Coronavirus crisis: Experts debate massive job losses and major job changes on Channel 7’s Flashpoint

Up to 180,000 West Australians could lose their jobs as a result of the coronavirus crisis, according to the latest forecasts by the State’s peak business group which expects the unemployment rate will “at least” double.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief economist Aaron Morey made the dire prediction on Channel 7’s Flashpoint current affairs program last night, saying the global economy was on track for its worst result since the 1940s.

“We’re talking about a serious economic impact here,” he said. “In WA alone we’re probably looking at at least a doubling in the unemployment rate, maybe up to 13 per cent, (which is) around 100,000 additional West Australians losing their job.

“If we’re going forward to a full lockdown we could be looking at an 18 per cent unemployment rate which would be around 180,000 West Australians out of work.”

Mr Morey said the Morrison Government’s $130 billion wage subsidy announcement would help mitigate the damage but stressed the economy remained in a “seriously uncertain environment”.

About 85 per cent of WA businesses are experiencing reduced consumer demand, 45 per cent are copping supply chain disruptions and 20 per cent are reporting skills shortages.

WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt, who was also a guest on the Flashpoint panel, said throwing more money at the health budget would not necessarily solve the problem.

“Over the last 20 years we’ve gone from about 24 per cent of the Budget to 32 per cent of the Budget on health,” he said. “In WA we spend the most per capita of any of the States in the nation ... so it’s not so much about putting more in, it’s about what we’re getting for that spend.”

Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Andrew Miller told the panel that medical staff on the frontline were getting “very restless” waiting for more ventilators, masks and gowns to arrive.

“What we’re facing coming up is the actual war, not the preparation,” he said.

Wesfarmers non-executive director Diane Smith-Gander said she expected there to be a permanent rise in the number of Australians working from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Not everybody is going to be able to do that but a really good case is the Telehealth and the support for Medicare rebate for consultations that occur online and over the phone,” she said.

“This is something that should have happened 10 years ago ... so we will see those changes, they will be permanent and they will be positive.”