Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. By Christmas, 160,000 Australians will join the one million already unemployed. Why is the Prime Minister racking up $1 trillion of Liberal debt during the Morrison recession while leaving so many Australians behind?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition would know, because we have reminded him on numerous occasions in this place, that were it not for the actions taken by this government when the coronavirus hit, when COVID-19 hit, with the record support we've provided through JobKeeper and JobSeeker and the many other support measures, 700,000 additional Australians would've been out of work. We also know that in recent months 760,000 jobs that had been lost or reduced to zero hours have come back. And we know, on the measured employment, that just under 60 per cent of the jobs that have come back have been for women, and there has also been a very strong comeback for young people.

Our budget, released and delivered by the Treasurer last night, is a plan for economic recovery to get Australians back into jobs. Our plan is one for recovery, that gets businesses opening their doors, investing again and hiring people. The economic plan that was contained in last night's budget builds on the considerable support that has enabled Australians to weather this crisis, with the blow cushioned by the measures that have been put in place to support them. And those jobs will keep coming back, because of the measures that we put in place and that we announced last night in the budget.

There is still a long way back, but, I tell you, in this country the road back is a lot shorter than the road back that will have to be travailed by those in many economies overseas. It has been Australia, through the great will and resilience and strength of the Australian people, supported by a government who's got their backs, that has ensured that the blow of the COVID recession around the world, something the Leader of the Opposition is oblivious to—apparently COVID-19 didn't happen in Australia. It happened in every single country around the world, and somehow it didn't happen in Australia. That diminishes the great loss of Australians in this country because of COVID-19. And if the Leader of the Opposition can't work out there has been a COVID pandemic in the world, let alone Australia, then he is as clueless as the Australian people know him to be, and as inexperienced when it comes to issues of economic policy and budget management as his record demonstrates.

Our government has ensured that we've been there for the past six months, as this pandemic recession has hit this nation, and we've ensured the jobs are coming back. And the jobs will continue to come back because of the plan for jobs recovery that was released and outlined and delivered by the Treasurer last night. (Time expired)