New data out today shows that retail trade plunged by 0.5 per cent in December and annual growth in retail values and volumes is weak.

Another big drop in the retail sales data is more evidence that Australians are struggling with stagnant wages, record levels of household debt, and skyrocketing bills on Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg’s watch.

Today’s figures come just one day after the Reserve Bank highlighted that household spending has been constrained by protracted weak wages growth which looks set to continue.

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg shouldn’t be using the fires and coronavirus as an excuse for their long-standing failures on the economy.

The economy was weak before the fires and before the virus hit.

Because of the Morrison Government’s economic failures, Australia meets the serious challenges and uncertainties of the fire season and the Coronavirus outbreak from a position of weakness, not strength.