The Treasurer Josh Frydenberg presented a truly sobering list of numbers in yesterday’s ministerial statement to the Federal Parliament on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The costs from the pandemic will continue to mount in coming months and we are facing significant challenges across the Australian economy for an extended period.
There are some early signs of encouragement as state and territory governments start to lift the restrictions on business and re-open the economy over coming weeks and months.
The three-step lifting of restrictions through to July is forecast to deliver a $9 billion dollar a month boost to GDP with the restoration of up to 850,000 jobs.
Construction jobs will be one of the significant contributors to the post-pandemic rebuild. Just as construction kept the Australia’s economic pulse beating during the pandemic crisis, it will be vital to supporting a robust recovery.
However the danger is that a big drop off in future projects will see construction become a drag on the economy, not a driver of recovery.
We need our governments to get behind smart and targeted demand-side measures which will unleash construction as a powerful economic driver, whether it is new housing through to city-shaping infrastructure projects.
While our population growth may slow over the next year or so, we shouldn’t step back from investing in the vital infrastructure we need now – and will still need in the future.
We’ll be at the forefront of this discussion with governments as the momentum shifts from the public health response to the economic rebuilding phases.