Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Not at all. The Morrison government has been absolutely dedicated to supporting all Australians before the pandemic but most particularly through the pandemic with an absolutely unprecedented amount of money that has been provided to support all Australians—and that includes older Australians. As I said before, we already had in place a number of very significant packages to help older Australians. But we must not forget that when the pandemic hit we saw a doubling, or a 100 per cent increase, in the number of people who required the support of our unemployment benefits system, and a 150 per cent increase in those under the age of 35. I would suggest that if I had come into this place after a budget where we hadn't actually addressed youth unemployment, you would be standing there criticising me for not assisting young people who have been disproportionately impacted by the number of jobs that have been lost. I think our track record in supporting older Australians stands.