott Morrison is also scheduled to join Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for a virtual summit that day to discuss their responses to the virus. They will also announce new bilateral initiatives in the digital economy and military training.

On Monday, the banks will also ramp up their response by deferring loan repayments from small and medium-sized businesses for six months.

It comes after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates to 0.25 per cent and took other steps to relieve pressure on lenders. On Friday, the RBA began an open-ended government bond-buying program aimed at keeping the three-year bond rate at 0.25 per cent, confirming the start of a large quantitative easing program for the first time in Australian history.

The Prime Minister also ­announced the government would pour a further $444.6m into aged-care facilities to help them stay afloat amid the crisis.

Nearly $235m will go towards keeping the aged-care sector well-staffed and there will be extra funds to support aged-care home support.

The government is expected to announce a further package this weekend to help businesses and those who find themselves out of work.