George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I am sorry to have to tell you this, Senator Chisholm, but the premise of your question is wrong. The premise of your question is wrong because, as I pointed out to your colleague Senator Watt a little earlier, unemployment in Australia at the moment, at 5.6 per cent, is at its lowest level in three years. That is the key indicator of the health of the labour market—the unemployment rate. You can ask about the participation rate, but it is does not follow from that proposition that the labour market is in a poor condition. The unemployment rate, at 5.6 per cent, is the lowest it has been for three years, and there is a reason for that, Senator Chisholm. The reason is that the policies of the Turnbull government are working. The policies of the Turnbull government are working to create more jobs—twice as many new jobs created in the past 12 months as in the last 12 months of the Labor government. Senator Chisholm, I know you were not a member of that government, but I think you were a party official of some description. In the last year of the previous Labor government, the rate of growth of new jobs was half what it has been under this government.

Senator Chisholm, it is not a surprise that the unemployment rate is at a three-year low, it is not a surprise that consumer confidence and business confidence is buoyant and it is not a surprise that our exports are booming and that the various contributing sectors to our exports are booming, because the policies of this government are working. If the Labor Party would get out of the way here in the Senate and pass some— (Time expired)