Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

As I have indicated on a couple of occasions, despite the comparatively good growth of the Australian economy—the only advanced economy in the world to have growth of some 0.6 per cent—it is way short of what is required to prevent unemployment going up. You need at least three per cent growth to ensure that unemployment will not rise. So we know that, even with a comparatively well-performing economy with economic growth of 0.6 per cent, unemployment will rise over the next year due to the financial and economic crisis. Yet we have those opposite in the Liberal and National parties advocating that we should abandon our stimulus measures. I make the point very strongly that 0.6 per cent growth will not deliver employment growth. You need at least three per cent, yet those opposite are effectively arguing for higher unemployment.