Battered by record drought, a horror bushfire season and the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the economy is on track to experience its worst three months since the 1930s.
The nation’s GPD fell by 0.3 per cent in the March quarter, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced on Wednesday.
“I really didn’t want to see a recession ever again in Australia,” Morrison said this morning.
“As a government we worked so hard to bring the budget back into balance ... to see COVID-19 hit it like a torpedo is absolutely devastating.
“Where we find ourselves now is heartbreaking.”
Morrison said the economic fallout could have been much worse, were it not for his government’s response to the pandemic.
He said Australia was making its way back from the coronavirus crisis with the help of a $688 million home builder scheme.
“It’s going to be a hard road back,” he said.
Morrison said the scheme would help people hoping to build their own home who previously feared coronavirus had quashed their chances to “keep the dream alive”.
“And the dream alive of the jobs for the builders, the apprentices and the tradies who depend on this critical industry right across the country,” he added.
Frydenberg said Australia narrowly avoided economic “Armageddon”, but the full economic impact of the lockdown was still to come.
It comes as Australia recorded an additional eight cases of coronavirus overnight, seven in Victoria and one in Western Australia.
The national death toll stands at 102.
With AAP
