Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

They think this is funny because they do not understand the scale of the challenge that Australia faced in the past two years and they do not understand the future. Job recovery and job creation in this economy has been strong—unemployment at 5.4 per cent compared to 13.6 per cent in Ireland. The 650,000 jobs created in Australia in the past year demonstrate the strength of the Australian economy. There is also the fact that we are bringing our budget back to surplus in three years. The Australian economy is performing strongly, and it is performing strongly because of the strong economic management of the Gillard Labor government. It is the strong economic management of this government. We are in a stronger position than just about any other developed economy in the world. That is not accepted by those opposite, but we cannot be complacent about the future. We know this economy requires sound economic management to bring the budget back to surplus, unlike those opposite who had an $11 billion hole in their net savings in the campaign. We are committed to strong economic management. (Time expired)

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