Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, $257 billion in economic support from the government—$130 billion of it already flowing into the pockets of households and businesses—has been crucial to maintaining business capability, keeping businesses afloat and therefore keeping as many Australians in jobs as possible. This includes supports like JobKeeper, the JobSeeker supplement, the cashflow boost to businesses and the two $750 payments to millions of pensioners and others who are on income support.

These have all been crucial supports that have kept almost 3.8 million Australians connected to their employer. The Reserve Bank has estimated that at least 700,000 Australian jobs have been saved that potentially would have been lost without these types of programs in place. Our Supporting Apprenticeships and Trainees wage subsidy has helped over 57,000 small and medium businesses, again, to save around 100,000 apprentices and trainees and to keep them in jobs, which has been crucial—saving jobs throughout this year. (Time expired)