Australia's GDP dropped by 7 per cent in the June quarter, confirming what everyone already knew to be true: Australia is in a recession.
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It's the largest fall in quarterly gross domestic product since records began in 1959.
"Behind these stories and these numbers are heartbreaking stories of hardship being felt by everyday Australians as they go about their daily lives," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in Canberra.
"Today we are reporting these numbers, but today everyday Australians are living them."
"Today we are reporting these numbers, but today everyday Australians are living them."
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg
In the year to June, the economy shrank 6.3 per cent, the bureau said.
In the March quarter, the economy had contracted by 0.3 per cent.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, private demand took 7.9 percentage points from GDP, which was driven by a 12.1 per cent fall in household final consumption expenditure. Spending on services dropped 17.6 per cent.
"The June quarter saw a significant contraction in household spending on services as households altered their behaviour and restrictions were put in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus," said the bureau's head of National Accounts Michael Smedes.
The impact of travel bans has been huge, with imports of services dropping 50.5 per cent and exports of services dropping 18.4 per cent. Imports of goods fell 2.4 per cent.
The release confirms Australia is in recession for the first time since 1990-91, following a drop in GDP of 0.3 per cent in the March quarter.
In a sign of how little people are spending, the houshold saving to income ratio increased to 19.8 per cent - up from 6 per cent. Hours worked dropped 9.5 per cent, but wages dropped by 2.5 per cent, propped up by JobKeeper payments.
While Australia has fared better than many comparable economies, the confirmation of just how the Australian economy has to go to recover has added fire to debate over whether the JobKeeper wage subsidy program should have its payments reduced at the end of September.
"We've always said that our measures in response to COVID_19 were temporary, they they were targeted, they were scalable," Mr Frydenberg said.
"We've always said it will transition and we believe at $1000 for the March quarter and $1200 for the December quarter it's still providing significant support."
Mr Frydenberg said he expected the September quarter to be flat or only slightly negative, despite the continued lockdowns in Victoria.
Labor's shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said it would be a "dark day" ahead of the release.
"We know that unemployment has been rising even since the period covered by what will be some devastating National Accounts today," he said.
"We call on the government to stop creating distractions, to stop pointing the finger, creating diversions, shifting the blame, cutting super, wages and pensions, and instead to come up with a genuine comprehensive jobs plan to deal with the deepest, most devastating recession in our lifetimes."
- With AAP