Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bragg for the question. The Morrison government is committed to putting in place those policies that will help employers out there create jobs across our nation. In terms of the beginning of COVID-19, as my colleagues know, we entered COVID-19 with a strong labour market. In fact, around 1.6 million jobs had been created since we were first elected to govern. We also had the lowest welfare dependency in 30 years. By providing employers and businesses with the economic framework to lever off, we enabled them to prosper, to grow and to do what we needed them to do, and that was, of course, to create more job opportunities for Australians.

We also know, though, that COVID-19 has changed so much of this. We are still dealing with it, and we are still dealing with the lockdowns that are affecting millions of Australians, in both their jobs and their employers across our country. We also know that the road ahead will be a long road. It will be a hard road and it will be a bumpy road. However, what we have seen is that the Australian labour force has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience. In particular, when we look at the latest figures, which show this, unemployment in Australia fell from 4.9 per cent to 4.6 per cent recently, with the creation of 2,200 jobs.

As a government, we've worked with the states and territories and together we've chartered a plan out of this pandemic. As a government, we continue to provide the support—in particular, the economic supports—that will help both businesses and Australians get to the other side. In terms of our economy, we continue to be in a stronger position to recover than we were a year ago, and we will continue to work with states and territories to plan our path out.