Five priorities to underpin the recovery
Australia is at a critical juncture. The COVID-19 crisis has cut short three decades of uninterrupted economic growth. We must support the economy while demand remains weak, but we must also give targeted support to the most vulnerable. The combination of welcome discretionary actions and automatic stabilisers have ballooned net debt, and this pressure will only increase in coming years as our needs in areas like health and aged care grow. To pay down this debt, we will need a much more efficient tax base and much faster growth. This will require wide-reaching reforms that were necessary before the crisis, and are now more critical than ever before. We must achieve this growth in an environmentally sustainable way, and investments in clean energy can themselves help power the next boom.