Budget ‘not a blank cheque’: Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison will map a way to reduce the COVID-19 debt bill and reveal the total cost of the vaccine rollout will hit $6.3bn.

Scott Morrison at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney on Sunday. Picture: Jenny Evans

Scott Morrison will warn the government can no longer run a “blank-cheque budget” ahead of JobKeeper and JobSeeker supplement payments ending in March, as he maps a way to ­reduce the nation’s historic COVID-19 debt bill.

In a headland speech at the National Press Club on Monday to mark the start of what many MPs predict could be an election year, the Prime Minister will also reveal the total cost of the vaccine rollout will reach $6.3bn.

Outlining his government’s five priorities — including vaccine delivery as key to restoring full economic recovery, protection of essential services including aged care and an environmental agenda under the banner of “caring for country” — Mr Morrison will also address the relationship with China, saying a new path would need to be forged.

Addressing the nation’s most pressing foreign policy and trade challenge in decades, Mr Morrison is expected to argue that it was unrealistic to expect the damaged relationship could be ­returned to that of the past and that the two countries would need to forge a new one.

Amid ongoing tensions, Mr Morrison will argue that it was Beijing that had changed in its ­approach to the Australia-China relationship and that the two countries will need to find a new way through.

Mr Morrison will announce a $1.9bn boost to support the ­vaccine rollout and caution that international border restrictions and strict quarantine measures will need to continue “in a balanced way to protect jobs and livelihoods”.

Ahead of parliament returning on Tuesday and debate over whether JobKeeper wage subsidy payments should be extended ­beyond March, Mr Morrison will say “you can’t run the Australian economy on taxpayers’ money forever”.

“We are not running a blank-cheque budget,” Mr Morrison will say.

Treasury analysis presented by Mr Morrison will show the ­federal government’s direct COVID-19 economic support measures, valued at $251bn, would have a “long tail in providing ongoing support”.

“Our direct economic support measures are expected to result in economic activity being 5 per cent higher in 2020-21 and 4.5 per cent higher in 2021-22 compared to if no support was provided,” he will say.

“We know that our temporary JobKeeper payments and our many other supports have helped to boost families and businesses balance sheets by more than $200bn. They have been the game-changer for millions of Australians.

“There is now a large sum of money available to be spent across the economy helping to create jobs. Indeed in 2021, the government will continue putting more money back into Australian’s pockets to support their families and businesses.”

With Treasury considering new post-March economic support packages for struggling ­industries, Mr Morrison will ­describe the government’s COVID-19 response as “proportionate, timely, scalable and targeted”.

Outlining the government’s economic strategy, Mr Morrison will say because the nation’s debt is getting cheaper to service at a faster rate than it is getting ­larger, “our net interest bill will decline as a share of the economy”.

Coinciding with the first round of the government’s $4bn JobMaker hiring credit scheme starting on Monday, Mr Morrison will declare 2021 as a year of “generational change in our skills and vocational education sector”. The focus on skills and training comes as unemployment among Australians aged 15 to 34 remained 3.3 per cent below pre-COVID levels.

Mr Morrison will say the government has “planned for the unexpected” and will keep in place international border restrictions, quarantine, high rates of testing and contract tracing and physical distancing.

“The pandemic is still raging. It is not petering out. The virus has not gone anywhere. Indeed, it is morphing into new and more virulent strains,’’ he says.

Mr Morrison will say navigating the global pandemic, health and economic crises should be done in an “Australian way” that respects “our liberal democratic values, our expert institutions, our business led market economy and the responsibilities and accountabilities of our federal system”.

In addition to $1.9bn being ­allocated to support the vaccine rollout, more than $4.4bn has been reserved for vaccine purchases.

Mr Morrison will describe the delivery of vaccines as one of the “largest logistics exercises ever seen in Australia’s history”.

“We will be vaccinating 26 million people, having secured over 140 million doses, enough to cover the Australian population several times over,’’ he says.

“We want as many Australians vaccinated as quickly as possible. The COVID-19 vaccines will be made free to all Australians and we strongly encourage all Australians to get vaccinated.’’

Marking one-year since Australia shut its borders with China, Health Minister Greg Hunt on Sunday announced a $200m program to support pharmacies joining the vaccine rollout.

“We’re on track for our rollout commencing in late February and completing in October, that remains our guidance, and we’ve done a lot of work to reaffirm that,’’ Mr Hunt said.

‘‘We’re always subject to shipping and international events and TGA approvals.’’

He said the government ­expected there would be at least 2000 “points of presence” across the country, including hospitals, GPs, pharmacies, respiratory clinics Aboriginal Health Services and a specialist surge workforce, to administer the free vaccines.