Today we get to see the extent of this pandemic-induced recession we’re in. The number that rolls out of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) barrel could determine how much pressure the Morrison Government has to put on the banks to stop them acting like (to be frank) bastards!

Since the start of this Coronavirus crisis, it has been a case that the national interest was such that State Premiers, the Federal Government, Coalition and Labor politicians and even Greens all acted co-operatively to make sure the national interest was served.

We even looked past the behaviour of banks that was illuminated by the Hayne Royal Commission. But as we seem to be on the right track (Victoria’s problems aside), we’re starting to see the Federal Government get less chummy with Premiers who are keeping borders closed. And then there are a lot of issues with Victoria’s Premier Andrews that are simmering and eventually will boil over.

Meanwhile the banks and what they’re doing remains out of the spotlight. But that could change if today’s recession numbers aren’t as promising as we all would hope.

A recession is defined as six months (or two quarters) of negative growth but it should be called contraction of the economy.

• In the March quarter, we shrank by 0.3% but this June quarter will be a doozy! That said, over April, May and June, the Government and the RBA threw the kitchen sink at trying to keep the economy recovering from the recession created by the lockdowns around the country.

Any number we get today will be an historically bad one. But what will be an acceptable contraction result?

• A minus 5% would be good. A minus 7% number will be bad. Anything under 5% would be great!

Of course, Victoria’s shutdown has caused problems for the September quarter, which we’re in now. But even so, it will be a much smaller negative number and might have been positive if it wasn’t for Melbourne’s hotel quarantine centres on par with Fawlty Towers!

And on the subject of throwing the kitchen sink at our economic problem, the Reserve Bank has made an additional $200 billion available to banks to lend to small and medium-sized businesses.

Why? Well, in the best traditions of our ‘beloved’ banks, despite the national emergency, their lending approval computers are still saying “no”!

Under this so-called term funding facility, the RBA has already lent cheap money to the banks to the tune of $52 billion. Now it has made, wait for it, another $200 billion available to them. That’s huge! Now we have to hope that banks play their part and take a few risks to save businesses that have been screwed because of a virus and the government policy response to beat it.

A pandemic and economic lockdown were in few, if any, SMEs business plans. Many operators will need money and time to survive and eventually thrive. For example, a café in Sydney’s CBD has to wait until the big-end-of-town office block businesses are confident enough to catch public transport and then ride in a lift back to work.

I understand the fear of some workers but you have to ask if they demonstrate the same fear on the weekends when they socialise, have a drink and go shopping.

In case you need some good news ahead of the data-fest today, CoreLogic housing data shows the national house price fall in August was only 0.4%. If you own a property, you’ll be happy to hear that prices are up 5.8% for the year!

We also learnt building approvals were up a big 12% in July against an economist forecast of minus 2%. And the latest purchasing managers index for manufacturing showed the sector is expanding. Keep your fingers crossed for a better-than-expected economic contraction number today, lest it lead to a lot more finger-pointing and blame game antics, which could start with politicians and then roll on to our ‘beloved’ bankers!