Senator ANTIC (South Australia) (15:16): There are a number of matters that separate one side of the chamber from the other. The most critical at this moment seems to be that, on this side of the chamber, most—if not all—of our members can manage to stay awake for the entire course of parliament. But, of course, we know that's not true on the flip side of parliament because we've seen Senator Carr nod off. It seems to me that are many, many more who may well be— Senator Wong interjecting— Senator ANTIC: Senator Wong, this doesn't relate to you. We're talking about Senator Carr's nodding off yesterday. But he's been asleep for longer than we think, as, obviously, has Senator Watt, because what we— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Antic, please resume your seat. Senator Polley. Senator Polley: Deputy President, I draw your attention to the issue before the chair and the need to draw the good senator to the topic at hand, which is not to run a commentary on other senators. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Polley. I am listening carefully. I'm waiting for Senator Antic to take note of the answers from Senator Cormann. Senator ANTIC: We are now something in the order of 25 seconds in, which is not an unreasonable prelude, because the point I was going to make was that you would have to have been asleep for the better part of 12 months to not know that we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Obviously, that propensity to doze off has infected that side of the chamber, because we on this side of the chamber all know that the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented event in our lifetime. It has sent a wrecking ball through the economy. In fact, we heard earlier from Senator Watt that there were concerns about the suggestion that we are now seeing green shoots. Let me take you to the words of the RBA governor, who said yesterday, in relation to the situation that Australia finds itself in: As difficult as this is, the downturn is not as severe as earlier expected and a recovery is now under way in most of Australia. We know that side of the chamber loves evidence based politics. We hear it all the time: evidence based policy, evidence based politics. This is the RBA governor talking. We know this is a difficult time. We on this side of the chamber know this is a difficult period. We have seen COVID-19 do what nothing else in our lifetime has done. The IMF is actually expecting 157 economies to contract this year, and many will experience unprecedented falls. So the impact in the June quarter on GDP across the globe has been staggering. There is no other way of putting it: it's staggering. Let's look at some more evidence based assessments for the other side. There was a 20.4 per cent GDP fall in the United Kingdom; 13. 8 per cent in France; 11.5 per cent in Canada; and 9.1 per cent in the United States. These are ostensibly the biggest economies in the world. The situation in Australia needs to be read as the facts show, and the RBA governor's comments are very, very relevant. While the market is expecting falls of less than what we've seen overseas, the national accounts will confirm what Australians already know: the economy has been hit hard. That is very, very clear. And we can't rule out, of course, the effect of the Victorian stage 4 lockdown. This has been an enormous drain on the economy coming, of course, from the Labor-run state of Victoria. As part of our economic plan, the Morrison government are providing unprecedented support. The suggestion that there has been no support or that JobKeeper is being wound down unnecessarily is an absolute nonsense. It's a Labor-run furphy. The business— Senator O'Neill interjecting— Senator ANTIC: There's the $314 billion in support to keep Australian businesses in jobs. We can run through some of that. Our jobs plan is, without question, sound and fundamental. We have the economic support packages. Senator O'Neill interjecting— Senator ANTIC: I'm going to give Senator O'Neill some more evidence, because we know that, being a Labor senator, she loves evidence based policy. Our economic support package of $305 billion represents— Senator O'Neill interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator O'Neill, order! Senator ANTIC: There's no question that she's awake; that's good. It represents 15.3 per cent of annual GDP. Now, let's go through it. We need to break this down, because some people in this chamber are asleep at the wheel. There's $101.3 billion for JobKeeper—$101.3 billion! There's $31.9 billion for cashflow boosts for business; $16.8 billion for income support for individuals, including the $550 fortnightly coronavirus supplement; and $9.4 billion for two rounds of the stimulus payments. Then there's the skills and apprenticeships program, with the new National Skills Commission, which we've spoken about at length in here. This is going to help young jobseekers to better understand the skills needed by employers. What more can this government do? Once again, for those on the opposite side of the chamber who are awake, which Senator O'Neill very clearly is—Senator Carr has gone off for a nap, I think—we are going through the continual list of achievements. (Time expired) The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Antic. May I remind you of the words of the President earlier in the week about not referring at this particular time to senators who are not in the chamber, because we have so many senators paired and using the video link.