Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister for Finance and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (14:00): Today is a very hard day for Australia. Many Australians have gone through a very difficult period over the last six or seven months as a result of this once-in-a-century global pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has hit economies around the world very hard. It has hit the Australian economy very hard, and it has had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of too many Australians. Opposition senators interjecting— Senator CORMANN: I'm disappointed that the flavour of the interjections from the opposition again demonstrates the level of political smearing that, frankly, completely— Opposition senators interjecting— Senator CORMANN: The Labor Party again tries to suggest there's no context to what is happening here. We are where we are as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. What we have today is because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is a very sad day for Australia, but that is the reality of it. I know that the Labor Party doesn't want to hear this. As bad as things are for Australia, we went into this period in a stronger position than others. We have gone through this period in a stronger position than others, and the impact on our economy is much less severe than it has been in other parts of the world. The United Kingdom has experienced a contraction of more than 20 per cent in one quarter. That's the inconvenient truth that the Labor Party is not interested in. The Labor Party wants to come into this chamber and pursue a base political strategy, using this tragedy which is caused by an external event that is beyond our control as a way to score party-political points. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. The Australian people can see what you're doing. We know why we're here. The Australian people know why we're here. And we know what we need to do to— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, a supplementary question?