Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brockman for his question. It actually builds directly on the answer that Senator Ruston gave to the previous question she was asked, which was that this is a job-creating government. We make no apologies for the fact that we believe that the best form of welfare is a job. Since we were elected as a coalition government in 2013 we have set about putting in place the right economic framework so that businesses can prosper, grow and, as Senator Ruston has stated, create more jobs for Australians.

Senator Brockman, in relation to our home state of Western Australia, the most recent labour force figures for June of this year show that employment increased by almost 14,000 jobs. That is a good thing. The economy in WA is creating jobs. I'm also very pleased that in Western Australia we have the very high participation rate of 68.5 per cent. That says that Western Australians are confident in the jobs market. They're putting their hands up and saying, 'We want to participate.'

We don't shy away from being a job-creating government focused on getting people off welfare and into work. Since we were elected in 2013 the economy—the businesses out there—has created almost 1.4 million jobs. We continue to see jobs growth in Australia. In fact, the June labour force figures show us that total employment in Australia is at a record high, with 12,871,700 Australians employed. We also have record full-time employment. Over 246,000 full-time jobs have been created in the past year. We are a job-creating government.