Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hurley for her ongoing interest in this area. Last Thursday’s employment figures demonstrate the resilience of Australian employers and employees throughout the global recession. Unemployment in Australia, at 5.3 per cent, is lower than that of any of the major advanced economies except Japan, with the Australian economy creating around 180,000 jobs in the past year. That is a remarkable achievement given what has occurred elsewhere in the world. Since the start of the global recession, 6.8 million jobs have been lost in the US, which now has an unemployment rate of 9.7 per cent. Three million jobs have been lost across the Euro economies, which now have an average unemployment rate of 9.9 per cent, and half a million jobs have been lost in the UK, with an unemployment rate of 7.8 per cent. We know that this performance would not have been as strong if it had not been for the quick and decisive action of this government in investing in our economy and supporting Australian jobs. The cornerstone of this has been the $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan, over half of which has now been delivered. Without that quick and decisive action, hundreds of thousands of Australians would have been unemployed. As Governor Stevens said last week on the first of the month, the stimulus measures, both fiscal and monetary, have worked a treat. (Time expired)