Why you need to spend up this Christmas for Australia: Treasurer orders Aussies to do their patriotic duty and hit the shops to fend off China’s disgraceful trade attacks
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants Australians to go shopping to boost economy
- He pointed out consumption made up 60 per cent of gross domestic product
- Consumer spending also contributed lot more to the economy than net exports
- Australia is now out of recession but the current account surplus has plunged
- Net exports fell 39 per cent during September quarter as China imposed tariffs
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants Australians to go shopping more often to counter China‘s trade sanctions.
Australia is officially out of recession, with the economic activity expanding by 3.3 per cent in the September quarter – the fastest three-month growth pace since early 1976.
The recovery followed a record seven per cent plunge in gross domestic product during the June quarter.
China’s harsh tariffs on Australian exports, however, are beginning to bite with Australia’s current account surplus – where exports are worth more than imports – plunging by 39 per cent in the September quarter.
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants Australians to go shopping more often to counter China’s trade sanctions
With China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, imposing more tariffs on Australian exports, Mr Frydenberg is calling on Australians to do their bit to boost the economy during the Christmas trading period.
‘So consumption is absolutely key,’ he said.
‘Consumption is the largest contributor to GDP.’
Mr Frydenberg, the Liberal Party’s deputy leader, pointed out consumption made up 60 per cent of Australia’s economy.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics national accounts data showed a strong 7.9 per cent surge in consumer spending during the September quarter.
This followed a record 12.5 per cent plunge during the June quarter, as coronavirus shutdowns caused Australia to sink into a recession for the first time since 1991.
Australia is officially out of recession, with the economic activity expanding by 3.3 per cent in the September quarter – the fastest three-month growth pace since early 1976. Pictured are Melbourne shoppers
With China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, imposing more tariffs on Australian exports, Mr Frydenberg is calling on Australians to do their bit to boost the economy. Pictured is a David Jones city store in Melbourne’s city centre in late November
Consumer spending during the September quarter contributed four percentage points to economic activity compared with 1.9 per cent for net exports.
With China returning to return phone calls from Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, Mr Frydenberg said Australia would be relying on multilateral trade forums with a group of nations to boost exports.
‘Of course, we would like to do that bilaterally, we would like to sit down and have that mutually beneficial and respectful dialogue but in the absence of that, we have options to use multilateral forums,’ he said.
Australia’s diplomatic ties with China this week hit a new low after Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijiang tweeted a doctored image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child.
Australia’s diplomatic ties with China have hit a new low after Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijiang tweeted a doctored image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child
China has been politically point scoring after an independent inquiry by New South Wales Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton alleged a series of war crimes, including an accusation elite Special Air Services soldiers cut the throats of 14-year-old boys walking along a roadside.
Mr Frydenberg described the spat with China as dire.
‘This is a very serious situation. China’s our number one trading partner,’ he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in April called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.
China in May imposed 80 per cent tariffs on Australian barley and last month slapped 200 per cent import tariffs on wine.
China has also stymied Australian exports of timber and lobsters.
China has been politically point scoring after an inquiry by New South Wales Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton alleged a series of war crimes, including an accusation elite Special Air Services soldiers cut the throats of 14-year-old boys walking along a roadside
