Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his question. I would say to the member for Deakin, as I say to other members of the government and other members with goodwill in this parliament, I know the focus of government members is on the jobs of Australians, the prosperity of Australians and making sure that we give Australia the best possible environment it can have for the future.

On the question of jobs, I think that we should note that today statistics have come out that show that the economy added over 20,000 jobs last month. That is on top of the 750,000 jobs created since this government came to office. Having a robust economy that can create jobs is not a matter of accident. It is not a matter of neglect. It is not a matter of autopilot. It takes careful and continued policy work and reform. It is no accident that our economy today is a resilient economy. It has been built painstakingly by reforms over generations, particularly the reforms to open our economy to the world under the Hawke and Keating governments, particularly reforms like embracing a pool of national savings through superannuation and particularly the work this government did to support jobs during the days of the global financial crisis. If we are to see jobs and prosperity in the future, then we cannot afford to say no in the face of the challenges of the future. We have to get out there and seize those challenges. Our climate is changing. Our planet is warming. That has risks and consequences—

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