Actually, Morrison’s grand gesture with taxpayer money makes LESS sense than Rudd’s did. Rudd acted in a financial crisis; money was tight. We are now in a health crisis - nothing to do with consumers’ buying power - and the only people silly enough to spend an undeserved windfall would probably blow it on toilet paper. Prudent people will hang onto it like grim death, given the way Morrison himself has treated pensioners, part-pensioners and self-funded retirees.

Morrison was an excellent Immigration Minister, but a dud Treasurer; and his lack of financial acumen has been carried forward into his Primeminstership.

Following Morrison’s announcement to pander further to the bloated building industry with taxpayer provision of ridiculously low deposit rates for a select group, and the more and larger loans, increasing house prices and housing bubble that will entail, he is now being referred to as the ‘Realty PM’.

What we need is a ‘Real PM’.

Support business (not just the spoilt building industry, which will bring about a prime mortgage disaster) to keep working and employing; but, leave it to someone who knows how to go about it. That someone is not Scott Morrison; he gives me the shivers. He is not the man to lead us out of the current situation. Recently, the medical community pleaded with him and his fellows to leave the virus to them. Someone should be asking him to do the same with the economy. Not Josh, though. He is another sad story.

I agree ttbn, the handouts to pensioners & dole receivers is a very foolish act, as bad as was the Rudd catastrophe. It would make a hell of a lot more sense to keep the powder dry, ready for use in what ever problem appears.

I can see very good reason for supporting employees, particularly casuals in hospitality who are being effected severely already, & apprentices for whom continued work & study is critical, but spending it on health care if required makes more sense than a hand out.

If China is shut down for long we are going to have huge loss of employment in coal & Iron ore, & the whole chain that supports them. With the loss of royalty payments & foreign exchange, we might have much better use for that cash than throwing it vaguely at the economy right now.

Dear Hasbeen,

Come on old cock, you have had empirical evidence that this works because of Rudd. The top down approach of giving those earning $45,000 or more tax cuts certainly didn't. The Libs were scratching their heads as to why it had not stimulus impact on the economy when a buffoon could have told them it would have gone straight of mortgage payments which it did.

The cash handout it the kind of trickle up economics which the Libs hate with a passion but it works every time.

But don't let the evidence stand in the was of an ideology hey.

On economic stimuli, I've just read this:-

"Despite the nonsense propagated by Kevin Rudd and the ALP, he and Swanny did not save Australia from a recession in 2007-8. It was the Chinese Government that saved Australia through their stimulus which sucked up any and all coal and iron ore that could be sucked out of the ground."

If that's true, and the Morrison stimulus is as ineffective, China, where our current problem started, won't saving us this time! OMG! Pass the toilet paper.

There is now a suggestion/claim that “Climate change loonies have increased your risk infection” with the ban on single use plastic bags and their replacement with “unsanitary” reusable ones.

Researchers have apparently been warning for years that renewable bags spread “deadly viral and and bacterial diseases”. The loonies, public officials and politicians have ignored the warnings.

Unless the bags are washed regularly, good old Chinese COVID-19 is one of the pathogens that can be spread by them. The bacteria can last in the bags for up to 9 days.

Bugs from the bags have been found on the hands of shoppers, check out chicks, packaged and unpackaged food and shopping trolleys etc.

It will take more than cash handouts to fix the damage done by the climate/carbon dioxide fraud.

another cash splash just adds to future pain. Somehow we think Governments can stop floods, fires, virus's and when they can't we expect them to pay for it. Billions wasted on Gonski to dumb people down, billions wasted on renewables to fill the pocket of thieves and make our electricity triple the price, billion plus on the abc to push marxist garbage, billions wasted on submarines that we will never get. Only tiny consolation is that Labour would of wasted much more. Pay day for our debt is coming and again it will be the average tax payer that foots the bill.