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

I thank the member for Greenway for her question. I thank her for her deep interest and very vocal expression of the needs and desires of her constituents. Key to her constituents' making a life is the Australian economy and, indeed, the global economy's offer to them of the opportunity that comes with a job or the opportunity that comes with being able to create your own small business should you choose to do so.

President Obama has just been delivering his fifth State of the Union address. President Obama, in that address, like leaders around the world, was focused on a strategy for jobs and growth in his nation. As I have said in the parliament this week, you cannot say that you are engaged in the public policy debates that matter in our world today unless you fully understand the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis.

You cannot be viewed as a sophisticated participant in any debate about jobs and growth unless you are focused on that. The global financial crisis hit around the world; it hit here in Australia, and it particularly hit acutely in the United States. That means that around the world, nations—including our own—face challenges with ensuring that there are jobs and growth, and as a government we are very focused in meeting those challenges. Unlike President Obama and our friends in the United States of America, we come to addressing these challenges standing on a foundation of strength. Unlike the United States, we did not have a recession in this country. Unlike the United States, we were able to act in a timely way to support and protect jobs as we supported and protected 200,000 of them. Unlike the United States, we are here with growth, with low inflation, with low interest rates, with strong public finances. Unlike the United States, we can therefore build for the future and jobs and growth standing on that platform of strength coming out of the global financial crisis.

In his own nation, President Obama still confronts the spectre of 12 million unemployed people; that is the same size of the entire Australian labour market. He therefore has a challenge that is different to ours, but in his address today to the State of the Union it is abundantly clear that his focus is on jobs and growth. That is good for the global economy and it is good for our economy. Our focus domestically, standing on a platform of strength, is for jobs and growth and opportunity for Australians for the future.

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