Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (15:58): When I think about the coronavirus pandemic, like many of the people in this chamber—at least on this side of the chamber—I think of the communities that have been affected. I think of those people across Australia who, through no fault of their own, have faced risks because they're exposed to health risks. It may be because they have immune conditions. It might be because they've been travelling and were caught overseas and exposed to the virus. We think about the families who've lost loved ones and those who have gone into hospital and needed life support to be able to get through the night and the day and to be able to see the other side of the virus. But we also think about the people who are economically impacted by COVID-19. Those people, through no fault of their own and because of the restrictions and the measures that have been imposed by both the Commonwealth and the states, have seen their jobs disappear overnight. The small businesses that usually flourish, survive and thrive to provide goods and services to consumers suddenly find themselves without a customer base and are trying to support and assist both those people who work for them and sometimes their customers, if they can, through this difficult period. They face a very real challenge, which is why the Morrison government has implemented such strong measures, both to protect public health—the most significant measure that was taken to protect public health was closing the international border and stopping people from overseas coming to Australia, unless they were Australian residents, in which case they faced challenges and then went into quarantine for two weeks—and through the JobKeeper and the jobseeker programs, to help people economically get through this challenge and so people could support themselves during this time. We implemented a series of measures to make sure that people could stand up and support themselves, like early access to superannuation. Despite the howls and the heckles from those on the other side of this chamber, when Australians were faced with a difficult choice and needed access to their own money to pay off their mortgages, to support their families and to honour their obligations, we stood by them and said, 'We understand the challenges that you face now, and we're going to help you help yourself.' Opposition members interjecting— Mr TIM WILSON: And it's critical that we do so, because, when it comes down to it, the alternative from the other side of this chamber—we've heard this through the heckling through my speech just now—and the only response from the opposition has been to reheat old, tired, ideological debates designed to achieve their own political objectives rather than to build the future of this great country. We, the people on this side of the chamber, know that we are not at the end of this period of difficulty. We know that small businesses and workers will continue to face challenges in the weeks and the months coming. We know that we're not just going to face this challenge here. There is going to be a race towards competitiveness globally, and we have to make sure we build businesses that can support workers and produce goods and services that people demand, sustainably and into the future. Part of that's going to be having a discussion around how we build a tax system that's competitive for the 21st century and how to bring people together to have an industrial relations conversation that breaks down the ideological divide that so many on the opposition benches are wedded to, not just because of their own political interests, though they are, and not just because it empowers them, though it does, but because it comes at the disempowerment of Australians. We want Australians to be able to stand on their own two feet. It's about having an energy conversation, led by the minister for energy, about how we can have a competitive energy sector to make sure we can support a manufacturing base to match, to meet and to support our geopolitical strategic challenges as well as job creation. At every point, this government has looked to the challenge today and said, 'What do we need to do to support Australians now?' but also, 'What do we need to do to build the future competitiveness of Australians so they can continue to be successful and so we can be successful as a country?' And we make no apology for it. (Time expired)