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

I thank Senator McLachlan for his question. I know of his very strong advocacy on behalf of so many businesses and people across South Australia—as my coalition colleagues do universally across Australia—in terms of support for jobs growth and economic success across the country.

Relative to the rest of the world, Australia starts 2021 in a very strong economic position. There is much we can be thankful for as a nation. Our economic strength relative to other countries, particularly advanced economies, is something to be incredibly thankful for. More than 90 per cent of the 1.3 million Australians who either lost their jobs or had their work hours reduced to zero during the peak of the pandemic are now back at work. Almost 800,000 jobs have been created in the past seven months, and pleasingly women have taken up the majority of these new jobs that have been created.

As I referenced before, the participation rate in the Australian workforce has reached a record 66.2 per cent. My colleague Senator Cash has highlighted this strength in the employment market—such a strong show of confidence. Quarterly growth has had its biggest increase since 1976 and consumer and business confidence are back to pre-pandemic levels.

In the face of the biggest global economic shock of our lifetimes Australia's economic comeback is strong. Our economic recovery plan is working. It has been supported by $251 billion in direct economic support to date. Treasury analysis has demonstrated that this support is expected to result in economic activity being five per cent higher in 2020-21 than would otherwise have been the case and 4½ per cent higher in 2021-22. This shows the ongoing effect, and that ongoing effect comes, indeed, through our tax reform changes as well as the ongoing support of the JobMaker hiring credit. These give continued support to recovery right across the Australian economy.