Peak contraction was something like 16% in April during the main lockdown and had rebounded back to year-on-year growth by June. Some industries like home renovation have been booming.
Queensland in particular with an equivalent population to New Zealand still only has 6 fatalities.
It's yet to be shown they've handled the economic side well and I doubt history will judge the fiscal response positively.
That's a lot of wasted opportunity with regards to infrastructure spending. The National Broadband Network in comparison cost $40bn and estimates for an East coast high speed rail network from Brisbane to Melbourne came out at just over $100bn by infrastructure Australia and was deemed much too expensive to proceed by both sides of politics despite having a valid ROI business case drawn up.
They announced 130bn initially, then revised that down by 60 due to an accounting error. I think there was need for an additional 15bn with Victoria going back into lockdown and some other extensions.
Probably well spent as any money you give directly to workers quickly circulates back into the economy. There's no trickle down, but it definitely floats to the top.
Also building infrastructure seems like a win win but after the infrastructure is built there is also a commitment to maintain the infrastructure. Isnt this like signing up for a recurring expense? Too often I think politicians and others think of it like a one off purchase to garner votes.
See this: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/4/30/my-city-has-ma...