MYEFO: Josh Frydenberg’s $7bn bid ‘to cushion COVID-19 blow’

Josh Frydenberg’s mid-year budget update has included more than $7bn in new spending measures in a bid to ‘cushion the blow’ of the pandemic.

Josh Frydenberg’s mid-year budget update has included more than $7bn in new spending measures in a bid to “cushion the blow” from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The biggest new spending item is $3.2bn to extend a reduced JobSeeker payment of $150 a fortnight until the end of March while $2bn will be used to secure a COVID-19 vaccine, rollout a national health program and provide vaccine support to Pacific nations.

There is also $1bn in new funding for aged care, supporting 10,000 new home care packages and bolstering nursing facilities hit by the pandemic.

The Treasurer committed an extra $683m for new Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme list­ings, provided $506m in new infrastructure commitments and delivered a $241m extension of the HomeBuilder program until March.

Extra support has been given to the aviation sector as well as travel agents.

Mr Frydenberg said the Morrison government had committed $251bn in “direct economic support” since the pandemic started. “Already, over $138bn has flowed to households and businesses,” he said.

“JobKeeper, the coronavirus supplement, the cashflow boost, and ... economic support payments to pensioners and others on income support have been an economic lifeline for millions of Australians.”

Mr Frydenberg said big spending measures were needed because of the “biggest shock since the Great Depression and ... the first pandemic we’ve faced in 100 years”.

“That is what required an unprecedented level of economic support and spending. That being said, our net debt gets to about 38.3 per cent over the medium term and our gross debt to 53 per cent of GDP over the ­medium term,” he said.

“Even when it peaks ... it is less than half than comparable advanced economies around the rest of the world. So Australia is very well placed to not only respond to this crisis, but to manage those higher debt levels in the future.”

Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said there should have been money in the budget update for social housing.