The new plan comes amid a sobering economic backdrop, where unemployment levels move above 10 per cent and government debt levels rise above 30 per cent of the GDP.

Conceding that opening up will be harder than closing down, the Prime Minister said: “We will have to all retrain, to live and work in a way that creates a sustainable COVID-19-safe economy and society.

“As we reset for growth, our JobMaker plan will be guided by the principles that we, as Liberals and Nationals, have always believed in: to secure Australia’s future and put people first in our economy.”

While details of the new plan have yet to be revealed, it will involve a complete overhaul of Australia’s “clunky and unresponsive” skills and training system and a new version of the “Accord”, to bring together unions, employer groups and businesses in a bid to reform the industrial relations system.

“Beginning immediately, the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Attorney-General Christian Porter, will lead a new, time-bound, dedicated process bringing employers, industry groups, employee representatives and government to the table to chart a practical reform agenda — a job-making agenda — for Australia’s industrial relations system,” he outlined.