Polls show that Australians are increasingly satisfied with the government’s relaxation of restrictions on the spread of the virus, but people also hope that if the virus re-emerges, the blockade and travel ban will be implemented again.
The latest poll came when Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg quantified the economic benefits of the government ’s complete three-step end of the blockade measures introduced last week in the parliament ’s economic update speech on Tuesday. He will report that the relaxation of restrictions will result in a GDP of 9.4 billion Australian dollars per month. The finance minister said the first step of the relaxation measures-including the reopening of retail stores, allowing cafes and restaurants to allow up to 10 customers to dine, and opening outdoor Gyms, playgrounds, skate parks and getting students back to school-will boost GDP by 3.1 billion. The Morrison government has focused public attention on the economic cost of restrictive measures over the past week. The Finance Minister will point out that the end of the blockade will allow 850,000 Australians to resume work. Each state has a timetable for self-control and relaxation measures, and Tuesday ’s economic statement will list the employment benefits of reinstatement by state and quantify each state ’s GDP growth.
The two most populous states, NSW and Victoria, are slower because they have more cases than other states. Full implementation of the three phases of easing measures will bring GDP benefits of 3.1 billion to NSW and 2.2 billion to Victoria. As far as employment is concerned, after three stages, there will be 279,550 jobs resumed in NSW, and 216,085 jobs in Victoria. As Australia began to relax restrictions, concerns about the virus threat increased in this week’s Guardian poll. 49% said they were worried, compared with 46% last week. But people are still satisfied with the federal and state government’s response to the outbreak.
